Published in the September 27, 2019 edition.
WILMINGTON — Going into the season, it was obvious the Wakefield High boys’ cross country team’s biggest competition was going to be the Wilmington Wildcats.
That certainly proved to be true as the race unfolded on Tuesday as the Warriors traveled to Wilmington’s home course to defend their Freedom Division title. For most of the race, the final result was in question. Early in the race, the Wildcats had the upper hand but over the last half mile the Warriors starting to take control. The final score was 23-32 as the Warriors improved their 1-5th place scoring gap to 58 seconds after an almost two minute gap the week before.
Matt Roberto decided not to hold back while facing Wilmington’s number one runner, Greg Adamek. Roberto pushed the pace after the first half mile and never looked back, capturing the victory in a 5K time of 16:14, which is one of the fastest times recorded on the Wilmington course. Adamek went on to break the Wilmington school record with a time of 16:23 but never really challenged Roberto.
Tanner Jellison returned from a minor injury and placed 3rd in a time of 16:35. Jonathan D’Ambrosio had a fantastic race as he passed Wilmington’s second and third runners in the final few hundred meters. He finished in 4th with a time of 16:37.
Sophomore Mike Roberto ran a good time placing 7th in a time of 16:49. Colin Rudy helped close that big gap from last week as he finished in 8th with a time of 17:12.
Sophomores Thomas Dowd and Ajay Haridasse rounded out the top seven with times of 17:41 and 17:49 placing 11th and 12th. Zack Jellison was 14th in 17:58. Aaron Canestaro improved a lot from last week finishing 16th in 18:18. Jimmy Crump placed 17th in 18:22.
In the JV race, the Warriors dominated the top 11 places. Ian Schermerhorn came away with the victory in a time of 18:34. Jack Callahan was 2nd in 18:49. Steve Robinson was 3rd in 18:54. Alex Skeldon was 4th in 19:06. Andrew Roos was 5th in 19:10 to secure the team win.
Other strong performances go to David Schurter 6th (19:32), sophomore James Christie 7th(19:36) freshman Matt McCoy 8th (19:46), freshman William Riley 9th (19:54), freshman Joe Colliton 10th (19:56) and freshman Mike Rivers 11th (19:59).
The boys travel to Wrentham on Saturday for the Frank Kelley Invitational.
