By STEPHEN MARTELLUCCI
LYNNFIELD — At the team’s awards banquet, Lynnfield High girls’ cross country head coach Liane Cook gave out four awards.
The team MVP Award went to senior co-captain Gabby Bottaro who came in first for the team in every dual meet except one.
“Gabby earned the MVP by averaging first place for the team throughout the season,” said Cook. “She had a foot injury and then had a hip injury. Impressively, she also came back from several injuries this season to still compete aggressively. In the first meet against Amesbury, Gabby came back from a foot injury to run an aggressive race and earn first place for the team.
“Despite not having run for two weeks and did workouts on the bike, Gabby courageously placed first for the team in the state championships at the end of the season, beating her last year’s performance by almost 30 seconds.”
Kaila George, another senior captain, received the LAA Scholar Athlete Award.
“Kaila averaged either second or third place for the team in meets throughout the season and she improved not only during this season, but compared to last year too,” said Cook. “By the second home meet, she had beaten her last year’s PR at home by about 20 seconds and by the time of the Cape Ann League meet, she beat last year’s CAL performance by a minute and a half.”
The Coaches Award went to senior Caitlin Buoniconti.
“Caitlin added much spirit to the team,” said Cook. “In the first week of school, she recruited new members to the team, and she kept us laughing with funny stories throughout the season, she helped the team make matching hair ribbons for team bonding and she became the Official Team Hair Braider. She also talked with younger athletes and helped them feel better about their performance in races. All this while running her own great races and workouts.”
Abby Lopez took home the Rookie of the Year Award.
“Although she is no stranger to running, this season was Abby’s first time out for high school cross country,” pointed out Cook, about the junior. “She came to every practice ready to run hard, stretch with focus, or lift weights with intensity and integrity. Throughout the course of the season, she consistently improved almost every race by 30 seconds to a minute. Though she placed fourth for the team at the beginning of the season, by late October, she came in first for the team at the Catholic Memorial Invitational and the CAL meet.”
The captains for next year were also selected and they will be Lopez, Shea Moore, April Sun and Maeve Wertz.
Although the Pioneers did not have any CAL All-Stars this fall, they still had a competitive season going 2-3 overall as they finished in fourth place in the CAL Baker Division.
“We had a good season,” said Cook, who just finished her first year at the helm. “I was happy with how we did as the girls improved their times throughout the season.”
Along with Bottaro, George and Buoniconti, the team will also lose Ciara Long and Lily White.
“I would have liked to have gotten to coach them a little longer,” said Cook, about the senior class.
Next fall, the Pioneers are slated to return nine veterans.
