WILL DUGGAN (left) and Ellis Iurilli-Hough medaled at the Frank Moody Invitational. (courtesy photo)

Ocean State, Frank Moody see appearances

WRENTHAM—The Melrose High girls’ and boys cross country teams competed last weekend at both the 14th Annual Ocean State Invitational in Warkwick, Rhode Island, held on Sat. Sept. 25, and the annual Frank Moody Inviational held in, held at the Wrentham Developmental Center. Both teams earned some admirable results, including top finishes by Melrose sophomores Will Duggan and Ellia Iurilli-Hough.

The girls team competed at Ocean State and Melrose enjoyed some top runs from Jillian Bakey, 39th with a time of 6:59, Lily Kavanaugh, 43rd at 7:05 and Juliet Moore 46th at 7:06. Freshman find Maize Frakt also had a notable finish of 7:16, good for 57th. Isabel Vogen finished the varsity race at strong 7:37 (76th). Among those who competed in the race were Charlotte Corr, Adeleine Lawor, Eliane Albuja, Ava Picone, Rachel Brooks, Tobey Russell and Darby Thompson.

Melrose High standout runner Matt Fox also made an appearance and had a great time of 5:48. Teammate Ben Donovan was along with him in a time of 7:15.

Other members of the boys’ cross country team competed at the annual Frank Kelly Invitational held at the Wrentham Development Center on Saturday to run include the 3k events (just under 2 miles).

The top time of the day went to Will Dugan, who finished 4th in a field of 175 in a time of 10:03.02. Finishing 6th in 10:03:71 was junior Ellis Iurilli-Hough. Junior Sean Mackey also ran well finishing in 12:45. Melrose had numerous participants in the freshman-sophomore 3k. Freshman Kush Karmcheti led the way, finishing 103rd in a field of 340 runners in a time of 12:04. Close behind in 122nd was Billy Oldham, then Jonah Tully , 12:32, good for 141st. Emerson Blanchard, Caleb Barnes, and Harrison Lee all cracked the 14 minute mark. Aiden Manning just missed that mark with a 14:06, as did Grady Kamosa with a strong time of 14:09. Also completing the course in fine times were Noah Avelar and Adam Jancaitis.

Coach Allison enjoyed the performances. “The boys ran tough and this race was a good tuneup for our tough upcoming races against Burlington and Wakefield. It was a very good day.”

This week, mother wraked havoc on their home opener meet against Burlington which will be rescheduled. Both teams will next travel to Wakefield on Tuesday for an always-important race against the rival Warriors. Gun start is at 4:00 p.m.