NEWBURYPORT — The NRHS cross country teams fell to the Newburyport Clippers at Maudslay State Park in Newburyport on Sept. 25 despite very strong performances by the Hornet runners. The girls lost 18-45 and the boys fell by a score of 15-48.

In the girls’ race, the Hornets were once again led by Junior Quinlan Kelly, as she placed 3rd overall in a time of 20:36 over the 2.97 mile woods course. Sophomores Adelyn Kelly (14th, 22:24) and Riley MacDonald (15th, 22:36) rounded out the Hornets in the top 15 of the race.

Senior co-captain Vanessa Steinmeyer (823rd, 25:01), sophomore Gabrielle Montanye (24th, 25:09), 8th grader Ruby Davidson (25th, 25:14), freshman Chloe DeAngelis (26th, 25:16), 8th grader Verity Modeen (27th, 25:17) and senior Cybele Miller (32nd, 27:34) were the other Hornets in the race.

“Newburyport is always among the class of the league and today they once again proved to be tough,” said Hornets head coach Ryan Spinney. “Our team stepped up and ran extremely well. We are very proud of them and we are using this as a stepping stone for the next race against Pentucket.”

On the boys’ side, Newburyport took the top 6 places in the race to pace their victory over the Hornets. Sophomore Nalo Benedict (7th, 18:41) and senior co-captain Alex Mitasev (8th, 18:50) rounded out the Hornets in the top 15 of the race. Sophomore Connor Abruzzese (18th, 20:06), junior Gerard Jorda (20th, 20:30), senior co-captain Raffi Toby (23rd, 21:06), senior Aidan Kennedy (24th, 21:20), junior Jacob Ye (25th, 21:43), freshman Charlie Sarno (26th, 21:55), 8th grader Dominic Spada (27th, 21:55), freshman Cole Donohue (30th, 23:45), senior Michael Mahoney (31st, 23:54) and senior Aidan Seaman (35th, 26:34) were the other Hornets in the race.

“A similar story as the girls race, the score might not reflect it but we ran very well against a top notch program,” said Spinney. “We are heading in the right direction and the athletes are definitely going to be running their fastest in late October and early November when it matters the most.”

The Hornets were back in action against Pentucket for Senior Day at NRHS. Their next one is Wednesday, Oct. 9 against Triton at Old Town Hill in Newbury.