Published in the September 28, 2017 edition
IT WAS a crowded start to the boys’ cross country race against Newburyport at Harold Parker State Forest. (John Friberg Photo)
NORTH READING — The NRHS Hornet Cross Country teams hit their half way points in the season last week with meets against Georgetown/Ipswich, Newburyport and Hamilton-Wenham. The ladies were able to defeat Georgetown and Ipswich but fell just short against Newburyport and H-W to drop to 2-3 on the season. The boys had valiant efforts against all their opponents but are still looking for their first win of the season as their record stands at 0-5.
Ladies defeat Tigers and Royals, gentlemen fall just short
At Crane’s Beach in Ipswich, the Hornets raced a tri-meet against Ipswich and Georgetown. The contests were extremely close all around. The girls defeated both squads while the boys teams fell in tight meets. Led by Lindsay MacLellan and Grace Hadley, the Hornets took 1st and 3rd overall in the race. Ali Grasso, Meghan Griffin and Sam Martel rounded out the top five for the Hornets.
On the boys side, captain Jake Doucette led the Hornet attack as he finished in 19:28. Sam Capobianco and Justin Hong were close behind in 19:43 and 19:57 respectively. Rounding out the top five for the Hornets were Andrew DeBenedetto (20:51) and Jack Murphy (21:10). The girls’ team improved to 2-1 and the boys fell to a record of 0-3.
Nail biter for the girls vs. Newburyport, boys fall but improve
The next opponents for the Hornets were the mighty Clippers from Newburyport and their daunting tradition of Cross Country domination. In an extremely close meet at the NR home course at Harold Parker State Forest, the Hornet ladies took first and second but still fell to the Clippers 25-33. Leading the way once again was Lindsay MacLellan and Grace Hadley as they took the top two spots but Newburyport’s depth was too strong to overcome. Ali Grasso, Julia Tatone, Meghan Griffin and captain Emma Wall ran great races to take places 9-12 and Maggie McCarthy took the 7th Hornet spot with an 18th place finish. This made the Hornets’ record 2-2.
On the boys’ side, freshman Sam Capobianco had a tremendous race as he took second overall against a very deep Newburyport squad in a time of 16:15. Newburyport was able to take the meet 19-44 as they claimed first and places 3-7. The next Hornet finishers were Jake Doucette and Justin Hong who claimed 8th and 9th respectively. Underclassmen Andrew DeBenedetto, Jack Murphy, Karlis Plavins and Aidan Wyatt rounded out the top seven for the Hornets with 12th, 17th, 18th and 19th place finishes respectively. The loss dropped the Hornets to 0-4.
Hornets and Generals have a great battle
On September 19, the Generals from Hamilton-Wenham came to Harold Parker to take on the Hornets. The lady Generals lived up to their undefeated status as they defeated the Hornets 26-31 in a tight race. On the boys side, the Generals narrowly slipped by the Hornets with a one-point victory 28-29.
Undefeated Lindsay MacLellan once again led the Hornets with a personal record of 17:56 at Harold Parker. Grace Hadley, Ali Grasso and Meghan Griffin also had personal bests as they finished 2nd-4th for the Hornets. Captain Jill McCullough had her best race of the season with a time of 21:25. Fellow Hornet harriers Kerry O’Brien, Lauren Sullivan, Cassie Mirasolo and Taylor Hennessey all ran their best races as well. The tough loss drops the Hornets to 2-3 on the season.
The boys race was literally an affair decided by one finisher as it was a back and forth race. HW took 1st and 2nd but the Hornets bounced back with 3rd, 4th and 5th with the efforts of Sam Capobianco, Jake Doucette and Justin Hong running times of 16:29, 16:41 and 16:49. H-W responded with 6th and 7th place finishers but the Hornets came back with 8th-11th place as Andrew DeBenedetto, Karlis Plavins, Jack Murphy and Aidan Wyatt all finished strong. Unfortunately, the math left the Hornets with a 1-point defeat but out of the 22 runners for the Hornets, 18 of them had personal bests on the H-P course.
Despite the loss, the effort was the true victory for the team. The Hornets are now 0-5 on the season but it is certainly not due to a lack of effort.
The Hornets raced Pentucket on Wednesday at Harold Parker State Forest after press time. Their next meet is Wednesday, October 4 on the road against Manchester-Essex.
