Perfect running weather, cloudy skies and a nice, cool temperature, greeted the throngs of participants that made their way to the Wrentham Developmental Center for Saturday’s annual Frank Kelley Invitational.
For some, most notably the freshmen, this was their first time competing on Wrentham’s open field, spectator-friendly course. For others, another first was created this weekend – an individual triumph against statewide competition.
Here we feature a rundown of the Large School races, which kicked off the meet in the early morning
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Freshmen Boys’ 3K
The opening competition of the day produced a close one between St. John Prep’s Mateo DeOrio and Leo Seltenrich. DeOrio got the best of his teammate down the stretch with a narrow one-second victory and time of 10:01.9. Seltenrich was timed in 10:03.0. Weymouth’s Patrick Geagan was third (10:13.5) and St. John’s Prep’s Henry McDonnell placed fourth (10:27.6). The future certainly looks bright for the Eagles, who easily claimed the team title with a low 23 points. SJP had all five of their scoring runners among the top 13. Comprising the remainder of the scoring was Colton Hayhurst (ninth, 10:52.4) and Mike Taranto (13th, 11:06.9).
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Freshmen Girls’ 3K
Central Catholic’s Isabella Miller was the only runner under 12 minutes, taking the gold with a time of 11:55.4. She was comfortably ahead of Weymouth’s Natalie McGinnis, who solidified runner-up honors in 12:08.5 .Ella Braz of Peabody was third at 12:15.9.
Team-wise, it was Bishop Feehan over Brookline. The Shamrock scored 51 points, 21 ahead of the Warriors. Avery Teixeira was the top finisher for Feehan, placing 16th in the field of 101 with a time of 13:47.7.
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Sophomore Boys’ 3K
Jason Provost learned a lot from his initial season of cross-country last year. The biggest takeaway from his freshman campaign was patience and not getting overly excited at the start of a race.
“I really last year didn’t know how to pace myself, but I developed sort of a strategy when I started racing more and more,” said the Beverly tenth-grader. “Now I just stick with it.”
Provost utilized that strategy to perfection on Saturday. He positioned himself among the leaders from the beginning, and then reeled in front-runner, Geremia Ortega of Central Catholic, in the late stages to win with a time of 9:55.6. Oretga secured second at 10:00.4. Beverly’s Charles Bossler was third at 10:15.6.
highlighted by a 4-5-10 finish from Seamus Egan (10:26.4), Aidan McIntyre (10:33.2) and John Dennison (10:46.2), Weymouth brought home the team hardware with 50 points, eight more than second-place Central Catholic.
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Sophomore Girls’ 3K
“I came in wanted to get top five and then during the race realized I wanted to come in first.”
Those were the words of Weymouth’s Leah Glavin, who captured the top spot with a time of 11:54.7. Glavin led for most of the race, winning the title by a six-second margin over Ella Machado of Lowell, who was timed in 12:00.4.
Central Catholic scored just 18 points to cop the team title. Lila Christy (third, 12:17.0), Rachael Asasira (fifth, 12:26.5), and Mia Manfredi (ninth, 12:35.3) led the way for the Raiders.
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Junior/Senior Boys’ 3K
Riley McGoldrick didn’t have a pre-race goal of winning this race. It just turned out that way.”
“It was a surprise,” he admitted. “I wasn’t planning on winning. I was planning on medaling, and hopefully getting under 9:45. I was not planning on winning. I wasn’t expecting this at all.”
McGoldrick achieved his goal of dipping under 9:45, breaking the tape officially at 9:40.5. He finished about 60 meters ahead of teammate Calvin Barrett, who was second at 9:50.9. Haverhill’s Keith Korir was third in 9:52.1.
Highlighted by its 1-2 finish, Beverly was triumphant in the team competition, scoring 51 points. Peabody was second with 82. The Panthers’ Isaac Fryling was 15th overall with a time of 10:32.2.
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Junior/Senior Girls’ 3K
Weymouth was front and center in this race, sweeping the top three spots. Gracie Richard, a top finisher at the Division 1A Championships last fall, was the first to cross the line. She posted a solid 11:03.9 for the 1.8-mile distance. She was followed by teammates Isabelle Galusha (second, 11:08.1) and Kate Carnes (third, 11:19.8).
Richard pushed the pace after going through a conservative first mile.
“I think we came through a little slow,” she said. “I kind of thought, “Alright, now I have to finish and push it in. Having (my teammates) run with me the whole time really helped. We have gone 1-2-3 like every dual meet this season. We just all run together and hope to do our best.”
Not surprisingly, Weymouth was the last team standing at the end. The Wildcats, who are unbeaten in the Bay State Conference, captured the title with 34 points. Lincoln Sudbury was second with 68.
