Saturday’s Battle of the Border had unusually high temperatures for the first Saturday in October, reaching 82 degrees at one point. Still, that didn’t deter the contingents from Massachusetts and New Hampshire that showed up for the annual state battle. While New Hampshire got the win overall, there were some outstanding performances from athletes from the Bay State.
The Boys Varsity Race, we saw breakthrough performances in the individual race as well as the team race. Lowell’s Jimmy (James) Kelly got his first major win of the season, breaking the tape in 16:12, just shy of his PR of 16:11. Kelly came into this season as one of our top runners to watch after finishing 17th at the Meet of Champions last season and a strong outdoor season. This is a great win for him, as he also led the Lowell Boys to a fourth place showing overall. Competing in Division 1A, they’ve got their work cut out for them, but this is certainly a team that could make a run at a top five finish in November.
The breakthrough performance of the day had to belong to the Boston Latin Academy Boys. As we mentioned in our preview, they had a strong showing at the Frank Kelly Invite. However, with that races format and only being 3K, it was hard to project how they would look over 5K. Well, they gave us a definitive statement yesterday.
The Dragons won with a score of 90 to Londonderry’s 105. Their top three all cracked 16:40 and their top five finished in the top 31. Brandon Spiess led the way running a PR of 16:27 to finish sixth overall. Ryan Collins and Adam Kramer weren’t far behind, coming in together at 11th and 12th, both running 16:39. Pack running was part of the strategy, as their next three runners, Terrence McGhee JR, Khalid Jama, and Nathaniel Ilif, all finished between 17:22-17:27. Pietro Waterman was their final scorer, and cracked 18 minutes for the Dragons at 17:59.
Tucker Larosa of North Andover finished 10th overall, the third Bay State finisher, in 16:36. North Andover was fifth overall, but they ran without their full Varsity Lineup.
In the Girls Varsity Race, the Boston Latin Academy Girls were the top team from the Bay State finishing in third overall, with a score of 85, behind Pinkerton and Oyster River. The Dragons announced themselves earlier this season when they won the Marshvegas Classic.
On Saturday, they were again led by Sara Blanco, who was fifth overall in 19:38. The performance of the day had to go to Junior Anjuli Szydlo, who ran a huge PR of 19:52, to join Blanco in the top ten. Neve Flynn and Maddy Lemay were 20th and 26th overall in 21:10 and 21:17. Bridget Hurley, Maya Friedmann, and Ava Levine-Fried rounded out the scoring for Boston Latin Academy.
The North Andover Girls were sixth overall as the second Massachusetts team. Junior Julia Kroon was 21st overall in 21:11.
