Mahoney Leads Big Blue at Frank Kelley Invitational

Senior captain Matt Mahoney turned in the top performance of any runner in the Northeast Conference at the Frank Kelley Invitational held on Saturday at the Wrentham Development Center. The Frank Kelley Invitational is the first major invite of the cross-country season, and serves as an excellent check to see how the early weeks of the season have gone. Mahoney's performance would lead the day for Swampscott, but many Swampscott runners left the meet feeling simultaneously happy with their performances and hungry for the remainder of the season. 

Mahoney led the boys during the Division II Varsity race. After going through he mile in 4:50, Mahoney and Paul Hogan of Burlington found themselves dueling with Nick Carleo of Newburyport. Mahoney finished his race in 3rd place overall, running a time of 15:44 over the 5k course; Mahoney's best time last year on this course was 16:22. Following Mahoney was junior Bennett Smith, who finished in 41st place with a time of 17:41. Robert McLaughlin (80th, 18:21) and captain Marco Scibelli (103rd, 18:40) were next for the Big Blue, followed closely by captain Noah Conti (111th, 18:46). Emery Green ran a massive personal best by finishing in 158th place in 19:44. John King (231st, 21:55) rounded out the top seven for Swampscott. Six of the top seven ran faster on Saturday than they did last year, a true testament to summer training and hard work! Swampscott finished in 10th place overall.

The varsity girls took to the course after the boys and ran with several solid performances on the day. Sophomore Isabella Kornitsky (32nd, 21:07) and senior captain Sarah Kelley (33rd, 21:08) worked together over the entire course to finish next to each other. Behind the leading duo was junior Alyssa Mauriello (91st, 22:55), who has been a consistent third runner all fall for Swampscott. Sophomore Vivien Gere (97th, 23:05) kept things packed closely with her finish, and senior captains Michelle LaConte (120th, 23:52) and Meghan Mahoney (122nd, 23:54) also worked together throughout the race. The Big Blue placed 11th overall. 

Also performing well for the Big Blue in the freshman race was Veronica Rizzo, who placed 22nd overall over the roughly 3k course in 13:24.

The Big Blue have a bye week from dual meets before heading to Vermont for the Thetford Academy Woods Trail Run on Saturday, October 5th. Full results from the Frank Kelley Invitational can be found on ma.milesplit.com