Big Blue Cross Country Runs Away From Saugus

This article is by Jeff Bartlett, Swampscott cross country coach

The Big Blue cross-country teams competed in their first home meet of the season on Tuesday, racing against the Saugus Sachems at Upper Jackson Park. Rainy conditions made a memorable race for the Big Blue as they raced in front of the home crowd over a 2.65 mile course. Both teams emerged with victories and now share identical records of 4-1 overall (4-0 NEC South).

The boys started things off, knowing that a win today would set up a battle of two NEC South undefeated teams next week against Gloucester. From the gun, senior captain Peter Hale controlled the race, and was pursued by consistent number two runner Matt Mahoney. Senior captain Sam Crimmins ran a smart race to move ahead of the number oen Saugus runner upon entering the woods. Hale ended up breaking his own Swampscott High course record of 13:54 with his 13:51 finish, a time that is still shy of the overall course record held by Nick Christensen of Peabody. Mahoney (2nd, 14:11) and Crimmins (3rd, 14:45) locked up the win for Swampscott by finishing in the top three spots. Robert McLaughlin (4th, 16:09) and Marco Scibelli (9th, 17:01) rounded out the scoring for Swampscott. Boys running personal best times for the home course inclue Hale, Mahoney, Crimmins, McLaughlin, Scibelli, Danny Duff, Max Hanlon, Jake Powell, Sam Carmosino, and Tristan Smith.

The Swampscott girls took the the rainy and slippery race course after the boys, and immediately packed up into small groups. Working their way over the course, the Big Blue girls stuck together, and the top group shared the work as they maintained a comfortably-hard effort cruising into the finish line. Junior Sarah Kelley crossed the finish line first (19:53), and was followed by Alison Carr (2nd, 19:53) and Isabella Kornitsky (3rd, 19:53). Abby O'Connor (4th, 19:55) and Alyssa Mauriello (5th, 19:59) finished out the scoring for the Big Blue. The Big Blue girls had many stellar efforts, including personal bests from Angela Baldacci, Ellen Brooks, Michelle LaConte, Izzy Moreno-King, Abby O'Connor, Laurel Steeves, and Gillian Turner.

Swampscott will venture to Thetford, Vermont this weekend to run in the Thetford Academy Woods Trail Run. Both teams return to NEC action next week with a home meet against Gloucester on Wednesday, October 10th. The races kick off at 4PM at Upper Jackson Park.