Cross-Country Girls Top Unbeaten Beverly, Boys Also Claim Victory

It was a very exciting day on Tuesday, as the unbeaten Marblehead girls cross-country team faced off against a Beverly team that had not lost a dual-meet in 51 races. Through a whole team effort, the girls were able to break that streak and extend their own season to 6-0 as they took home a very close 26-29 victory.

"The girls ran very smart and strong today," said head coach Jen Emblidge. "Beverly's course is tough with plenty of challenging hills, but the girls took that challenge and ran with it. It was a very exciting race."

The Panther's top runner, Jessica Gomes (19:54), finished the race first, and was followed in by Marblehead's Mary Kauffman (20:21) and Chloe Heskett (20:30).

Kelly Higgins (20:35) and Nicole Demars (20:36) claimed fourth and fifth place for the home team, but Molly Depew (20:54), Claire Depew (20:59), and Madeline Piela (21:02) secured a win for the Lady Magicians by grabbing the sixth, seventh and eighth spots.

Beverly's Mary Richards (21:06) and Caitlin O'Conner (21:07) rounded out the top 10 finishers.

The boys were also winners at Beverly, topping the Panthers 20-42, bringing their season to 4-2. The team was able to find a way to overcome the hurdle of competing without its top two runners, as James Wigglesworth was held out again with an injury and Henry Pratt missed the contest after falling in the Brown Invitational last Saturday in Warwick, RI.

"This was a good win for us," said boys head coach Brian Heenan. "I was really impressed with the team effort today."

Beverly's John Page (17:15) was the first runner to cross the finish line, but the next six places were claimed by Magicians as Will Helihy (17:23), Patrick Casey (17:27), Noah Bitterman (17:45), Mike Harper (17:55), Kevin McElroy (17:57), and Nate Fowler (18:01).

The top ten was completed by Beverly's S. O'Neil (18:02) in eighth and Marblehead's Jake Smith (18:09) and Ron Seiden (18:23) in ninth and tenth respectively.

"I believe the results from today's race speak volumes about our team's depth," said Heenan. "We were able to take eight of the top ten places without our top runners. Will, Patrick, Noah, Kevin, Jake, and Ron really stepped it up today."

The teams will compete in their final dual-meet race on Monday,  as they are visited by the Swampscott Big Blue. Following the end of the regular season, the teams will travel to Bradley Palmer State Park in Topsfield for the North Eastern Conference Championship Meet on Saturday, Oct. 30, then to the Eastern Massachusetts Divisional Championships on Nov. 13.