Published in the October 4, 2018 edition

NORTH READING — Last Wednesday at Harold Parker State Forest, the two Hornet squads in the Cape Ann League met up in a classic cross country dual that was very exciting for the participants and spectators alike. The NR Lady Hornets defeated the Manchester-Essex Hornets 27-32 and in the boys’ race, the Manchester-Essex Hornets narrowly snuck by NR by a score of 27-29.

NR depth pays dividends in girls’ race

Manchester-Essex took places 1,3 and 5 in the girls’ race but North Reading took places 2, 4 and 6 as junior Lindsay MacLellan (2nd, 18:35), junior Ali Grasso (4th, 20:40) and freshman Abigail McLaughlin (6th, 21:22) helped balance the Manchester attack. Following McLaughlin, North Reading took places 7-11 which sealed the meet.

Senior Charlotte Grant (7th, 21:56), freshman Nicole Steinmeyer (8th, 22:03), junior Lauren Sullivan (9th, 22:04), senior Samantha Martel (10th, 22:35) and junior Emily Slavin (11th, 23:16) shut the door for North Reading.

THE HORNETS of both North Reading and Manchester-Essex were off and running last Wednesday at Harold Parker. (John Friberg Photo)

“The girls really stepped up today,” said Hornet Head Coach Ryan Spinney. “Just about everyone had a personal or season best and it took that effort to gain the victory today. It is a great tone-setter for the rest of the season and a reminder that everyone’s effort counts and is important.”

Rounding out the NR attack were juniors Lauren Meaney (13th, 23:58), Elena Cogan (14th, 24:24) and Kaitlyn Lehane (18th, 27:26). The victory evens the Hornets record at 3-3 on the season.

Boys lose tight battle

On the boys’ side, Manchester-Essex were able to squeak out a razor-thin victory over North Reading as they won 27-29, literally a margin of one place. As disappointing as a close loss like that is, Coach Spinney stressed how well the boys’ team ran.

“We had a 100 percent improvement for all of our runners today,” said Spinney. “You can’t ask for anything more than their best effort and that is what they gave. I am extremely proud of them regardless of how the score turned out.”

Leading the way was junior Andrew DeBenedetto and sophomore Jack Murphy who took 3rd and 4th places in times of 16:28 and 16:55. Senior Karlis Plavins ran a strong 6th place in 18:09 and junior Billy Lord out-leaned a Manchester-Essex runner at the line for a 7th-place finish in 18:21. Sophomore Frank Cassarino took 9th place in 18:25 and senior Aidan Wyatt took 10th in another close finish with a time of 18:27. Close behind was senior Zach Rinaldi (12th, 18:30) and junior Chris Nearing (13th, 18:37).

Rounding out the NR Hornet attack was sophomore Nick Rinaldi (16th, 20:09) junior Matt McGotty (18th, 21:45), junior Ben Elis (19th, 21:46), junior Nicholas O’Donnell (20th, 22:04), freshman Nicholas Doucette (21st, 22:33), sophomore PJ Menis (22nd, 23:18), senior Dylan Reardon (23rd, 23:32), senior Peter Wood (27th, 24:47), senior Pano Kalaras (29th, 25:43), sophomore Kyle Moore (30th, 26:50), Ssophomore Erik Wieselquist (31st, 26:55) and junior Erik Doucette (32nd, 26:58). The loss drops the Hornets to a record of 2-4 on the season.

The Hornets raced Amesbury on Wednesday after press time at Harold Parker State Forest. They host Masco next Wednesday.