Published in the October 22, 2019 edition.

FALMOUTH — Two-thousand runners from across the state ventured across the Bourne Bridge on Friday evening to race fast in a competitive environment over the Cape Cod Fairgrounds in Falmouth. The 5K course was lined with lights over the three one mile loops. Every year, kids blaze through the flat course on their way to personal best time.

The main event of the Twilight Invitational set off at 8 p.m. with 260 varsity athletes flooding the course. Traffic was a challenge as the Warriors had to weave around runners from 34 other teams.

Although Matt Roberto and Tanner Jellison started well back, they worked their way to the front and both earned medals for their performances.

Roberto matched his 11th place finish from a year ago running a time of 15:54. Jellison ran a PR of 16:15 to place 25th. At one point, Roberto was in 80th and Jellison was in 100th place and both recovered fabulously.

Jonathan D’Ambrosio ran a personal best on the course with a time of 17:01 placing 78th. Colin Rudy took a minute and a half off of his time from last year finishing in 17:32 and placing 133rd. Zack Jellison was 149th in 17:46. Jimmy Crump pr’d with 17:49 placing 155th. Ian Schermerhorn crossed the line in 18:23.

Freshman
race

The freshmen Warriors, showing great depth, placed 4th out of 20 scoring freshmen teams on Friday night.

Leith Jones was the only 9th grader to medal as he finished in 19th with a time of 11:51 over 2.1 miles.

Matt McCoy was seconds away from a medal as he ran 12:10 to finish 28th. Ojas Singhvi placed 49th in 12:31. Jaden Puccio placed 64th in 12:42. Colby Lee placed 65th in 12:44.

Rounding out the rest of the freshmen were Mike Rivers (13:20), Jack Ahearne (13:21), Sam Bangston (13:23), Caden Munro (13:28), Brian Casey (13:37), Vincent Kaddaras (13:47), Will Riley (13:56), Derek Fricia (13:58), Nathan Gerawork (14:05), David Lococo (14:07), Jason Henning (14:59), Marcus Conte (15:21) and Ben Burdetzky (15:41).

Sophomore
race

The sophomore race was expected to be a highlight for the Warriors and the boys did not disappoint.

Mike Roberto placed 3rd against a very competitive field that included 250 runners. Roberto ran 16:48 and improved from his 13th place finish from a year ago in the freshman race. Thomas Dowd had a fantastic race as well placing 13th with a time of 17:20. Ajay Haridasse showed his consistency with a strong run placing 32nd.

James Christie had a good day placing 73rd in a time of 18:42. Freshman Joe Colliton moved up to the sophomore race to give the Warriors their finish high in the team standings. He ran a time of 18:58 placing 91st. Colliton helped the team secure a strong 3rd place finish as a team against over 30 sophomore teams. Brett McClellan ran his first big invitational finishing in a time of 24:54.

Junior
Varsity

In the JV race, Aaron Canestaro ran a much improved race from last year placing 41st in a time of 18:22. Canestaro placed 195th as a freshman and has continued to excel. Steven Robinson placed 64th in a time of 18:49. David Schurter improved from last year placing 98th with a time of 19:17. Andrew Roos ran a time of 19:18 to place 100th. Noah Brennan had a strong race with a 2 minute personal best from last year running 19:24 placing 108th. Alex Skeldon placed 190th in 20:56. Jack Tomsyck placed 197th with a time of 21:07.