Ready for Div. 3 Eastern Mass. State Championship Saturday
Published in the November 6, 2018 edition.
WRENTHAM — Members of the Wakefield boys’ cross-country team traveled to Wrentham to compete in the MSTCA Mooney Invitational in what was the last race of the season for most of the competitors, while the varsity members prepare for the Division 3 Eastern Mass. State Championship to be held this Saturday.
About 1,000 boys competed in the four grade-level races.
The sophomore race was the first 5K race of the day. Zack Jellison paced the Warriors placing 43rd in a personal best time of 18:34. Colin Rudy ran a time of 19:49. Cory Sample ran 20:00. Andrew Roos ran a personal best of 20:21. Alex Skeldon ran 20:32. Aaron Canestaro was close behind in 20:35.
The freshmen race had some great performances over the 3000 meter course. Michael Roberto placed 27th in a personal best time of 11:01. Ajay Haridasse closed hard over the last half mile placing 36th in a personal best time of 11:06. Thomas Dowd placed 50th in a personal best time of 11:16. Sean Russell raced to a time of 12:02. James Christie ran a solid time of 12:16.
Jimmy Crump was the lone runner in the junior race running a much improved race on the same course from five weeks ago in 18:58.
The race of the day was in the senior race. Senior Derryn Langlois, in the best race of his high school career, raced off against sophomore Jonathan D’Ambrosio. The boys went out at an extremely honest pace from the start as they came through the first mile at 5:30 and were in about 30th place. About 1.5 miles in, D’Ambrosio broke away and pushed the pace creating a gap on Langlois. Langlois kept it from becoming too much and closed it up taking the team lead with a little more than a quarter mile to go. Langlois finished with a new PR of 17:36 placing 19th to grab the final varsity spot and will be joining the other six next week at the state championship meet. D’Ambrosio took nearly a minute off from the last time in Wrentham, only five weeks ago. D’Ambrosio would have finished a very strong 16th place in the sophomore race based on his impressive time. He will provide much needed insurance heading into the final races of the season and should provide key talent to next year’s roster.
The Division 3 Eastern Massachusetts State Championship is this Saturday, November 10. The boys will be looking to defend their title and win their third straight as the gun goes off at 1:55 p.m. Walpole, Oliver Ames, Marblehead, and Boston Public Schools are some of the teams the Warriors will be looking out for on Saturday. The girls race at 3 p.m.
