Lowell Rolls Along In MVC
TEWKSBURY-- The Lowell Boys Cross Country team has won a lot of meets over the years and Saturday’s MVC Championship added another prestigious trophy to the already impressive display case in the Riddick Fieldhouse. The defending MIAA All-State Champion Red Raiders, were once again led by Senior-Captain, Johnny Abraham who blitzed the field en route to a convincing win, covering the 5k course at the Tewksbury Recreation
Center in an impressive 16:08. Runner-up, Quinn Cooney of Chelmsford was 19 seconds back (16:27). Lowell’s impressive pack was just getting going as senior Randy Nong placed 3rd (16:31) and the Red Raiders rounded out there scoring with impressive finishes by senior Matt Fowler (9th, 16:45), junior Larry Carney (10th, 16:49) and sophomore Chris Gendron (13th, 16:54). With a team total of 36 points, Lowell was easily ahead of runner-up and host Tewksbury (79 points) and 3rd place Chelmsford (87 points). Lowell also got great races from senior Andrew Whitney (17th, 17:04) and junior Ryan Ames (24th, 17:25). In an amazing development, the Red Raiders also took the top 12 places in the JV race, led by senior Tyler Richards (17:19).
Winning the MVC Championship Meet for the 4th consecutive season was a goal for the team from the start. “We finished un-defeated and that was goal #1. Today was our 2nd big goal”. “We are real pleased with how we ran and how we are progressing,” said 31st year Lowell Coach Phil Maia. “Obviously things will only get tougher from here but we have a lot of experience and our kids are looking forward to the challenge of running well the next month.”
The MVC Meet has traditionally been run at Chelmsford but this year, for the 1st time Tewksbury hosted the meet and Lowell’s Johnny Abraham left little doubt about his feelings for the course. “It was a real good layout, fair for everyone” said Abraham, a senior looking at DePaul, UMASS-Lowell, and Northeastern, among others. “We went out a little conservative but my plan was to grind the 2nd and 3rd miles anyway so it worked out well” I’m happy with the win but the most important piece was that the team won and we are getting closer to the top teams in the state. “ If we want to contend at Gardner, we have to keep pushing for 3-more weeks”.
Billerica’s PJ Garmon (4th), North Andover’s Martin Conrad (5th), Methuen’s Jeff Reddy (6th) and the Darrigo twins from Tewksbury (Joe & Anthony, 7th & 8th) joined Lowell’s top 4 harriers as automatic selections to the MVC All-Conference team.
The MVC is widely regarded as the most competitive conference in the state and winning the meet by 43 points has Coach Maia pretty pleased. “I am very proud of our boys and am looking forward to how we build off of this”.
At yesterday’s Merrimack Valley Conference Cross Country Championship, Lowell Coach MaryBeth McKenney-Finn was certainly optimistic about her teams chances, however, even she was a little surprised at how dominant the Red Raiders were. “We know the MVC Meet is always tough and that a lot of top teams compete, so the fact that we won with the girls running so well really makes us proud” said the happy coach. Lowell, who had gone un-defeated during the regular season, rolled to victory with a very low 48 points. A strong Dracut team followed in 2nd place (85) and multi-time champ Chelmsford was 3rd (106).
The Red Raiders ran to victory on the strength of an incredible front pack that was led by sophomore superstar Kaley Richards who was the overall winner, covering the 5k course at the Tewksbury Recreation Center in 19:01. The supporting cast for the Red & Grey was not far behind; Lexi Richards ran a tough race, placing 5th (19:37), senior-captain Marissa Richards placed 8th (19:50), surging sophomore Hanah Laughlin was 11th (20:04) and senior Ileana Medina kicked it home for 23rd (20:50). That was more than enough to give Lowell it’s 2nd consecutive MVC Meet title and sets them up to defend there MIAA EMASS title in 2 weeks. “We’ve been working hard in practice and the girls are running well at the right time” said McKenney-Finn. “The girls will gain confidence from this and we’ll start to really focus on states”.
Runner-Up Dracut was led by senior Karina Shepard who was 2nd overall (19:25), meanwhile Riley Gilmore of Havewrhill was 3rd and Leila Aruri ran a strong race for Andover, placing 5th (19:33)..