On the first sunny day they had seen in days the Cape Ann League harriers met at Bradley Palmer State Park on the crisp fall morning of Saturday, October 25. The temperature rose as the 10:00 AM varsity girls’ race started and the boys kept up the heat during their race which kicked off just after 10:30 AM.
The girls’ race had 11 teams with 74 runners crossing the finish line. Tia Patterson of Lynnfield (5th place) led the field at the 1-mile mark with a close group of 9 which included Manchester-Essex’s Olivia Lantz and Ipswich’s Emily DeMarco champing at the bit. By the 2-Mile mark Lantz pulled away from the group with DeMarco and Hamilton-Wenham’s Emily Weigand at her heels. 8th grader Eve Feuerbach of Manchester-Essex closed in on the group to move into 4th place with Tia Patterson leading the remainder of the field in 5th. That’s the way it stayed for the remainder of the race with Lantz taking 1st with a time of 18:23, DeMarco in 2nd in 18:42, Weigand 3rd in 18:50, Feuerbach 4th in 18:56, and Patterson 5th in 19:21. Rounding out the top ten and earning Cape Ann League All-Star status along with the top five finishers were Olivia Horgan (Hamilton-Wenham), Madeline Quigley (Triton), Grace Moroney (Hamilton-Wenham), Meghan Stone (Hamilton-Wenham), and Meghan Collins (Masconomet).
In team scoring Hamilton-Wenham took first having all 5 of their scoring athletes finish in the top 12 with a score of 38 points. Manchester-Essex was 2nd with 66 points. This finish was fitting as these teams took 1st and 2nd place in league regular season standing and are both coming off of Divisional State Championships from last year: Hamilton-Wenham (D5) and Manchester-Essex (D6).
Hamilton-Wenham’s win marked their 7th Cape Ann League Open title in a row under the leadership of Hall of Fame Coach Steve Sawyer. The Hamilton-Wenham Generals also went undefeated in regular season meets leading into this meet which is the 10th year in a row they have done so. The Generals have also won 8 of the last 9 Divisional State Championships which they hope to add to in two weeks at the Wrentham Developmental Center.
The boys’ race had 11 teams with all 77 runners crossing the finish line. This race was led from start to finish by Newburyport’s Nick Carleo who took a 20 yard lead only one minute into the race and stretched that lead to 20 seconds by the 1-Mile mark which he crossed in 5:03. Twenty seconds behind Carleo was a pack of four (Pentucket’s Alex DeMeule, Masconomet’s Daniel Cosgrove, Newburyport’s Joseph Molvar and Dan Allara of Hamilton-Wenham). Carleo crossed the 2-Mile mark in 10:12 with Molvar 2nd in 10:32 followed closely by DeMeule. 20 yards back in 4th place was Cosgrove followed by Allara of Hamilton and six others who had moved up the pack (Cameron Holley and Spencer Feuerbach of Manchester-Essex, Patrick McCue of Amesbury, Jack Carleo of Newburyport, Jake O’Connell of North Reading and Kyle Faddis of Masconomet). At the finish line it was Carleo in first (15:42) followed by DeMeule (16:01) and Cosgrove (16:13) leading the remaining top 10 who had put on a late race surge and were all separated by only 10 seconds was Holley followed by Molvar, O’Connell, Feuerbach, Carleo, Faddis and Mccue. The top ten all earned Cape Ann League All-Star status. Carleo’s race was off from his course best of 15:32 but caped off a stellar Cape Ann League career as the senior took home his 3rd league individual title in a row.
In team scoring Newburyport took first with 51 points edging out a close second place (55 points) Manchester-Essex. Much like in the girls race the first and second place teams came of a great regular season with Newburyport taking the Kinney (large) Division title and Manchester-Essex finishing 2nd to Hamilton-Wenham in the Baker (small) Division title. Both teams are also coming off of Divisional State Championships from last year: Newburyport (D5) and Manchester-Essex (D6).
Newburyport’s victory marked their 3rd CAL Open title in 4 years at the end of their fourth season in a row going undefeated in the regular season under the leadership of Hall of Fame Coach Don Hennigar. The Newburyport Clippers also have a streak of their own at the state level, having won their last 3 Divisional State Championships which they too hope to expand upon at Wrentham.