It was the Red Raiders once again!
With a gap of just 17 seconds between its' No. 1 and No. 5 runners, the Lowell High dominated the boys' race at the Merrimack Valley Conference Championships. The Red Raiders bunched their five scoring runners among the first seven placements to easily defeat second-place Central Catholic, 19-94. It was Lowell's eighth straight league title.
The Red Raiders went 1-2 in the race with senior Nasir Gibson holding off fellow classmate Colin Fitzpatrick by two seconds with his winning time of 16-minutes flat. Sean Stefaniak of Billerica (third, 16:12) and Haverhill's Keith May (sixth, 16:15) broke up the Red Raiders' party. Completing the scoring for Lowell was Chris Galarza (fourth, 16:15), Carlos Rivera (fifth, 16:15), and Jadiel Pinales (seventh, 16:17).
Lowell also earned individual honors in the girls' race with Olivia Sheffield dipping under 19 minutes with her time of 18:48. Tewksbury solidified the team title by claiming five of the next seven placements. Rachel Sessa took second overall in 19:05. Freshmen teammate Makayla Paige (19:17) and senior Holly O'Leary (19:19) went 3-4. Rounding out the scorers was Meghan Ostertag (sixth, 19:20) and Lily Robinson (eighth, 19:41). Billerica's Hannah Doherty was fifth in 19:19 and Nicole Anderson was seventh at 19:29.