Undermanned, the Newburyport boys still found a way to get it done.
The Clippers made the long trip out to Northfield Mountain on Saturday morning to compete in the Division 2B Sectional Meet, and did so with star freshman Nordeen Fadil sidelined with an injury. Fadil had already broke the Maudsaly Park freshman record this year, and two weeks ago, surprised by taking fourth overall at the CAL Open.
But at next week’s All-State Meet, both Clipper teams will still be there.
Thanks to a sixth-place overall finish from senior Michael Mohoric (17:02.01), the Newburyport boys were able to place seventh as a team at the Sectional with 241 points, and grab the last spot to qualify for All-States as a complete team. Then the Newburyport girls used their high-end depth to place fifth as a team with 167 points, as Lydia Boddy was the lead runner for the team in 20th out of 142 runners (22:11.81).
Rounding out the scoring for the Clippers, on the boys’ side it was John DeJordy crossing in 28th (18:06.70), Finn Deveney finishing 52nd (18:40.22) and Nathan Winters finishing 68th (19:03.93). Meanwhile for the girls, Lauren LaRosa was 31st (22:48.54), Abby Porto was 37th (22:59.53), Morgan Boddy was 40th (23:05.24), Isla Trail was 41st (23:12.22), Meilia Simone was 56th (23:39.82) and Riley Boddy was 60th (23:45.29).
D3: Amesbury, Pentucket and Triton boys all qualify
Next week’s Division 3 All-States will be full of local runners.
On Saturday afternoon, the Sectional Meets were held down at Willard Park in Fort Devens, and the majority of our athletes will be going back there again next week. In Division 3A the Pentucket boys placed third out of 25 teams with 173 points, while Triton was right behind in fifth with 175 points. Then in Division 3B, the Amesbury boys took seventh out of 26 teams with 205 points, earning that last spot to make it to All-States as a full unit.
Depth won the day for the Panthers, who — in a field of 179 — saw Grayson Shikes take 14th (17:39.58), Zach Hannula finish 33rd (18:31.72), Owen McDonald take 45th (18:47.56), Nicholas Hunter take 48th (18:56.45) and Benjamin Pierce cross in 51st (18:58.48). The Pentucket girls weren’t able to qualify as a team, but junior Susan Wisniewski finished ninth out of 140 runners (20:40.72) and earned her spot to All-States as an individual.
It was a similar story for Triton, where the boys were led by Cassidy McBee in fifth overall (17:10.94), Josh Ferris in 13th (17:36.20), Clay Erickson in 24th (18:11.92) and Ezra Carlson in 44th (18:47.57). But for the girls, Mia Jaworski kept her tremendous season rolling, placing seventh overall (20:34.29) and earning her individual spot at All-States.
Then finally, it was also the same story for Amesbury in the 3B Sectional. The boys were led by the trio of Josiah Fugate in 11th (17:28.85), Harrison Sullivan in 27th (18:29.09) and Ty Giangregorio in 37th (18:44.03). But even though the Redhawk girls just missed out on qualifying, finishing ninth as a team, Haley Jezowski was able to punch her All-State ticket after crossing the finish line in ninth overall (20:46.67).