NEWBURYPORT — All you need to know about the Clipper Relays is that the waitlist to get in is just as long as the active participants.
Everybody wants in, nobody wants to leave.
And for local cross country athletes, it really doesn’t feel like fall has begun until they make that annual trip over to Maudslay Park. This Saturday marked the 22nd annual holding of the beloved event, which sees each attending program break up into three-person units who each run the 2-mile course. There were 21 schools from across eastern Mass. that made the journey up to Newburyport this weekend, with hundreds of runners breaking in the new season with a sprint around the park.
Which, yes, years ago had to establish a max capacity for the event.
“It’s awesome,” said longtime Newburyport coach Don Hennigar, the event organizer. “This is the perfect early-season race, it’s a great way to kick things off. All of the teams want to come back every year. Nobody ever doesn’t want to come back. I have a long list of schools that want to get into this meet, but nobody ever leaves — and we’re at capacity now as it is. The kids love it, the coaches love it, and we always have fun with it.”
And like every year, the talent at Maudslay Park shined through.
Upper-division teams like North Andover, Peabody, St. John’s Prep, Billerica, Reading, Lexington and Marblehead were all in attendance, along with the usual Cape Ann League suspects like Triton, Pentucket, North Reading and Essex Tech. In recent years, Newburyport and Pentucket — especially on the girls’ side — have had some battles up front for the title.
But this year, no local boy or girl team finished inside of the top-10.
Yeah, that was the sort of talent in attendance.
The top local unit was the Triton girls trio of Mia Jaworski, Ava Burl and Elodie Muller, who finished in the 12-to-15 range with a time of 40:23. Burl is a two-time Daily News All-Star now in her senior year, and will look to lead a promising squad to a CAL championship. If you remember a year ago, the Vikings had no seniors on the roster, but were still undefeated heading into their final regular season meet against Newburyport.
It ended up being a loss, but served as great experience for athletes now one year stronger.
The Triton boys, meanwhile, have switched to being the “young guns” this year, after graduating out a talented four-person senior class. Returning Daily News All-Star sophomore Cassidy McBee is back in the fold this fall, and led off the Vikings’ top unit before Clay Erickson and Harry Pike took over. They ended up being the third local boy team to finish behind squads from Newburyport and Pentucket.
“I’m hoping we’re contending this year,” said Triton coach Joe Colbert. “The kids are working hard, and like we said the girls were young last year but they have a ton of experience. So with a girl like Ava Burl leading the way, I hope we’re a contender in the league. And the boys are now the opposite, the boys are really young. But we’ve got a kid Cassidy McBee at the top, and he should be one of the top young runners in the league.
“So we’re optimistic.”
Newburyport’s top unit of Michael Mohoric (the returning Daily News MVP), Theo Roberts and Jack DeJordy were the first local boy team in 17th overall, after a trio from Marblehead broke 30 minutes to win the event. For the Clipper girls, their top team of Abby Porto, Lydia Boddy and Phoebe Bouchard weren’t too far behind Triton, who were both trailing Billerica in first.
“We have a lot of young kids but we’ll come along,” said Hennigar. “We’re not as deep as we’ve been in the past, especially on the boys’ side. But we’re going to be okay and compete in the league for sure.”
And there’s still plenty of time this fall to improve.
Saturday, after all, was just the beginning.
But a beloved beginning that doesn’t show any signs of going anywhere.
“This is the best way to kick off the season,” said Colbert. “We’re one of the original teams that comes to the Clipper Relays. The kids always look forward to it, and to be out here early in the year, with the nice weather, it’s one of the highlights of the year.”