NORTH READING — The North Reading cross country team hosted Newburyport on Wednesday, Oct. 4 at Harold Parker State Forest for their final home meet of the season. The Hornets honored their 4 senior team members: Allison Koenig, Stella Da Silva, Sophie Saquet and Dylan Zecher, with their best races of the season for the majority of the team.
The effort was mighty, but unfortunately, the results did not go in their favor, as the Hornets fell 19-44 in the girls’ race and 15-48 in the boys’ race. The Hornets are now 0-4 on the season for both teams, but that record doesn’t tell the story, said Hornets head coach Ryan Spinney.
“Our athletes had their best performances of the season today, without question,” said Spinney. “We had personal bests ranging from a few seconds, to a minute to even multiple minutes. Our team is improving and that is the true victory here.”
In the girls’ race, Sophomore Quin Kelly finished 2nd to reigning league MVP Abby Kelly from Newburyport, as Quin ran 21:48, a personal best on the Harold Parker course. Senior co-captain Allison Koenig finished 18th overall and achieved a huge personal best at Harold Parker with her time of 26:14.
Senior Stella Da Silva (20th, 26:53), Freshman Riley MacDonald (22nd, 27:22), Junior Vanessa Steinmeyer (26th, 28:47), Senior Sophie Saquet (36th, 32:44) and Sophomore Miriana Bornstein (38th, 35:43) rounded out the Hornet competitors on the day, many of whom had their finest performances at Harold Parker.
“Quin competed hard against a very talented competitor in Abby and she ran a strong competitive race,” said Spinney. “Ali, Stella, Riley, Vanessa, Sophie and Miriana all had tremendous races and we are definitely running our best as we head into the big meets at the end of the season.”
In the boys’ race, Junior Nico Johnson was the top finisher as he placed 6th overall in a time of 19:43, a personal best on the HP course. Junior co-captain Alex Mitasev had a tremendous race as he placed 11th in a time of 20:38, another big personal best on the HP course.
Sophomore Gerard Jorda (13th, 20:48), Junior Dawson Duffley (20th, 22:01), Senior Dylan Zecher (21st, 22:13), Junior co-captain David Wyatt (22nd, 22:19), Freshman Connor Abruzzese (23rd, 22:32), Junior Raffi Toby (26th, 23:55), Junior Michael Mahoney (30th, 26:20), Sophomore Ben Russell (31st, 30:42) and Junior Aidan Seaman (32nd, 31:23) rounded out the Hornet competitors on the day.
“We had so many athletes step up and run their very best for the team today and that is all we can hope for,” said Spinney. “We are still improving and will keep doing so over the next few weeks of the season.”
The Hornets closed out their regular season CAL schedule against Pentucket at Pipestave Fields in West Newbury on Wednesday after press time.