BURLINGTON — The Wakefield High boys’ cross country team suffered a tough loss to Burlington this week on the Red Devils’ home course. The score was Wakefield 33 and Burlington 24.
Despite the loss, there were some incredible performances by the Warrior runners.
Devin DeBerardinis got the overall win out-kicking the top Burlington runner in the last 50 meters to run a strong time of 16:23 for the 5K course.
Alec Buonopane-Cohen had a big improvement from last year taking over a minute off his time in Burlington to place 3rd in 16:52.
Sean Marra placed 8th in 18:00, two full minutes better from last year. Noah Morrisseau took off over four minutes with a time of 18:01 to place 10th.
Also improving by over a minute to place 11th in 18:16 was Zach Richardson. Taylor Miller improved by over two minutes to place 12th in 18:18. Ryan Paige was 15th in 18:39. Brendan Pritchard improved by over two-and-a-half minutes to place 16th in 18:40. Aidan Burd placed 17th in 18:47. Evan Buonopane-Cohen was 18th in 18:55.
The junior varsity had a dominating performance with many improvements from last year. The Warriors defeated Burlington JV 15-47.
Zach Davidson got the win in 19:15, a two-and-a-half minute improvement from last year.
David Rocca was 2nd in 19:19. Max Levine was 3rd with an almost three-minute improvement on the Burlington course. Nick Hurley was 4th in 19:42. Jack Ellis was 5th taking more than three-and-a-half minutes off last year in 19:43. Connor Moulton was 6th in 19:52, cutting more than three-and-a-half minutes off of last year’s time. Charlie Sloss was the final scorer for the Warriors placing 10th in 20:41, taking three full minutes off his time from last year.
“It’s always disappointing to come away with a loss. But it’s hard to be disappointed while many athletes on the team cut so much time off from last year on the same course,” said head coach Perry Pappas. “Consistently improving is a great sign for us as a team and what the future might hold.”
Wakefield has an extra week to prepare for their next meet which will be in Watertown next Tuesday, Sept. 30.