By STEPHEN MARTELLUCCI
LYNNFIELD — It was a sunny, pleasant day for the newly-named Pillings Pond 5K (3.1 miles) July 4th road race in town. It was the 58th-edition of the race.
The event was run by the Lynnfield Athletic Association for years but was transferred to the Pillings Pond Foundation back in May. While 341 runners participated last year, the race had 345 this year.
The winner was Lynnfield’s Angelo DeLuca, who came in second place last year. The 20-year old who just finished his sophomore year at Plymouth State, won with a time of 17:17 which was 30 seconds faster than last year.
Brian McCarthy, of Hansen was second at 18:11.
“The difference between last year’s race and this year’s was the training I have done,” said DeLuca, who is on the Plymouth State cross-county and track teams. “I am proud of the time improvement.”
DeLuca got off to a good start and broke away from the field.
“I was running with the police car,” he pointed out. “I went the first 800 meters with Shea (McCarthy) who is a good friend.”
DeLuca enjoyed every aspect of the event.
“The weather was perfect and I was happy to win a trophy and necklace,” said DeLuca. “We have a family party after the race and this time no one could give me a hard time about finishing in second place.”
McCarthy, who just graduated from Lynnfield High, came in third at 18:36. Last year, the 18-year old came in fourth overall at 18:26.
The two other Lynnfield residents to place in the top 10 overall were Garrrett McNeill and Scott Fitzemeyer. McNeill, 34, had a time of 20:02 while Fitzemeyer 40, finished at 20:16.
David Picariello (22) was 11th while Ritvik Mahajan (16) came in 19th (21:26).
Chris McCarthy came in 20th as the 29-year old had a time of 21:27 as Lynnfield residents had seven in the top 20 overall.
The women’s division winner was Jessica Squires as the Washington, DC resident had a time of 20:47. The 26-year old finished 14th overall.
Randa Julio (28), of Peabody, was second in the women’s division at 22:09.
Several Lynnfield residents won their respective age groups.
In the female 10 and under division, 10-year old Elle Fergerson was first at 25:58 as she was 69th overall. Kiley Pagliuca was first in the 11-15 group at 26:13. to come in 72nd overall. Mia Daley (16) was second in the 15-19 division at 22:54 to place 37th overall.
Jessica Caruso (27) was second in the 20-29 division at 23:07 to place 35th overall. In the 30-39 group, Allison Milford (39), came in first at 24:31 to capture 48th.
Kristen Dorsky was first in the 40-49 group at 22:27 to come in 27th overall. Kin DeLuca (56) was second in the 50-59 division at 28:58 as she was 136th.
Joan Smith, (67) was first in the 60-70 age group with a time of 31:31 as she was 191st.
For the men, Jack Cohen (8) was first in the under-10 group at 25:08 as he came in 58th overall. In the 11-14 age range, Luca DePalma (13) was first at 24:20 to place 45th.
McCarthy was first in the 15-19 group while McNeill was first in the 30-39 group.
Mike Juliano (64) was second in the 60-69 group at 27:59 to place 113th overall.
Thomas Acketman was first in the 70-plus age group at 25:11 to come in 59th place.