By JENNIFER GENTILE
WATERTOWN—The Melrose High boys cross country is off to a quick start to the season, earning their first win over Watertown on Sept. 16 at Arsenal Park to start 1-1 following an opening loss against Winchester.
Melrose simply dominated the Raiders, scoring 50-15 and sweeping every spot in the top eleven. Coming in first was senior Henry McCormack. McCormack also placed first for Melrose against Winchester on Sept. 10.
His teammates followed in order: Max Basgen, Dan Teittinen, John Strong, Elliot Barber, Anderson Ji, Luke McAndrew, John Myters, Caleb Sanna, Antonio Falbo, and Levi Barnes. Watertown clinched the 12th 16th and 18th spots but Melrose ran to victory collectively from additional efforts by Lincoln Schuyler, Charles Lowe, Anders Smith, Lam Pham, Riley Reid, Bennet McGargey-VanLauwe, Kaiden Byrne, Miles Guiliana, Miles Reddall, Andrew Rogers and Beau Merrill.
Winchester proved a stiffer challenge on Sept 10 when Melrose traveled to Horn Pond to take on the Black and Red. Melrose fell 25-31, but had some very strong run times, in particular from Henry McCormack with a season best time of 16:42 and a very strong time of 16:50 from John Strong. Among those rounding out the top ten were Dan Tettinen (17:33), Ben Dugan (17:35). Elliot Barber, Anderson Ji, and Caleb Sanna completed Melrose’s top times.