BARNSTABLE—Members of the MHS girls and boy’s cross country teams make the trek south to Barnstable, MA last Saturday to take part in the annual Bob Glennon Twilight Meet at the Barnstable Fairgrounds.
The annual tradition draws hundreds of high school runners who compete among the state’s best. Both boys and girls teams had solid finishes with Melrose junior Caleb Barnes finishing 15th among hundreds in the boy’s varsity division. Barnes had the fastest time of the evening for Melrose, putting down a new school record at the event, clocking in a blazing time of 15:45 over the 5k course. Also running in the varsity race and setting a personal record of 18:06 was Billy Oldham. Jad Jamaleddine ran a strong 18:16 and Emerson Blanchard broke 19 minutes also with his 18:56 time. Andre Bancu finished the varsity scoring with a season best 19:29.
In the sophomore race, Adam Caldwell had the highest Melrose finish of the night grabbing a lofty 3rd place in 16:43. Sophomore Henry McCormack also ran great as he broke 18 minutes for the first time as he came across in 17:44. Harrison Lee led Melrose in the JV race in 21:31, with Grady Kamosa, 22:22, and Harrison Brown, 22:35 close behind. Finally Liam Pham ran his best race of the year finishing the 2.1 freshman race in just 15:55.
Coach Kevin Allison enjoyed the performances. “It is a fun and unique event. It was great to see everyone give it their all. We had so many personal records.”
The tireless team topped that off on Tuesday with its 3rd straight league win, a 19-36 victory over a solid Wilmington team. Caleb Barnes cruised to the victory in 17:32. Adam Caldwell was 2nd in 17:36, and John Strong was just one second behind in 3rd. Wilmington captured the 4th and 5th spots, but 6th went to Jonah Tully in 17:59, and Henry McCormack sealed the victory finishing right behind in 18 minutes flat. Ben Dugan finished 10th in 18:32, and Jad Jamaleddine finished 11th and completed the top 7 for Melrose with an 18:47 time. “It was a strong win against a very good Wilmington team,” he said. “I thought we ran very well, especially coming off a very tough meet Saturday.”
Melrose has a 3-1 record and will need some help from Wilmington next week when the Wildcats face 4-0 Wakefield. Melrose hosts Burlington next Tuesday to wrap up their regular season schedule.
Girls’ team holds their own among best
The Melrose High girls cross country team also competed strongly in the event at the Barnstable Fairgrounds with an 11th place finish overall and saw several runners crack the top 100.
Melrose’s best time was clocked by Naomi Breay at 20:50, followed by Darby Thompson at 73th. Adeline Lawlor was close behind with a finish of 21:30. Those rounding out the varsity race included Ella Ugino, Kensington Ludlum and Jaya Karamcheti.
Both teams celebrated Senior Night on Tuesday.