THE WARRIORS won the JV race at the Twilight Invitational. Pictured from left to right is Brendan Campea (5th), David LoCoco (20th), Robert Brown (3rd), Matt McCoy (10th), Marcus Conte, Adam Lambiaso (35th) and Cooper Davis. (WMHS track and field photo)
FALMOUTH — The Wakefield High boys’ cross country team raced under the lights at the Cape Cod Fairgrounds on a beautiful fall evening this Saturday for the annual Twilight Invitational.
The varsity squad ran in the Medium sized school race and finished 4th as a team. The winner was Burlington, Coe Brown of New Hampshire was 2nd and East Greenwich of Rhode Island was the 3rd place team.
Leith Jones got off the line aggressively and put himself in the front pack early on the 5K course. He finished 8th in a time of 15:56 which was over a minute faster than his time on the course last year.
Junior Mike Arria placed 28th in a time of 16:46, a personal best.
Ben Stratton was 35th with a time of 17:04.
Junior Ollie Polster came from far behind passing many runners to finish 58th in a time of 17:36, over a minute faster than last year. Junior William Mezikofsky ran 17:45. Junior Joe Patt ran a personal best of 17:56 to place 77th. Sam Bangston placed 106th in 18:22.
The Sophomore Race was exciting for the Warriors as they cruised to the team victory behind strong performances that earned seven medals for the Warriors. Medals were awarded to the top 25 finishers and there were 123 sophomores in the race.
George Palmer ran a patient race and sprinted to a 5th place finish in a time of 17:16. Brandon Nett was close behind finishing 6th in 17:21.
Andrew Nett was 7th in 17:27. Marcello Caruso was 13th in a time of 18:06. Brody Wyatt placed 16th in 18:29. Jacob Ciriello was 17th in 18:31. Aidan Martin snagged one of the last medals placing 24th in 18:57.
Ben Hickey ran a personal best of 20:42. Tim DeBenedictis also had a personal best time of 22:58.
The Junior Varsity impressed with a team victory over 23 other teams and took home four medals by placing in the top 25 out of 274 runners.
Junior Robert Brown had a nearly 2 and a half minute improvement from last year and placed 3rd with a time of 17:53. Junior Brendan Campea also had a minute and a half improvement from last year to place 5th in 17:57. Matt McCoy improved by nearly a minute to place 10th in 18:27. David LoCoco improved by a minute and a half placing 20th in 18:47 to earn one of the last medals.
Also running well and helping with the team victory was junior Adam Lambiaso who placed 35th to close out the scoring with his time of 19:13 for a 2 and half minute improvement from a year ago. Cooper David ran well in 21:09. Marcus Conte had a nearly 2 and half minute improvement finishing in 21:35.
The Freshman race was also successful for the Warriors. They placed 2nd as a team.
JP Casey placed 13th in a time of 12:03 for 2.1 miles. David Rocca placed 15th with a time of 12:05. Both Casey and Rocca earned medals.
Aidan Burd placed 39th in a time of 12:46. Ryan Paige placed 83rd in a time of 13:42. Kenny McShane ran tough after sustaining an injury early in the race to finish 90th in 14:02 to help the Warriors post a team score. Five individuals from each team must finish for team scoring.
“It was great to see many of these kids see their hard work pay off,” said head coach Perry Pappas. “We are excited about the success at Twilight and hope to create some momentum as we head into the postseason in two weeks.”
The Warriors hosted Stoneham on Tuesday for Senior Day, coming away with a win and improving to 4-1 in dual meets. They travel to Wilmington on Oct. 25 for their final regular season meet.