The top 14 runners from each of Ludow’s cross-country teams departed from LHS at 3:00 A.M. Friday morning to head to Logan Airport. These runners were on their way to Cary, North Carolina, to take part in the Great American Cross Country Festival.
The girls that participated in the race were seniors Allison Anselmo and Laura Fanning, juniors Disha Patel, Theresa Marini, Alexa Repko, and Deaven Theriault, sophomores Kayla Egan, Madison Foye, Meghan Pereira, Kim McCarthy, Sylvia Lipior, and Emily DeWolf, and freshmen Noelle Picard and Kierra McCarthy.
The boy runners that attended include seniors Dan Crowley, Eddy LaPointe, and Jake LeBlanc, juniors Matt Slepecki, Jake LaPierre, Brian Crowley, Drew Manuel, Jake Zina, Sean Egan, Philip Costa, Patrick Klosek, and sophomore Peter Skaza.
According to senior Siearra Papuga, co-captain of the girls’ team, the competitors were picked based on summer training, how the did in their workouts, and the races they took part in before the trip.
The cross country team has been planning and fundraising for the trip since spring. Even though they fundraised, each participant had to pay $250.
It was worth it, though, as both the boys and girls did well at the event, with the boys placing fourth overall and girls placing seventh overall.
Boys who placed individually in the top 25 include Dan Crowley in first, Brian Crowley in fourth, and LeBlanc in twelfth.
Brian Crowley states, “I was actually surprised to place fourth…I was 15 most of the race. ”
On top of coming in fourth, Crowley beat his personal record (PR) by 34 seconds.
The best part of the trip, he says, was “probably that most of us PRed…[it’s] probably the closest the team will get to nationals as a group.”
Brian Crowley was, however, disappointed that the team “didn’t beat [second-place] Amherst…one of three Western Mass. teams who went.”
Anselmo was the only Ludlow girl to place among the medaling runners, coming in at twenty-fifth.
Papuga, though, states, “I’m proud of the girls… I’m excited for what more will come to them.”
So far with the teams’ records (the boys stand at 8-0, while the girls are 7-1), it does indeed look to be a promising year for Luldow’s cross country program.