EAST LONGMEADOW – Westfield Girls Cross Country team defeated East Longmeadow 24-32, and West Springfield High School 17-44 in East Longmeadow yesterday afternoon.
East Longmeadow’s flat course encompasses open fields, neighborhood streets and two laps of the spotless quarter mile track and totaling 2.6 miles, which is considerably shorter than the usual 3.1 miles and made for fast times all around. But the fastest of all the girls was Westfield’s Ally Morin, setting a new course record of 16:45. It was the third course record she has set in her four races this season.
The meet against East Longmeadow’s girls was very exciting with eight girls from each team among the top 19 finishers along with three from West Side. The first few runners from Westfield (3-2) made the difference in the points by taking three of the top four positions – Ally Morin (16:45), Jen Gresty (19:47), and Michelle Morgan (19:55). West Springfield’s Katelyn Loring captured sixth place overall. Kaliegh Florek (20:38), Alyssa Cousineau (20:53), Shannon Boley (20:58) Nichole Plasse (21:15), Ellie Dufraine (21:15), Kailey Carambia (22:12) and Casey Conroy (22:13) rounded out the top 10 Westfield finishers.
The home crowd had plenty to cheer about with stellar performances by Spartans’ Meredith McGowan, Caitlyn O’Reilly, Victoria Evans and Meghann Byrne, who all scored points for the Spartans.
Westfield returns to the Whip City for its first home meet next Wednesday against Belchertown at Stanley Park at 4 p.m.
Palmer 15, St. Mary’s 40; McCann Tech 24, St. Mary’s 32
Palmer swept the top five overall spots and took eight of the top 10 in a meet at Stanley Park.
Hampshire 19, Southwick 40; Monson 26, Southwick 31
Three Southwick girls cracked the top 10 at Hampshire – Emily McKinney (5th, 21.41), Abby Howe (7th, 21.58), and Nabilah Khan (10th, 22.13).
BOYS’ RESULTS
Westfield 16, East Longmeadow 43
Westfield 17, West Springfield 46
Westfield’s Blake Croteau (13:58), Tim Doste (14:00), and Matt Jacobson (14:04) smashed the old course record of 14:27, blowing the competition away. All three Bombers placed 1-2-3.
Palmer 17, St. Mary’s 43; McCann Tech 26, St. Mary’s 31
St. Mary’s Matt Benoit placed fourth overall with a time of 20 minutes, 18 seconds. Luke Dengler placed eighth overall for the Saints in 21:59.
