NN Boys Win, Girls Lose at Wellesley

Cross Country races at Elm Bank Park can be over in a hurry. The 2.55-mile mostly flat course is the shortest in the Bay State League, making for highly tactical races and furious finishes.

Newton North visited Elm Bank on Tuesday for a meet against Wellesley. In the boys race, Wellelsey's Peter Krieg won in 13:00, but North's depth proved decisive as they took the next three places plus 7th and 8th to turn back the Raiders 24-32. Senior Dan Ranti finished 2nd for the Tigers in 13:09, followed closely by Ezra Lichtman in 3rd (13:11), and Justin Keefe in 4th (13:14, just in front of Wellesley's James Eisenstein who crossed the line in 13:16). After a long gap, the rest of the field started rolling in, with sophomore David Demerest (7th, 14:18) and Jon Long (8th, 14:23) completed the scoring for North.

Boys Results:

1. Peter Krieg (W)        13:00
2. Dan Ranti (NN)         13:09
3. Ezra Lichtman (NN)     13:11
4. Justin Keefe (NN)      13:14
5. James Eisenstein (W)   13:16
6. John Williamson (W)    13:58
7. David Demerest (NN)    14:18
8. Jon Long (NN)          14:23
9. Andrew Griswold (W)    14:29
10. Mike Schlichting (NN) 14:48

The girls race was almost a mirror image of the boys race. Newton North had the top finisher, as Margo Gillis won the race in 15:10. Wellesley took the next three places before Devika Banerjee crossed the line for North in 5th (16:42). Before another North runner could cross the line, Wellesley had nailed down 7th and 8th to win the meet 22-33.

Girls Results:

1. Margo Gillis (NN)      15:10
2. Priyanka Fouda (W)     15:23
3. Eva Lauer (W)          15:36
4. Eve Roth (W)           16:26
5. Devika Banerjee (NN)   16:42
6. Brennan Mullin (W)     16:44
7. Sarah Carrigan (W)     17:04
8. Julia Schlossman (NN)  17:10
9. Rebecca Trayner (NN)   17:11
10. J. Schiantarelli (NN) 17:16

(Times are taken from athletic.net and Metrowest Daily News)