NEWBURYPORT — Sunny, humid, and 70-degree weather were the conditions during Saturday’s Clipper Relay at Maudslay State Park in Newburyport.
It saw three runners per team, each running a full 2-mile loop through the park for a total of six miles per team in high school cross country action.
“It was, overall, a good showing with nearly everyone improving their time from last year or improving on their 2-mile time trial from earlier this season,” said Marblehead girls coach Will Herlihy.
A Marblehead boys team of Nate Assa, Henrik Adams, and Will Cerrutti took first place out of 141 teams.
“Nate recorded the fastest opening-leg split for any Marblehead runner to ever run at the meet and handed off the baton in second place,” said Marblehead boys coach Brian Heenan. “Henrik ran a tremendous second leg to give Will a chance to track down the leaders. Not only did Will track down the leaders, he went on to win by 11 seconds. He recorded the fastest split by any Marblehead runner to compete in this event, one we have been going to for over 20 years.”
It was the first time a boys team from Marblehead won the event.
Over to the girls, junior captain Marri O’Connell turned in the fastest Marblehead split for the third consecutive year. Her 11:45 time on the anchor leg caught eyes among all girl runners.
According to Herlihy, his team’s MVP for the day was senior Abbie Goodwin, who ran a two-minute personal best on the opening leg, then doubled back to close out the third leg of her own relay after a late injury to another runner.
Marblehead also showed off its new, young core. Sophomore newcomer Evelina Beletsky delivered the second-fastest Marblehead time in 13:56, while freshmen Ruby Assa and Evie Becker each ran in less than 15 minutes (14:16 and 14:40, respectively). Fellow freshman Mary Donnellan impressed in 15:21.
13th: Ruby Assa (14:06), Evelina Beletsky (13:56), Marri O’Connell (11:45) – 39:57
54th: Maren Potter (16:08), Mary Donnellan (15:21), Anna Cruikshank (16:10) – 47:38
63rd: Evie Becker (14:40), Willow Waddington (16:55), Avery Barbeau (16:59) – 48:34
77th – Thea Shaw (15:40), Ivana Nguyen (17:35), Emma St. George (17:04) – 50:19
79th – Abbie Goodwin (14:02), Molly Helmuth (21:31), Abbie Goodwin (16:17) 51:50
