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WRENTHAM — There were plenty of noteworthy performances for the area girls at the state country meets Saturday at the 3.1-mile Wrentham Developmental Center course. That terrific rivalry between Andover junior Molly Kiley and Methuen senior Miana Caraballo was kicked up a notch. The two local stars were near the front of the pack at Division 1 States with Kiley third in 18:29.6 and the UMass Lowell-bound Caraballo fourth in 18:30.6. The race went down to the wire with Sharon's Daphne Theiler winning in 18:26.5. The powerhouse North Andover girls placed fifth in the 23-team D2 field. That was the good news. The better news was they may have been the youngest team to qualify in any of the three divisions. Scarlet Knight scorers were: freshman Luna Prochazkova (14th out of 188 runners in 18:43.4), fellow frosh Nicole Kroon in 27th (19:10.4), senior Leyla Kvaternik 47th, sophomore Leigha Leavitt in 96th and sophomore Gabby Harty in 102nd.   Kvaternik had been on the sidelines for a couple weeks so her return paid big dividends. Haverhill standout Finleigh Simonds placed 32nd in Division 1. At Division 2 States, Pentucket had the top boy or girl local team performance of the day with a third-place finish. It scored 126 points, losing out on the silver to Whitinsville Christian on a tie-breaker. Senior Phoebe Rubio (12th, 19:08.5) and sophomore Kaylie Dalgar (17th, 19:20.2) came up big. Other scorers for the West Newbury regional school were junior Audrey Conover in 33rd, junior Libby Murphy in 46th and senior Ella Edic in 47th.

Whittier Tech had reason to be proud with sophomore Noel Tripp placed 67th in the 188-runner Division 2 States field.

WRENTHAM — Junior Ryan Connolly of North Andover and senior Freddy Coleman of Methuen were the top local runners Saturday at the Division 1 state cross country meet. Connolly ran the 5K course in 15:46.5 for 13th place, just in front of the UMass Lowell recruit Coleman, who was 14th in 15:46.9. North Andover was the lone local boys team to qualify in any of the three divisions. Coach Rick DelleChiaie's Scarlet Knights placed 15th out of 23 teams. The last time the Knights qualified for States was 2008.  Connolly was backed by Matt McDevitt, 72nd; Luke McGillivray, 88th; Andrew Sorokin, 99th; and Colby Winn, 141st. The No. 3 local D1 runner was Andover's Colby Kirn in 61st. Whittier Tech senior Mike Driscoll wrapped up a memorable fall with a 17:13.4 clocking to place 69th in the Division 2 state meet.

There were several elite efforts by local girls in the nine state divisional cross country meets. Methuen's Miana Caraballo and Andover's Molly Kiley renewed their rivalry in the 1A meet in Wrentham (3.1 miles). Caraballo was brilliant, taking second in 18:30.9, just 2.1 seconds behind Barnstable's Ava Bullock. Kiley was right there, too, crossing the line in 18:40.0. The next local harrier was Haverhill's Finleigh Simonds in 21st place. Another local performance of note was North Andover's Luna Prochazkova taking second in the 1B meet at Wrentham in 19:07.1. She led the Scarlet and Black to an eighth-place out of 23 1B qualifiers. Whittier's Noel Tripp again proved she can run with the best in the area and beyond. She took 13th in 21:09 at the 2A meet in Gardner (3.1 miles). The top local girls team was Pentucket, which took home the silver at the 2B race in Gardner with 63 points. Holliston won with 25. Leading the way for Pentucket were Phoebe Rubio (5th, 19:34.5), Kaylie Dalgar (9th) and Audrey Conover (14th).

In the new nine-division state cross country meet format, several local harriers shined Saturday in Gardner and Wrentham. The op local finisher was Methuen's Freddy Coleman, finishing ninth in a field of 189 at the State Division 1A meet. He ran the 5K Wrentham course in 15:55.2 with Andover's Colin Kirn (19th, 16:23.9) the next local 1A finisher. The area's No. 2 runner overall was Ryan Connolly, who placed 10th in Division 1B with a 16:16.7 clocking. He powered North Andover to a third-place finish among the 25 1B teams. Connolly was backed by Matt McDevitt in 21st, Luke McGillivray in 31st and Andrew Sorokin in 36th. Central Catholic's top finisher was Alex Wilard (31st in 1C) and Whittier got a strong effort from Mike Driscoll (39th in 2A).

Haverhill won a 3-2 marathon over Lincoln-Sudbury Friday to punch its ticket to the Division 1 state volleyball semifinals. The Hillies (19-2) were on the ropes throughout but showed champions hearts to pull out the 15-25, 25-17, 16-25, 26-24, 19-17 win. Just to make it even more dramatic, the Brown and Gold trailed 24-20 in Game 4. There were a host of heroes including Kya Burdier (30 assists), Morgan Flaherty (4 aces), Lexi DeOlivieria (4 blocks), Summer Zaino (18 digs) and Mia Ferrer Valdez (15 kills). "The team really hung tough," said coach Vincent Pettis. L-S finishes up at 16-7. The No. 2 Hillies take on No. 6 Newton North in the state semis. The Tigers, now 17-2, beat North Andover Friday, 3-0. The date, site and time are TBA.

LEXINGTON — Ahmad Hansberry scored on a touchdown pass and a long pick-6 as host Lexington beat Haverhill, 20-9, Saturday in a non-playoff game. Tristan Naylor caught a TD pass from Adrian Sarrette to lead the Hillies (0-9). The Minutemen improved to 2-6.

Haverhill volleyball whipped Beverly in its state tourney opener, 3-0. The Burdier sisters and Lexi DeOliveira starred.

Brenna Corcoran had a hat trick and Kaleigh Longenecker had three assists as Haverhill field hockey broke out with five goals in the second half for a convincing 6-1 victory over EVerett.