RallyNorth.net

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).

After dropping their first two meets, Greater Lawrence's girls cross country team won its next six, culminating with a 15-50 win over Notre Dame of Lawrence. Erianna Valverde led the way with a personal-best 21:55 on the Reggies' 3.0-mile course. The Greater Lawrence boys also won 15-50 with Marcos Olivieri taking first in 17:55.

Owen Carlton won the race by three seconds and powered Greater Lawrence to a season-opening 25-30 win over Essex Tech. Marcos Oliveri placed third.