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Astros, Central boys both 2nd at Catholic Memorial

The Pinkerton and Central Catholic boys cross country teams may both be peaking at the right time.

Both the Astros and Raiders finished second Saturday in separate races at the Catholic Memorial Invitational and gave signs that they'll be factors next week in the Division 1 state meet and Merrimack Valley Conference meet respectively.

Comparing times, Pinkerton was a bit stronger than the Raiders. Competing in Race 1, the Astros were a strong runner-up to Franklin, finishing with 64 points. Senior Joe Gagnon led the way with a 16:27 on Franklin Park's 5K course, which was good for fifth place.

Also running strong races for the Astros were freshman Luke Brennan in 11th with a 17:05 while Nolan Preble was 12th.

North Andover finished fourth in Race 1, led by Jack Bicksler in sixth ((16:41) followed by Kevin Wong in 20th. For Haverhill, which was eighth, Keith May came in ninth in 16:49.

In Race 2, junior James Burger led the Raiders with a 16:52 clocking, good for fourth place and Mike Blanchard was 10th. Methuen came in seventh, led by Xavier Metivier in seventh with a 16:59.

The Rangers would have finished higher but they were missing two key runners, one of whom was Freddy Coleman, who won the Catholic Memorial freshman race with a 10:33. Central's Evan Tremblay was sixth and Haverhill's Ben Craven was seventh.