Billerica High boys cross country captains, from left, Scott Canney, Ryan Leslie and Patrick Hall helped the Indians snap Lowell’s MVC 132-meet win streak Wednesday. Hall was first, Hall took sixth and Canney was seventh. (Courtesy photo)
Ryan Leslie took top honors, as the Billerica High boys cross country team edged perennial Merrimack Valley Conference power Lowell, 17-18, Tuesday afternoon at Shedd Park, ending Lowell’s 132-win league streak in dual meets.
Lowell hadn’t lost since 2009.
The upset victory was one for the record books for Billerica.
“We were definitely the underdogs today,” said Billerica coach Sydney Fitzpatrick. “Lowell had that long winning streak. Not sure the exact number, but it was over 120 wins in the dual meet season. And we knew with the home course, and their team culture, they’re always a tough team to go up against.”
Leslie led the way. The Indians’ tri-captain completed the arduous 2.75-mile course with a winning time of 14:16.9, with Lowell seniors Jack Courtney (14:44.2) and Victor Duong (15:12.1) hot on his heels.
But Billerica battled back with a breakthrough performance from Mason Niles. The electric eighth-grader placed fourth in 15:13.1, edging Lowell sophomore James Kelly (15:15.8) by nearly three seconds.
“Sometimes when these eighth-graders come in, they don’t know what they’re doing,” said Fitzpatrick. “Mason shined. He held off Lowell’s runner through the final kick, and we got them by one point.”
Billerica senior tri-captains Patrick Hall (sixth, 15:22.4) and Scott Canney (eighth, 15:34.2) maintained the team’s strong momentum. Freshman Sahil Gandhi rounded out the top 10 in 15:39.6.
“It was just a huge team win,” said Fitzpatrick. “All five of our top boys helped make it happen.”
Beating a perennial power like Lowell is something Billerica can take pride in.
“It just goes to show how strong their program is,” Fitzpatrick said of Lowell. “It really wasn’t until we got the official results that we could confirm with certainly (that we won), but we had a feeling after seeing our top five come in that it was very close.”
“If one athlete passed another across those top five, the outcome would have been in Lowell’s favor,” the coach added. “It was extremely close and extremely exciting.”
Billerica also defeated Dracut, 15-50, and Haverhill, 16-46. Lowell also picked up two wins, downing Dracut, 15-50, and Haverhill, 17-46. Timothy Schribman of Lowell ran to ninth in 15:38.2.
WA 23, Concord-Carlisle 32: Led by race winner Jack Graffeo, a junior who covered Westford’s 2.9 mile course in 15:12, the Ghosts earned the DCL victory.
David Haines was second for Westford Academy in 15:45, while Adam Wedlake grabbed third in 16:08 and Jack Whitman took fifth in 16:37.
Nashoba Tech 15, Sizer 48: The Vikings continued their winning ways with the victory over the Fitchburg school.
Junior captains Micah Wells and Sam Hesketh took the top two spots, while junior Richard Collins, freshman Josiah Wells and sophomore Keegan Strykowski rounded out the top five for the Vikings.
Lunenburg 18, Tyngsboro 46: Roland Slezas led the Tigers with a fourth-place finish in 19:23 in the Mid-Wach loss. Joe Nguyen ran to ninth in 19:58 for visiting Tyngsboro.
Andover 24, Chelmsford 33: The Lions received a winning performance from Xavier May, who crossed first in 17:10, but Andover’s superior depth won out. Methuen also ran in the meet.
Finishing third for Chelmsford was Marco Lombardo in 17:30.
Girls cross country
Vikings shine: Although no team scores were kept because there weren’t enough runners, Nashoba Tech freshman was first overall in a meet against Sizer. NT was also led by Emily Budau in third, Lidia Davis in fourth and Josie Daisy in fifth.
Lowell goes 3-0: On Senior Night at Shedd Park, host Lowell defeated Billerica, 27-30, Dracut, 15-50, and Haverhill, 24-31.
Dracut’s Sabrina Vitale ran to second in 18:37. Serena Nguyen and Sabrina Cady of Lowell took third and fourth in 18:44 and 18:54, respectively. Brianna Phelan of Billerica ran to fifth in 18:56. Ella Machado of Lowell claimed sixth in 19:00, while Billerica’s Emma Ausilio was seventh in 19:13
Also running well for Lowell (6-1) were Abby Meade, MaKyla King, Scarlett Prak and Lenary Feliz.
Lunenburg 21, Tyngsboro 35: Despite a second-place effort from Isabella Duarte, who covered the 3.1 mile distance in Lunenburg in 22:29, the Tigers were defeated. Brylee Betty crossed fourth in 23:15 for the Tigers.
Andover 22, Chelmsford 39: Undefeated Andover was too strong for Chelmsford in the MVC clash, but Kate Leonard of the Lions won the race in 19:44. Chelmsford also received a fifth-place effort from Mia McCusker in 22:19.
Redmen go 1-2: Tewksbury defeated Lawrence, 24-37, but fell 15-50 to Central Catholic and North Andover in a MVC quad meet. Teagan Claycomb led Tewksbury with an 18th-place finish in 22:11.
Golf
Dracut 11, Lowell 9: The Middies narrowly defeated host Lowell during a MVC match at Mt. Pleasant Golf Club.
For Lowell (0-9-1), winning matches were Teddy Steinberg (4&3), Matthew Casey (4&2) and Danny Gleason (4&3).
Quabbin 29.5, Tyngsboro 24.5: Connor St. Gelais earned medalist honors, but the Tigers dropped the Mid-Wach match.
Connor St. Gelais fired an even par 36 to win his match. Matt Hilterman also won for the Tigers (6-5-1).
Tewksbury 10.5, Central 9.5: Down 7.5-2.5 after the first two groups, Tewksbury rallied for a terrific MVC victory at Trull Brook Golf Course.
Individual winners for Tewksbury were Victor Pacheco (3&1) and Tyler Crawford (2&1), while Matt Cooke (38) flatted his match, as did Ricky Pacheco, Jake Civitarese and Jake Cunha. Best ball winners for the Redmen were R. Pacheco/Crawford (3&2) and Civitarese/Cunha (2&1) as the Redmen (4-4) rallied.
NT 141, Northeast Metro 137: Nashoba Tech earned the narrow victory at Stoneham Oaks to qualify for the state tournament.
Leading the Vikings (7-4) were Noah Davidopoulos (29 pts.) and Jayden Auger (28 pts), who each shot a 31. Also starring were Anthony LoConte (34, 22 pts.), Dominick Honnors (35, 21 pts.), Ryan Walsh (36, 21 pts.) and Greg Carmel (36, 20 pts.).
Chelmsford 12, Haverhill 8: The Lions remained red-hot with the MVC victory at Bradford CC. Individual winners for Chelmsford (6-1) were Jacob Carlson, Jake Damiani-Lessard, John Belanger, Mark Bierwirth and Robert Monahan.
Groton-Dunstable 32, Marlboro 21.5: Jack Van Pelt and the Crusaders continued their fine fall with a victory in Marlboro. Van Pelt carded a 41 to keep the Crusaders (12-2) on a roll.
Ayer Shirley 41.5, Clinton 12.5: The undefeated Panthers (11-0) show no signs of slowing down, picking up another win at Northern Spy in Townsend.
Boys soccer
WA 1, Boston Latin 0: Westford Academy netted a DCL victory thanks to a 12-save performance from goalkeeper Jack Bussey.
The lone goal was tallied by Leo Albuquerque and assisted by Shuban Bala. WA received strong play from Nihal Mark, Shuban Bala, Alex Xiang and Kavi Soman.
Swimming
M/T 97, Notre Dame 78: Undefeated Methuen/Tewksbury was too much for the Lancers in the MVC clash, as Ehtan Corthell, Carter DeLano and Johnathan Phan all won two events.
Corthell captured the 200 IM (2:31.31) and 500 freestyle (5:54.85), DeLano won the 100 free (59.31) and 100 breastroke (1:12.84), and Phan claimed the 50 free (26.12) and 100 backstroke (1:12.84). Divier Ramos Delgado led a sweep in diving with a score of 260.70 for Methuen/Tewksbury (5-0-1).
Field hockey
C-C 3, Chelmsford 0: The Lions couldn’t keep up with perennial powerhouse Concord-Carlisle despite seven-save performances in goal from senior Annika Froude and junior Zoe Ryan.
G-D 2, Tyngsboro 0: Goaltender Annie Apigian produced another great game to power the Crusaders to the Mid-Wach win. The Crusaders played outstanding defense as a team.
Allison Neiley and Caitlin Saboliauskas each had a goal assisted by Jenna Koch and Brooke Dondero, respectively, for Groton-Dunstable.
Central 4, Beverly 0: The Raiders of Central Catholic (7-1) received a three-goal, one-assist effort from Kerri Finneran in earning the non-league win.
Girls volleyball
Central 3, Lowell 0: The Red Raiders were defeated by Central Catholic in a MVC meeting, 25-10, 26-24, 25-10.
For Central (4-7), Isabel Sierpina recorded seven kills and 15 service points, Nicolette Licare had 22 assists and Julie Hall compiled 25 digs.
Billerica 3, Methuen 0: Ella Quin was huge at the net with 10 kills and two blocks to spark the Indians to the MVC win, 25-16, 25-19, 25-18.
Julia Luther and Kendra Marino added eight kills and six kills, respectively. Nyrah Joseph starred with four blocks and four kills, while Lily Todorova had four kills. Melissa Panaligan (20 digs) and Meghan Downs (11 digs, 15 service points, 23 assists) shined for the Indians (8-4).
Chelmsford 3, Tewksbury 0: The host Lions captured a 25-16, 25-18, 25-20 MVC win and also raised money and awareness on Dig Pink Night.
Bonnie Politzer paced the way with five kills, seven aces and six digs, Kyra Ward had eight and nine digs, and Maggie Luke claimed 20 assists, nine digs and two aces. Vivian Stripp added five kills and three blocks for CHS.
Ayer Shirley 3, Abby Kelley 0: The Panthers (5-6) pulled to within one victory of .500 thanks to a terrific performance from Isabel Bresnahan in the sweep.
Football
Here’s this week’s schedule:
Thursday: Lowell (1-3) at Chelmsford (0-4), 7 p.m.
Friday: Nashoba Tech (2-2) at Whittier Tech (3-1), 6 p.m.; Burlington (3-1) at Wilmington (3-1), 6 p.m.; Chelsea (1-3) at Dracut/Innovation (1-2), 7 p.m.; Pelham (5-0) at Milford (1-4), 7 p.m.; Alvirne (2-2) at Concord (2-2), 7 p.m.; Lunenburg (3-1) at Tyngsboro (3-1), 7 p.m.; Groton-Dunstable (0-4) at Maynard (3-1), 7 p.m.; KIPP (3-1) at Lowell Catholic (0-5) at Marshall Middle School, Chelmsford, 7 p.m.; Ayer Shirley (0-4) at Quabbin (2-2), 7 p.m.; Westford (2-2) at Waltham (0-4) at Bentley University, 7 p.m.
Saturday: Littleton (2-2) at Nipmuc (3-1), 1 p.m.; Billerica (4-0) at Tewksbury (4-0), 2 p.m.; Shawsheen Tech (4-0) at Greater Lowell Tech (1-3) at Cawley Stadium, Lowell, 2 p.m.; Northbridge (2-2) at North Middlesex (4-0), 4 p.m.
