LYNN — The Classical and English cross country teams went at it in their annual rivalry run at Lynn Woods Wednesday, and the result was an even split. The Classical boys earned a win over the Bulldogs, 21-34, while the English girls were able to grab a win over an undermanned Rams team. For the Classical boys, the victory was their first of the season.
“It’s always good to get a win against English, the guys are always looking forward to this race,” said Classical coach Kevin Fidrych. “It’s always a tough, competitive race against English.”
“Overall I thought we ran well out there,” said English coach John Walsh. “It’s always good to get a split against Classical, as they almost always have some great runners. I thought we could have finished a little better today, but that’s not how it worked out.”
For the boys race, Classical had a number of runners finish in the top 10, led by Junior Mejia’s first-place finish.
“The guys have been running really well this year, we have a really good group,” Fidrych said. “It’s not exactly reflected in our record (1-5) because we’ve gone up against a bunch of powerhouse teams this year, but the guys are working well as a team. We have a lot of runners who are doing great things individually, while also working cohesively within the team. It’s been great to see.”
Classical has certainly seen its share of tough opponents this season, having matched up against the likes of some of the top teams in the Northeastern Conference in Peabody, Beverly, Revere and Marblehead already. And while the caliber of opponents means wins it will be a bit more scarce, Fidrych believes the competition the Rams face each week will help them in the long run.
“Obviously you want to win each time you go out there, but we run in a very competitive league,” said Fidrych. “Going up against that kind of talent week in and week out is going to help our guys get better, especially our younger runners.”
English, on the other hand, finished a close second in the boys race behind the efforts of Adnan Jalal, who placed second overall.
“I expected a bit more from our team in the boys race to be honest, I thought we’d compete a little better,” said Walsh.
In the girls race, the Bulldogs earned a win by default due to Classical only fielding four runners. The top finisher for English was Maria Limbanovnos, who finished in first place.
“We ran well as a team today, which was nice to see,” Walsh said. “We had our top runner go down with a sprained ankle last week, so it was nice to see some of the other girls step up and get some good finishes this week.”
Next up for Classical is Everett next Wednesday afternoon (4). English will also have a week off before taking on Peabody next Wednesday afternoon (4) at Peabody High. Both teams will then gear up for the Northeastern Conference League Meet to close out the regular season October 27.