LYNN — The Classical and English cross country teams went into Tuesday afternoon’s cross-town rivalry meet at Lynn Woods with added motivation. But when it was all said and done the Rams showed up in force with the girls and boys each coming out on top.
“This day is always fun for the kids,” Classical coach Kevin Fidrych said. “A lot of the kids grow up with some of the kids from English and know them from middle school and stuff. It’s a friendly competition but it’s always competitive. It’s probably one of the most competitive matches we have all year. You can see the kids putting in the extra something and bringing extra motivation to the course and that’s always nice to see.”
Rachel Brennan continued her dominant year for the Rams with another first-place finish (21:25) to help the girls win 15-50. Miriam Bamaca finished second with a time of 22:09.
“For the girls, Rachel Brennan’s one of our top runners on our team and a top runner in the Northeastern Conference,” Fidrych said. “She has won every one of our meets this year.”
On the boys side, English got a boost from a first-place finish by Adnan Jalal (19:00) but a group effort put the Rams over the top. Kevin Baker (19:44), Max Gonzalez (19:58), Jacob Lang (20:37) and Josh Stone (21:05) came in 2nd through 5th to lift the Rams to a 20-39 win.
“That’s nice to see,” Fidrych said of the boys combined finishes. “I’m really pleased with everyone’s performance. Obviously I’m really pleased with the back end in the top five with the boys. English has a really good runner in Jalal. He’s one of the top runners in our conference. It’s nice to see our boys go two, three, four, five and six after that.”
The great performance from the girls and boys comes as no shock to the Rams. Fidrych points to the team’s camaraderie and work ethic as key factors for this season’s recent success.
“It says a lot about the teamwork they bring to the sport,” Fidrych said. “The guys, you see them working together out on the course, taking the time and motivating each other. That’s nice to see and that showed. It’s obviously an individualized sport but at the same time it’s a team sport and you have to get those points.”
The Rams will have some time off before a big week with meets at Gloucester next Wednesday (4) and at home against Revere next Thursday (4). Then the Rams, along with the Bulldogs, will shift their focus to the NEC meet on Saturday, Oct. 26 at Gloucester.
“We’re all very happy with both the girls and boys teams this season,” Fidrych said. “The girls have won four in a row and the boys are now 3-3. We’re approaching the conference meet and gaining some momentum which is big. We’re looking for a solid performance from both teams in a couple weeks.”