New Wakefield cross country squad off to a strong start

After suffering their first loss since the 2010 season when they opened up against Arlington, the Wakefield boys cross country team has bounced back with an exciting win against Reading, and another solid win against Watertown.  They then followed that up with a very promising performance at the Frank Kelley Invitational this weekend.

Aaron Lucci and Jared Geller are the only two returning runners from last years Middlesex League Championship and State Finalist team.  Stephen Robertson is now running for Providence College, Jon Miksis and Chris Haddad are both competing for Bentley University, James Bridges is attending University of Vermont, Marc Bucchieri is at Tufts, and Andrew Russo is at John Hopkins. Filling in for them are Sophomore Mike Sheehan, Junior Chris McNall in his first season of running, Sophomore Stefan Bucchieri, Junior Timmy O'Connell, and Sophomore Nick Hill.  

The new cast got its first true test on Saturday as the Warriors traveled to the Wrentham Developmental Center for the Frank Kelley invitational. By the end of the day the results showed the mostly new roster has the ability to be competitive at the state level.  They were able to come home with an impressive 4th place finish out of 21 teams in the Division 2 race.    Lucci ran a great race on the 3.1 mile course, placing 5th staying close much of the race.  Geller also had a great race with a time of 17:22, placing 21st out of the 192 runners.   Mike Sheehan ran a great race in 18:07, Chris McNall continues to show his potenial with a strong finish and 18:36, Stefan Bucchieri, close behind in 18:46 to close out the scoring.  Timmy O’Connell(19:29) and Nick Hill(20:32) ran well. 

Junior Varsity (533 runners)

   Jared Matos    20:31                                  

  Rob Vozella     20:56                                  

  Ryan MacMillan   21:30                             

  Ryan Cunningham  22:17                          

   Nico Sordello   23:19                                

  Eddie Massabni  23:31                              

Eddie Massabni was the Athlete of the Meet.  On a course that would typically be 30-40 seconds slower than our home course, Eddie still was able to manage an personal best.  Eddie had a strong start and maintained a solid pace only to pick up the pace and mow down a bunch of runners coming around the final turn and down the straightaway to the finish.  Only a sophomore, Massabni has a great attitude and work ethic that will undoubtedly allow him to continue to improve while motivating the rest of the team.   

Freshman Race(132 runners)

  Alec Rodgers   12:01

  Joe Boudreau  12:15

  Steven Racamato  12:32.1

   Tom Sanchez  12:32.8

  Chris Skeldon  13:07

 Adam D’Ambrosio  13:27

  Tyler Whipple    13:43