Lexington spoils Winchester girls cross-country’s chance for perfect season; boys end up with two wins

The regular season is now over for the Winchester High School boys and girls cross-country teams.

In their last two meets, the girls (5-1) lost to Lexington at Horn Pond on Oct. 14, 16-44, while beating Reading the following week on Oct. 21 at Reading’s Town Forest, 16-47.

The boys (2-4), on the other hand, dropped both meets. Lexington defeated them, 20-43, before the Rockets sped past them, 18-47.

Noah Damaske (16:12) was the star of the show against the Minutemen.

“(Damaske) ran hard in this meet, and as a result was able to come in first by one second,” said Coach Kirsten Healey. “He has also consistently been our top runner all season long.”

Healey added that Lexington has “two very strong teams, and it is always good to race against good competition, and because of that we had numerous personal bests.”

The Winchester girls team has been battling some injuries, with four of its top runners out against Lexington, but Healey likes what she sees from her younger personnel on the roster.

“We (specifically) have two very talented freshmen – Millie McDonald and Chloe Chan – who are continuing to develop nicely, and have been running well all season long,” she said.

With the regular season now over, both running squads are looking forward to the annual Middlesex League Meet at the Woburn Country Club on Monday, Oct. 27.

“I anticipate strong performances from many of our runners, as they get ready for the (state) championship season in November,” said Healey.

After Damaske, Tyler Bernstein (16:49, personal best) also had a Top 10 finish against Lexington, ending up 10^th overall. Noah Mannelli (16:51, personal best) was right behind him in 11^th place, followed by Nikola Dimitrov (17:30, 14^th), Nate Bickford (17:50, personal best, 15^th), Noah Dollard (18:00, 16^th), Callum Knowles (18:02, 17^th), Adel Halaseh (18:04, 18^th), Benjamin Davis (18:22, personal best, 19^th) and Peter Gierga (18:29, 20^th).

Caroline Lanz (19:01, personal best) was the first Winchester girl to cross the finish line against Lexington in fifth place, followed by Chloe Chan (19:22, personal best, seventh), Michelle Su (19:51, personal best, ninth), Alexis Machemer (20:38, 13^th), Abigail Bastien (20:39, personal best, 14^th), Madelyn Baynes (20:50, personal best, 15^th), Elizabeth Nguy (21:13, personal best, 17^th), Lila Daly (21:52, personal best, 18^th), Josie McCabe (21:59, personal best, 19^th) and Ella Newbert (22:25, 20^th).

Against Reading, Damaske (16:31) was the first Winchester boys runner to cross the finish line in third place, followed by Bernstein (16:57, seventh), Mannelli (17:02, eighth), Dimitrov (17:24, 11^th), Knowles (17:45, 14^th), Halaseh (17:58, personal best, 18^th), Bickford (18:01, 19^th) and Dollard (18:06, 20^th).

Julia Ramsey (20:05) broke the tape first in the girls race against Reading. Lanz (20:12), Chan (20:40) and Millie McDonald (21:01) secured the next three places from second to fourth, which helped the Red & Black dominate the Rockets.

Su (21:20) was sixth overall, and was followed by Bastien (21:28, seventh), Baynes (21:36, eighth), Machemer (22:00, ninth), Nguy (22:02, 11^th), Ella Newbert (22:06, personal best, 12^th), McCabe (22:19, 14^th), Daly (22:21, 16^th), Caitrin Newman (23:03, 17^th), Avery Jiang (23:16, 19^th) and Grace Siciliano (23:20, personal best, 20^th).

Joe McConnell is a longtime, award-winning sports editor for numerous North Shore publications. He began covering Winchester sports for the News last November.