Before testing their superlative running skills against the rest of the state, the Marblehead High girls cross-country team (7-0) completed its conquest of the Northeastern Conference with the running of the annual NEC Open in Gloucester on Halloween. They had won all seven regular season meets, and then once again bested their conference peers in a meet that determines the 2026 all-star team.
The Marblehead girls validated their regular season championship with a dominating performance at last Saturday’s Open. They compiled 33 points, easily outdistancing second place Swampscott by 48 points.
For the record, the final varsity results were as follows: Marblehead (33), Swampscott (81), Peabody (91), Masconomet (92), Beverly (104), Danvers (119) and Salem (182).
Sarah Munroe (second), Eleanor Morgan (third) and Norah Walsh (seventh) all made the NEC All-Conference team, while Ruby Assa (10th) and Evelina Beletsky (11th) were named to the all-star squad. Sophia Letwin (18th) and Nadia Siragusa (22nd) rounded out Marblehead’s varsity finishers.
Altogether, Coach Will Herlihy’s team had five runners cross the finish line before any other team had three, while the team’s top seven finished ahead of any other team’s five.
The Marblehead JV girls also finished on top. Izzy Anaya Lanzillo was the first Magician to cross the finish line in second place, followed by Charlotte Sheridan (third), Evie Becker (fifth), Ginny Donato (sixth), Jesslyn Roemer (15th), Patty Windsor (16th) and Maddie Gelb (30th).
There is no team scoring in the JV race, and only two teams — Marblehead and Masco — fielded enough runners to actually score, but just between them, the Magicians would have had a winning score of 26 points to Masco’s 31.
Grubor earns All-Conference honors for the boys
The Marblehead High boys came in fourth in last Saturday’s (Oct. 31) NEC Open at Gloucester’s Stage Fort Park. Altogether, they accumulated 85 points.
The Masco boys won the annual meet with 41 points, followed by Swampscott (52) and Peabody (54).
“We had our best performance of the season so far,” said coach Brian Heenan. “Filip Grubor earned All-Conference honors after coming in sixth overall. Freshman T.J. Waters continued to impress in his first year on the varsity with a 15th place finish. Isaac Durand (19th) and Felix Regnault (24th) ran their best races of the year, when the team needed it the most. Victor Pechhold (25th), Ivan Monin (27th) and Dylan Boland (31st) rounded out the Marblehead lineup of runners in this year’s Open.”
The Marblehead JV boys also had some solid performances. Cenzo Vorn led the way with an eighth-place finish. He was followed by Ronan Lewis (18th), Cooper Wilson (28th), Daniel Le (31st) and Milo Calechman (54th).
Both boys and girls teams will now compete against the state. First up is the Division 2A Championship Meet at the Wrentham Developmental Center on Saturday, Nov. 14.
