Lincoln-Sudbury Girls Cross Country Team 1st in DCL Championship Meet

(EDITOR'S NOTE: The following was submitted to Sudbury Patch.)

The Lincoln-Sudbury Girls Cross Country program dominated the multi-race, Dual County League Championships last Friday held at LSRHS. The varsity squad had redemption on their minds as last year’s race was won by a talented Weston HS team breaking a 3 year, LS win-streak.

With an impressive display of team-depth and youth, the Lady Warriors powered past their DCL competitors with the varsity placing 5 runners in the top 11 spots. Sophomore Sydney Clary finished 4th overall in a time of 18:35. Clary was followed by sophomore Morgane Butler (5th / 19:04), junior Brianna Bisson (8th / 19:14) senior captain Katie LaScaleia (9th / 19:15), senior Sam Cook (11th / 19:21), freshman Ariel Keklak (18th / 19:57), senior captain Daniela Hargus (20th / 20:03), senior Jillian Valpey (26th / 20:27) and sophomore Dory Lustig (38th / 21:06).  Lincoln-Sudbury (37 points) easily distanced themselves from 2nd place finisher Concord-Carlisle; 74 points.

The LS girls continued their dominance in the Junior Varsity race as Anna Kelly eclipsed her opponents winning in a time of 20:24 which would have placed her 25th in the varsity race. Lissie Connors (4th / 20:57), Peri Segel (10th / 21:19), Kate Lawson (12th / 21:24), Sarah Mepham (17th / 21:43), Rosie Rust (19th / 21:50), Emma Palumbo (26th / 22:16) all contributed to the strong showing.

The freshman race provided the closest contest of the day. Encouraged by the cheers of the partisan home crowd, Shannon Johnson roared from behind to edge her Westford Academy opponent by .02 seconds at the finish line. Her effort kept alive a six-year win streak for the Lincoln Sudbury program in the frosh race. LS placed 7 girls in the top 18 for the event;  Nicole Kerrigan (3rd), Clara Bisson (4th), Nancy Lucier (9th), Mia Vigener (13th), Claire Telfer (14th) and Choloe Faucher (18th).

Coach Phelan was all smiles at the conclusion of the day;  “It was a great day for the program. We competed hard in all three races and the team continues to improve as we head into the state and regional meets.” During his 5 year tenure as Lincoln Sudbury XC coach, Coach Henry Phelan has guided the team to four (4) DCL Championships and a perfect 5-0 regular season DCL Large School Championship titles.