Cross Country: Marblehead, Swampscott boys, girls split

Marblehead-Swampscott showdowns are never dull and with the Northeastern Conference South boys cross country title on the line, the intensity of this fall’s regular season finale between the two schools was kicked up a few notches.Both teams were undefeated heading into the meet and Marblehead (7-0) came out unscathed, winning 21-39 to capture the conference crown. The Big Blue, however, still had plenty of reason to celebrate. Sam Rakoc won the race and broke the Marblehead course record with a time of 15:58. The old record (16:22) was held by Liam Anastasia-Murphy.Marblehead took the next four positions led by Ross Peterson (16:34), James Wiggleworth (17:04); Will Herlihy (17:11) and Andrew Graf (17:14).Swampscott’s Ilya Smelyansky finished sixth (17:17), Sierk Vanderberg, ninth, and Steve Bazant, 13th (18:11).Swampscott finished its regular season, 6-1. Both teams will compete in the Northeastern Conference championship Saturday at Bradley Palmer State Park in Ipswich.Peabody 16, Revere 48At Peabody, the Tanners (7-0) made it back-to-back Northeastern Conference North titles by sweeping the first five spots. Nick Christiansen led the way (15:37), followed by T.J. D’Amato (16:10); Keene Terenzone (16:27); Casey Grenier (16:37) and Chris Mercedes (16:39).Peabody coach Joe Rocha was thrilled with his team’s performance, particularly because the Tanners had three freshman and a sophomore in the top four spots.GIRLS CROSS COUNTRYSwampscott 20, M’head 35At Marblehead, Lindsay Walsh and Kelly Walton provided the Big Blue (4-3) with a deadly 1-2 punch. Walsh finished first (19:22) and Walton, second (19:39). Marblehead’s Madeline Piela took third (19:42) and Swampscott’s Amelia Antrim, fourth (19:43). Big Blue freshman Hannah King took fifth.Marblehead’s Bridget Forbes took sixth (20:36) and teammate Kate Hewig finished seventh (20:41). Swampscott freshman Niki Laskaris took eighth (20:52). The Big Blue finished the season 4-3 and Marblehead 5-2.Walsh was coming off a second-place finish in Saturday’s Catholic Memorial Invitational.”There were some fast times,” Marblehead coach Andrew Smith said. “Swampscott’s pretty tough up front.”Peabody 16, Revere 48At Peabody, the Tanners (6-1) finished 1-2-3 with Brittany Creamer (18:09) establish a record for the best time for a Peabody girl on the course. She beat the old mark by 20 seconds. Jen Pickard took second (19:05), Britani Atkinson, third (19:08) and Megan Connors, fifth (19:29).