Swampscott’s Walsh finishes second in all-states

It was almost the dream end to a stellar career for Swampscott senior Lindsay Walsh on Saturday at Franklin Park in the All-State Cross-Country Championship.Walsh and Pentucket’s Alanna Paretta would run toe-to-toe for the entire 3-mile route around Franklin Park with Paretta finding a gear in the final 600 yards of the race to pull away from the Big Blue’s star and take the girls Division 2 championship by three seconds.”It was a great battle between them,” Swampscott coach Dom Finelli said. “Lindsay tried to break away with 800 to go but (Paretta) was able to just eeke out the win.”It was still a day to remember for Walsh and the Big Blue as a team. Swampscott finished seventh overall, the best finish for a girls Big Blue team in over 14 years.IN the boys Division 1 competition, St. John’s Prep finished fifth as a team, led by A.J. Rossi’s 23rd place performance (17:03.6). Jarrett Harrigan finished 27th (17:12.3) for the Eagles.Marblehead also had a good performance on Saturday, finishing sixth in the Division 2 race as a team. James Wigglesworth was the top finisher for the Magicians, coming in 28th (17:34.3)