LYNN — The St. Mary’s boys and girls cross country teams put on a solid showing Wednesday afternoon despite some obstacles, but only the boys team could register enough points to earn a victory in a tri-meet with Catholic Central League foes Arlington Catholic and Archbishop Williams at Lynn Woods. The boys team fell to Arlington Catholic, 29-26, then beat Archbishop Williams, 25-30. The girls team lost to Arlington Catholic, 17-38, while Archbishop Williams did not field a full girls team.
“It was a warm, humid day today which didn’t make it easy out there,” said St. Mary’s coach Mike Cerulli. “But both teams competed hard out there and we had some solid finishes. It’s still early in the season so we have some work to do, but all in all we did a nice job out there.”
The boys team (1-3) was paced by Taban Manyok, who finished second overall with a time of 15:40. Manyok finished just 30 seconds behind Arlington Catholic’s Sean Kay, who’s one of the top runners in the state. While it’s a great accomplishment, considering Manyok was running in his second career race in his first season of cross country (he played soccer his first two years at St. Mary’s), Cerulli thinks that Manyok’s ceiling is much higher.
“He’s probably the best natural runner I’ve ever seen,” Cerulli said of Manyok. “I think he’s going to be the real surprise in the CCL this year, and by the time the state tournament rolls around he could be top five in the state.”
Mike Carroll (sixth place), Anthony D’Itria (seventh place), Kyle Kwiatek (11th place) and Sean Osbahr (13th place) rounded out the top five finishers for the Spartans boys team.
The girls team (1-1) was dealing with some injury problems, as the Spartans were missing their top two runners. St. Mary’s did still place three runners in the top 10 despite the injury issues, led by Lily Newhall in fifth place with a time of 20:06. Julianna Taborda finished in eighth place (22:31), while Luna Robichaud was right behind in ninth place (22:32). Colleen Osbahr in 11th place (22:44) and Lauren Casey in 13th place (24:37) rounded out the top five finishers for the St. Mary’s girls.
“We had two of our top six runners missing due to injury today, but we still competed well,” Cerulli said. “We have talented runners up and down the lineup, but a lot of them are young and don’t quite have the competitive experience yet. But that will come.”
Cerulli was happy with the outcome of the girls race considering the circumstances, pointing to the fact that nearly all of his top finishers are in seventh or eighth grade.
“The youth of our team really shines through sometimes,” said Cerulli. “There’s a big difference between training and racing, so all of these girls will learn that as we continue to compete. They just need some experience under their belt, and I think over the course of the year they will become a much better team.”
Next up for St. Mary’s is the CCL freshman/sophomore meet Tuesday. While it won’t have any bearing on the top runners from each side (nearly all are either upperclassmen or seventh and eighth graders), it will still be a good test for the middle portion of his lineups.
“Most of our top runners won’t be competing Tuesday because of their ages, but it’s still a good opportunity for the other runners in our lineup who can compete,” Cerulli said. “It will be great experience for those runners, and hopefully a few of them will stand out for us.”
