The Mathews Blue Devil Harriers had a triumphant start to the 2013 season on Sept. 4. Both the boys’ and girls’ squads scored victories over their opponents West Point, Middlesex and King William at the meet, which was held at Gloucester’s Beaverdam Park.
The Mathews boys dominated their opponents, with Blue Devil runners placing second, third, fourth, fifth and sixth overall. That gave the Devils a team score of 20, far ahead of their nearest competitor, Middlesex (63). West Point (65) and King William (98) rounded out the field.
It was a little closer for the Mathews girls, who also came in first with a team score of 35, ahead of King William (46), West Point (52) and Middlesex (98).
For the boys, Justin Adams led Mathews to victory with a time of 18:13. Adams was trailed by Tucker Blackwell (18:57), Nick Brown (19:00), Sam Jasinski (19:19) and Phillip Machen (19:31).
Rounding out the boys’ varsity team were Jalen Thomas (20:14) and Tommy Mayo (20:38). Jayvee runner Caleb Carson also ran an impressive time of 20:17 for his first cross country meet. Other notable finishes included Sam Gale (22:19) and Jordan Jenkins (22:01). Both Gale and Jenkins took three to four minutes off their personal records, and they were only a couple of the runners who significantly improved their times.
The Lady Blue Devils experienced an equally satisfying win at the race Wednesday. Kate van Emmerik was first for Mathews and second overall with a time of 21:42. Following van Emmerik was jayvee runner Emma Hudgins (23:54, fifth place), a very impressive run for the first-year athlete. Behind Hudgins were varsity runners Ellie Gale (24:32, sixth place), Kelly Nelson (25:17, ninth place), Emily Brown (25:27, 11th) and Kristen Fauber (26:48, 14th) to fill the rest of the scoring places for Mathews.
Logan Howlett (27:46, 19th) and Maria Spadaccini (29:05, 26th) completed the girls’ varsity team last Wednesday. Mathews’ jayvee runners Rileigh Betz (27:56), Maddie Hobert (28:21), and Chloe Sanderson (32:49) all improved their times tremendously from the beginning of August. As seven of the 11 girls competing are new to cross country this year, the future looks bright.
“This was a great start to the racing season,” head coach Drew Greve said after last Wednesday’s win. “Many of our runners lack experience, but it didn’t show today.”
The Blue Devils traveled to Lancaster yesterday to compete against the home team Red Devils, as well as King William and Essex. They will travel to Lancaster again next week to compete with Middlesex and Essex.