Cross Country: SWR’s Pesso second in division meet; Riverhead fifth as a team

Shoreham-Wading River freshman Olivia Pesso finished second in Division 4 at the Section XI Division Championships last Thursday at Sunken Meadow State Park in Kings Park. Pesso, who finished fifth in last year’s meet, clocked a time of 20 minutes, 18.80 seconds on the 5,000-meter course.

Also finishing for the Wildcats were: Ellie Connell (11th in 22:38.30), Maddie Lynn Kiernan (13th in 22:56.30), Anna Minetti (15th in 32:21.00), Caroline D’Andrea (16th in 23:28.40), Ella Meeker (18th in 23:51.80) and Madison Zelin (24th in 25:45.40).

As a team, SWR finished sixth in the team scoring with 230 points.

On the boys side, SWR senior Benjamin Wyszomierski was second in 17:50.60. Patrick Shea (10th in 18:48.50) was the next SWR finisher. He was followed by teammates James Minetti (18th in 19:36.40), Spencer Lee (19th in 19:37.50), Noah Parrinello (26th in 20:24.80), Noah Wyszomierski (28th in 20:30.40) and Jake Albert (30th in 20:51.60).

SWR placed 12th as a team with 305 points.

Riverhead had six boys compete in the individual qualifier, led by sophomore Sean Rowland, who was 16th in 20:23.40. The other Riverheaders were Connor Moos (45th in 21:50.40), Kalum Marangio (53rd in 22:05.80), David Burns (62nd in 22:34.00), Ulise Arqueta Velasquez (67th in 22:49.20) and Dominick Polakowski (85th in 23:54.30). Riverhead was fifth in the team scoring with 179 points.

The Riverhead girls competed in the team qualifier race and finished 19th overall. Junior Anna Lagnena was the top finisher for the Blue Waves in 26:04, followed by Abigail Payne (21st in 26:13.5), Danielle Polakowski (33rd in 27:30.50), Emma Ellis (36th in 27:40.7) and Olivia Atkinson (39th in 28:29.5).

The Section XI Championships will be run Friday at Sunken Meadow.