AC Cross-Country 4-0

Cougars Beat Lowell Catholic Tuesday

Story Updated 7:40PM, Thursday, October 1, 2009

– Allison Goldsberry

The Arlington Catholic Boys and Girls Cross Country teams continued their undefeated seasons with victories over Lowell Catholic’s runners by scores of 20-39 (Boys) and 19-37 (Girls). Both AC teams are now 4-0.

The boys were once again lead by junior captain Joe Donlon (17:46) of Stoneham, who won the race by a margin of 2 minutes and 34 seconds over the 2nd place finisher from Lowell Catholic. Donlon, who is currently undefeated in the Catholic Central League, was 13 seconds off the AC school record for its home course at Menotomy Rocks Park in Arlington. AC senior Jon Mancini (Arlington) placed 3rd and junior Andrew Cohen (Waltham) was 4th, followed by AC’S other captain Kyle Lovett (Woburn) and Alex Morella (Arlington).

The AC Girls won in an impressive fashion, with senior captain Corinne LaVassuer (Melrose) finishing 1st with a winning time of 23:18. AC junior Lauren Reis (Arlington) was 3rd, followed by senior Harriet Gabbidon (Malden), senior captain Bonnie Ferreira (Somerville), and senior captain Linda Buehler(Woburn).

After the win on Tuesday, the Cougars still weren’t done. The freshmen and sophomores ran hard on Thursday and both the boys and girls teams won the Catholic Central League’s Freshman/Sophomore Championships.

The 2-mile race was held at Bishop Fenwick in Peabody and AC placed first among eight teams. The boys team won with the low score of 51 points, led by sensational freshman Kevin Connors of Belmont, who won with a time of 11:51. Sophomores Kyle Liberti (Medford) and Chris Laffery (Billerica) both placed in the top ten, placing 5th and 6th respectively. Sophomore Joe Buccheri, Nolan Hart, and Dave Buccheri, all of Medford, placed 18th, 19th, and 20th, helping complete the solid team effort.

The AC girls were equally as impressive, finishing with a total of 57 points. Freshman Janelle Solviletti of Billerica pulled away from the field with 800 meters to go and won with a time of 13:33. Sophomore teammate Bridgit Kirkpatrick of Medford finished a strong 3rd, followed by sophomores Becca Gonaslves (Woburn) in 9th, Mary Stanton (Woburn) in 16th, and Katie Clair (Woburn) in 28th.

The entire team will race on Saturday against Arlington at the annual Game Day Competition between AC and Arlington High. Head Coach Jack Dempsey said the team is focusing on making a strong showing against Arlington on Game Day.

Video highlights of the Lowell Catholic meet are available below: