Although the Revere High boys cross country came out on the short end of a 20-41 decision last Tuesday to Beverly, one of the teams that typically finishes at the top of the Northeastern Conference, RHS head coach Mike Flynn saw reason for optimism for this year’s Patriot runners.
“Beverly swept us last year in a shutout,†said Flynn, “but this year we placed two boys in the top five and three in the first 10, which is a big improvement.â€
Junior Mike Fitzpatrick led his teammates with a third place finish in a time of 17:28 over the 2.88 mile course. Senior captain Ernesto Bonilla came in fifth in 17:54 and junior captain Brian Collins finished 10th in 18:10.
Rounding out the top five for Flynn’s crew were sophomore William Truong in 13th place in 18:54 and sophomore Kristi Nushi in 14th in 19:08.
However, what especially pleased Flynn was that his top five all had improved dramatically over last year. Fitzpatrick bettered his personal record time on the Revere course by more than two minutes; Bonilla by 36 seconds; Collins by 26 seconds; Truong by 59 seconds; and Nushi by 2:31.
“The boys who ran during the summer really improved, which was very gratifying to see,†said Flynn.
Other Patriots who competed in the meet were senior captain Anthony Cantone-Heinz, who is coming back from an illness, in a time of 20:28; Louis Morales in 20:55; David Barrett in 23:37; Kane DiMasso-Scott in 25:27; Nick Tran in 27:48; Michael Stronaiuolo in 28:37; Anderson Venegas in 28:46; freshman Matthew Roncevich in 28:46; and John Carnabucci.
The boys traveled to Peabody yesterday (Tuesday) and will hop over to Winthrop next Tuesday.