Health & Fitness
O’Brien & Dwyer Lead Blue Devil Runners
Sophomores Kyle O’Brien and Ethan Dwyer are set to lead the Huntington High School boys’ cross country team this fall. They are the top two returning scorers from last year’s team and head coach Shawn Anderson said they are “fitter than before.”
Junior Tim Gress is also expected to be one of Huntington’s best runners. “He has steadily improved each year,” Anderson said. Freshman Connor Grosso, the top distance runner at J. Taylor Finley Middle School last year and senior Nick Sherman are newcomers to the Blue Devil cross country squad and both are capable of making an immediate impact.
“This is Nick’s first year,” Anderson said. “He showed some real promise last winter, during his first track season. This year, he has put in the summer work and looks to be leading the charge.”
Find out what's happening in Huntingtonwith free, real-time updates from Patch.
Rounding out the roster are promising freshmen Shane McGuire, Sean Mello, Ryan Mock and Rudy Fasolino, sophomores Riley Mello and John Arias and junior Cristian Morales.
“While we have a young team and are still slowly building, this looks like a promising year against the competition and especially for some individual runners,” Anderson said.
Find out what's happening in Huntingtonwith free, real-time updates from Patch.
Last year’s team compiled a record of 0-5, but achieved individual success along the way. The squad was captained by senior Thomas Boisclair, who is now studying civil engineering at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst. The team’s improvement was evident when eight of nine runners turned in personal best times in Huntington’s final meet of the season.
Anderson is confident that the Blue Devils will continue to make strides. Huntington’s meets are held at Sunken Meadow State Park’s cross country course.
Harborfields topped the Blue Devils in the first meet of the season. Sherman finished second in 16:45 on the new 2.87 mile course and O’Brien placed fifth in 17:58. Dwyer, Grosso and McGuire rounded out Huntington’s top five runners in the meet.
The meet marked the first time Huntington’s runners were competing on the new race course. “Hurricane Sandy destroyed the turnaround at the moat” of the original course, Anderson said. “They have a different finish that goes around the parking lot and back by the start.”
