Boys’ XC Loses to Rivals Cambridge and Lincoln-Sudbury

By Emily Bulczynski
Sports Reporters

Newton South Boys Cross Country lost a tri-meet at Lincoln Sudbury this past Wednesday against their rivals, Cambridge RL and LS. Overall, the Newton South varsity boys fell 17-44 to LS and 19-40 to Cambridge after a tough race.

Out of 30 total runners, senior captains Gal Fudim and Bhavik Nagda finished eighth and ninth respectively, followed by senior Will Licho in 17th, junior Seth Walensky in 18th, sophomore Ben Powdermaker in 20th, senior Ben Fisher in 21st, junior Jack Landrigan in 24th, and sophomore Shaw Miller in 28th.

The JV race had an impressive six Newton South finishers among the top ten, including
senior Yifan Xu in first, followed by Andy Uruci in third, Max Lavey in fourth, Stevie Sheldon in sixth, Daniel Abercrombie in eighth, and Jared Stotsky in ninth.

“The JV guys have been putting in work, they’re doing really well this season,” commented Captain Fudim. “They’re winning- I think they’ve won every race so far.”

As for varsity, Landrigan noted that a place where the team has been losing ground during dual and tri-meets is near the middle of the race. Other teams have been able to place many runners between South’s second and third runners. This displacement of the team score allows the opponent to edge the South boys out for the win.

“We have a middle pack in varsity,” said Landrigan, “and we just need to step it up and beat some more guys from the other teams.”

“It’s kind of tough being the top guys representing South especially for us seniors,” Fudim said.

That being said, Fudim has a hopeful outlook for upcoming big meets. This Saturday they will be racing their first official 5k in the Wachusett Invitational, followed by the McIntyre Twilight Meet on October 15th, and then eventually the DCL championship.

“We’re consistent, we get better along the season,” Fudim said. During the league championship, the team goal is to “get our name in there and ideally place as many guys in the top 15 as we can,” Fudim said on the team goals for the DCL championship.

“We just need to do a couple weeks of hard training, step it up, and bring our A game for DCLs,” concluded Landrigan.