On a warm though mostly overcast early October day, the Middlesex Boys' Cross Country team traveled to the picturesque hilltop campus of Lawrence Academy for a mid-season quad meet. Amid the many loops of the newly updated course, the varsity picked up decisive wins against Brooks and Lawrence while falling to a solid Thayer team.

In rather humid conditions, sophomore Justin O'Toole again ran a composed, tactical race to end in 2nd overall with a time of 18:15, not far from Thayer's frontrunner. Junior Jack Audett (4th) and freshman Andrew Harris (6th) were the next finishers for Middlesex, coming in at 19:12 and 19:37 respectively. Senior co-captains Luke Collins and Ted Pyne (with sophomore Jack Starobin right behind) ran determined races to round out the scoring, while senior Kiran Tremblay and freshman Mac Hadden also worked well together in the varsity race.

In the JV race, freshman Gavin Cassidy ran with poise and control to secure the first win of his career with a time of 21:22. Senior Zeke Golnik followed close behind in 21:41, while junior Sam Ferrone and freshman Cannon Caspar crossed the line together in 4th and 5th. The strong finish of junior John Fashek after them cemented the win against all other teams, while junior Andrew Danoff and freshmen David Latham and Zan Danoff finished within half a minute of him, all in front of the second JV runner from Thayer. Tactical pack running was displayed at all levels of the race, with some great performances on a tough day.

The Middlesex Zebras will host the Zebras of Groton on Friday in what is sure to be a close battle to preserve the years-long home winning streak, hard-fought for by generations of gritty runners and storied teams.