Ten days after finishing up their second-straight unbeaten Greater Boston League season with a win over Medford, the Malden High School boys cross country team dominated the GBL championships by taking five of the top ten spots en route to a 29-39 triumph over second-place Cambridge Rindge and Latin in late October.
“Our goal coming into the day was to have five to six runners finish in the top ten,” said Malden coach David Londino. “Last year we got three of the top four spots. After 2011 senior captains Andrew Terenzi and Patrick Keough graduated we knew we’d have to win it this year with our depth. Three of our top five finishers were underclassmen. They really stepped up and got the job done today.”
Senior Yusuf Mohamed got the Golden Tornadoes on the scoreboard as he pulled away and finished first overall (16:21) in the 2.9 mile, seven seconds ahead of Cambridge senior Will Suslovic. Just as exciting was the battle for third place between Malden freshman Berhanu Tsige and Cambridge sophomore Michael Scarlett. Tsige (16:48) who had kept pace with the leaders through most of the race was able to hold off Scarlett (16:53) and capture third place overall.
After Somerville and Cambridge runners finished fifth and sixth, senior William Wong (17:18) and sophomore Allan La (17:22) grabbed the seventh and eighth spots. Seconds later sophomore Danny Gould (17:26) crossed the line in tenth place. Junior Dawit Aynalem (12th) and sophomore David Kibazo (14th) rounded out the MHS scorers.
“We were very pleased with the overall performance today and I think a lot of our guys are going to be motivated by it and grow from it,” said Londino. “We have five of our top seven varsity runners returning next year and our junior varsity guys took ten of the top fifteen spots in today’s JV race. As long as they all continue to work as hard as they have been, they should be very confident moving forward.”
For their performances throughout the season and at the GBL Championship meet, Yusuf Mohamed, William Wong, Allan La, Danny Gould, and Berhanu Tsige were named Greater Boston League all-stars.