DEVENS — Behind a pair of top 10 individual finishes, the Frontier boys cross country team earned a top 10 team finish at the MIAA Division 3 Championships at Fort Devens on Saturday. 

It was Evan Hedlund who led the way with a sixth place finish with a time of 16 minutes, 48.66 seconds while teammate Luke Howard joined him in the top 10 with a ninth place finish (16:56.50), helping the Redhawks place ninth overall at the meet. 

Parker Charter took first followed by Hamilton-Wenham in second and Weston in third on the boys side. 

“I was hoping for a top four or top three,” Hedlund said, “but I can’t be mad. My teammate getting top 10 is something to be really excited about. The course was hard. It’s nice going from the first two laps where the grass is super flat and there’s rolling hills. If you’re good with hills, it’s an amazing course. Then you get to the third loop and it has the two steep hills on mulch. The downhills on the course are super steep.” 

A sophomore, Hedlund said he enjoys being pushed against the best in the state. 

“I love the competition,” Hedlund said. “I love the atmosphere. It’s everything I wanted.” 

Knowing it would be a difficult course to run on, Howard said he was pleased with the top 10 finish. 

“It was a pretty slow course,” Howard said. “Placement was what we were looking for. It was a big success for the season. This is what we hoped for so it’s great.” 

It was the hills that Howard said made the course at Fort Devens so challenging. 

“The course was hard,” Howard said. “There’s pretty brutal downhills as well as a big uphill there where it’s hard to keep your placement against the guys that run in the Berkshires and places like that. It’s great running at these races.”

Charles Dennis took 82nd (18:17.77), Hengxi Yue earned 87th (18:22.26) while Oliver Brown came in 111th (18:42.34) to round out the Redhawk scoring.

Greenfield’s Dylan Breiwick qualified as an individual for the Div. 3 state meet, where he placed 106th with a time of 18:39.48. 

The Frontier girls also showed well during the Div. 3 race, led by senior Sylvie DiBarolomeo who took 17th with a run of 20:29.56. 

“I’m really happy with it,” DiBartolomeo said. “It’s my senior year so to be able to run here again and run how I planned it out in my head was really fantastic.” 

That helped the Redhawks secure a 15th place team finish on the day. Hamilton Wenham was the team champion while Bromfield took second and Mt. Greylock settled for third. 

Frontier has plenty of experience running at Fort Devens and made sure to arrive early to get a read of the course. 

“We’ve been fortunate enough to race here before,” DiBartolomeo said. “It was nice to be back. We worked so hard for this so being able to run with these wonderful teammates again was great. We got here before everyone came and were able to walk the course to make sure we were prepared.”

Liv Christensen came in 72nd (22:20.80), Phoebe Radner took 118th (23:30.47), Maia Christensen placed 137th (23:54.02) while Sasha Malo earned 142nd (23:59.47) for the Redhawks. 

“I’m really proud of our team,” DiBartolomeo said. “It twas great seeing my teammates coming through the finish line and running so hard. We had a job today to work just as hard as we always have. It’s not a race to settle for; it’s the Meet of Champions. We’re really happy to be here.” 

Mohawk Trail, dealing with an illness that ran through the team, did not have enough runners finish Saturday’s race to qualify for a team score. 

Anya Read was the top Warrior finisher, placing 56th, making it through the course with a time of 21:58.64. 

“It was definitely interesting,” Read said. “My lung is not doing very well and quite frankly, a lot of people here have been having medical issues. This was an interesting race. Got a lot of dirt in my eyes but I feel really good. I went faster than I thought I would and I’m happy with it.” 

Mohawk Trail placed seventh at the MIAA Div. 3 qualifying meet last week, and Read said she was just pleased to have reached states for another year. 

“This is our third year going to states,” Read said. “I’m really proud of my team. We worked really hard to get here. The odds were stacked against us but our runners pushed through. We deserved to be here.” 

Natalie Lanoue was the next Warrior runner to cross, placing 97th with a time of 22:47.45. 

“It was OK,” Lanoue said. said. “It was a little hot and dry. I think all of us had a pretty tough race. The conditions were hard. We were really just focused on qualifying for this meet.” 

Ella Thompson took 160th (25:25.91) while Katie Osterman placed 168th (26:35.36) to round out the Mohawk Trail runners. 

“It’s just an accomplishment to make it to this meet,” Lanoue said. “We’re proud of that.”