RallyNorth.net

METHUEN — Tyler Sullivan showed in a painful way yesterday afternoon that nothing could stop the Methuen boys cross country team.

In a battle of two of the state’s top teams, the Rangers, who are No. 3 in the State Coaches’ Division 1 poll, clipped No. 2 Lowell in convincing fashion, 23-32.

Methuen rolled past Central Catholic and Chelmsford in a tri-meet, taking the top six spots. The two victories stretched the Rangers' win streak to 23 meets dating back to early in 2007. This ties the school record, which was set in the early 2000s, said coach Bill James.

Methuen's Tyler Sullivan, Ben Pare and Jared Reddy all finished in 16:06 for 2.9 miles and Corey Hamel

and Andrew Stamatopulos finished in 16:07 in a 15-48 cross country romp over Haverhill.

Methuen junior Cam Kelley ran a 16:36, just 15 seconds off the winning pace, to come in fifth and complete a 15-48 rout of both Tewksbury and Lawrence. Andrew Stamatopulos, Jared Reddy and Ben Pare tied for first and Tyler Sullivan was fourth in 16:31.

In what was expected to be much closer, the Methuen boys cross country team captured the first four places in a 17-44 victory at Andover. Jarred Reddy cruised to first in 16:38 on the 3.1-mile course with Andrew Stamatopulos, Ben Pare and Tyler Sullivan in the next three places.

Running without top runners Jared Reddy and Ben Pare, both of whom are battling the flu, Methuen's boys cross country team still finished eighth among 36 teams in the Division 1 race at the McIntyre Invitational.

Methuen's top boys relay team ran a superb 30:10 to place first and set a meet record at the Clipper Relays at Newburyport yesterday.

Andrew Stamatopoulos led off and handed to Ben Pare, who ran 9:54 for his 2-mile leg and then handed to Jared Reddy, who overcame a 40-yard deficit to win going away, defeating runner-up Lowell by 33 seconds.