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Lawrence speedsters bring home silver

The always tough Lawrence sprint relay team strutted its stuff at the All-State Meet.

The team of Jose Adames, Rafael Brito, Aneurys Burgos and Jacob Toledo came out of a slower heat to clock a 1:32.50 and place second. Weymouth won in 1:31.78.

"The main thing," began coach Bill Meuse, "at the MVC Meet, our handoffs were brutal. The cohesiveness is getting better."

Lawrence sliced 0.78 seconds off its fifth-place time at Division 1 States.

To run a quick time while not running in the fast heat is a challenge.

"It takes mental toughness," said Meuse. "Nobody is there to push you."

Meuse said the quartet is definitely shooting to run even faster Saturday at New Englands. That meet begins at 11 a.m. at the Reggie Lewis Track.

Individually, the top area performers were juniors in the 600 meters. Joe Luongo of North Reading and St. John's Prep won in 1:20.79 while Methuen's John St. Hilaire had another stellar effort to place fourth in 1:22.23.

The other local scorer was the North Andover 4x800 relay team. Dan Marino, Christopher Dalke, Joseph Mosby and Zachary Frahlich were fifth in 8:04.28.

The Knights slashed almost 12 seconds from their time last week at Division 2 States.