For the first time in 16 years, the Gloucester High School girls cross country team has finished first in the Northeast Small Conference.

The team finished their season with a record of 5-1, having only lost to Peabody. However, due to Peabody’s large student population, they are considered a “big” school within the conference.

“It’s pretty impressive,” said senior captain Carly Curcuru. “We had a really strong team to win against Marblehead in our first meet- we’ve never won against Marblehead in all the years I’ve been on this team.”

On October 29, during the NEC meet at Bradley Palmer State Park in Hamilton, the team saw four of its top runners finish in the top ten.

Curucu finished fifth overall and first for Gloucester with a time of 20:06. Curcuru was followed by junior Christina Jones, sophomore Lead Rudolph, and junior Lindsey Parisi with times of 20:28, 20:09, and 21:53, respectively.

The girls team finished third overall in the meet, while the boys finished in eighth.

On Saturday in Wrentham, the team will be competing in the MIAA Divisional Meet where Gloucester will be competing in Division 4. The time is still to be announced. If the team wins, they then have the chance to move on to the State Meet the following week.