The Amherst Regional and Northampton cross country teams met in a more intimate setting Tuesday.
Three days earlier the teams competed at the much larger Amherst Invitational.
While the Blue Devils got the better of the Hurricanes in the boys meet, on Tuesday Amherst returned the favor in the dual meet.
The Hurricanes came away with a 29-30 win as Northampton nearly ended Amherst’s 20-year home winning streak.
Amherst (3-0, 3-0 Valley North) had the top three finishers with Jack Yanko leading the way.
Yanko bounced back from an uncharacteristically slow run on Saturday, crossing the 5-kilometer finish line in 17 minutes, 23 seconds Tuesday.
Amherst coach Chris Gould was glad to see Yanko back to his old self on Tuesday.
“He woke up with a cramp Saturday morning and had it for a day and a half,” Gould said. “It hadn’t happened to him before, but I think he was under control today and ran great.”
Aiden Foucault Etheridge and Aidan Shea finished shortly after Yanko with times of 17:45 and 17:48, respectively.
“Aidan Shea just went for it. He sort of set a tone,” Gould said.
While Northampton’s top seven finished fourth through 10th, Owen Price and Sean Towse closed out the victory for Amherst. Price was 11th (19:00) and Towse 12th (19:34).
Benjamin Gordon-Sniffen was the fourth runner to finish and the first Blue Devil with a time of 18:02.
Northampton’s Tim Jacques (18:24), Phillip Hempstead (18:28), Nick Peterson (18:42) and Michael Dean (18:47) followed Gordon-Sniffen within 45 seconds of each another.
Add in Johnathan Dean and Bobby Innes-Gold, and the Blue Devils’ top seven finished within 47 seconds of each other.
“It was kind of like, ‘Hey guys let’s get out there, let’s set the tempo, let’s make sure we get a good push across the line and establish some good pack times here,’” Northampton coach Brandon Palmer said.
Despite the heat and not getting the win, Palmer was content with the way his team performed.
“They didn’t have the performance they were looking for last Saturday, which set them up for the dual meet here today,” Palmer said. “It stinks because now we’re going to have to wait until the Western Mass. championship to see them again.”
Amherst junior Sophia Jacobs-Townsley placed first in the girls meet, finishing in 20:27 as the Hurricanes beat the Blue Devils, 19-42.
Jacobs-Townsley finished 1:28 seconds ahead of Mary Yount of Northampton.
Amherst (4-0, 4-0 Valley North) had the next four finishers: Julia Hopley, Maddie Shea, Zada Forde and Augusta Fricke. All four finished within seven seconds of each other with Hopley and Shea crossing the finish line in 22:08.
Emma Yount finished in seventh place (22:56) for Northampton (3-1, 3-1). Saraphina Foreman was 10th (23:56), followed by Maddie Etzel (11th) in 25:07.
Maggie Reade rounded out the Blue Devils’ top five with a 19th place finish in 26:56.