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The North Andover girls gave it their best shot but couldn't quite pass Billerica at the MVC meet.

Led by Leyla Kvaternik, who was fifth and followed by Courtney Dalke and Abby Mastromoinaco, the Knights went 5-7-9 and also got an impressive 12th from Hannah Martin and a 19th from Laurem O'Connell, but Billerica — paced by standout winner Nicole Anderson went 1-2-8 to make its lead almost insurmountable.

It was a great end to the season for the Haverhill girls cross country team, sweeping a tri-meet with Methuen and Tewksbury. In fact, with the results of the meet, the Hillies (7-3) finished with the program's best regular season mark since 2012. Finleigh Simonds was the first Hillie finisher in second (17:50), and teammate Gabby DeRoche came in fourth (18:52).

Haverhill freshman Finleigh Simonds outkicked North Andover's Leyla Kvaternik (17:54-17:56) but the Knights remained unbeaten with the wins over Haverhill and Dracut. In the season finale Tuesday at Harold Parker, North Andover will take on fellow unbeaten Billerica for the MVC title.

At the Ocean State Invitational, Haverhill freshman Finleigh Simonds had her best race of the season, placing eighth overall in the Division 2 race with a 20:01.57. Brynne LeCours was the next finisher for the Hillies, who came in 14th overall. Freshman Keegan Wipff was 19th in the freshman race.

In a battle of top freshmen, Haverhill's Finleaigh Simonds edged Andover's Molly Kiley for first place and the Hillies swept a tri-meet with Andover and Lawrence. The Hillies took places 3-6 while improving to 3-1.

Freshman Finleigh Simonds placed first in an impressive 19:15 for 2.9 miles at Winnekenni Park to pace the Haverhill girls toa 15-44 romp over the Lions in one of their strongest performances in nearly a decade.

North Andover cross country coach Rick Dellechiaie has high hopes for his top three girl runners this fall and they certainly didn't disappoint Saturday at the season-opening Clipper Relays.