Since the boys junior varsity and varsity cross country teams came in fifth and sixth last year during the NEPSAC New England Championships, the team has gained and said farewell to some valuable runners. There were three consistent sub-eighteen-minute 5k runners last year, and two of them remain. Losing the top-ranked runner on the team and captain Paul Michaud ’18 will play a big role in this year’s performance. He was a key part of the team placing 11th with a time of 17 minutes and 24 seconds last year, right in front of the number two runner, Leo McMahon ’19 who ran a 17:30. Even after losing Paul and fellow varsity runner, Sammy Malhotra ’18, the current lineup remains strong. Co-captain Leo leads the boys with a personal record of 16:38, and the other remaining sub-eighteen-minute runner, Aroon Sankoh (17:37), has returned this year with a time of 17:37. Tyler Weisberg ’22 (17:03) and captain Gus Vrattos ’19 (18:17) have moved up from the JV team to this year’s varsity lineup. With the top five runners at about 18 minutes or below, the team is faster than last year’s team which ran times across 17-19 minutes.

Four new sub-20 minute runners have joined the JV team, setting them up for a more successful season than last fall. Last year, a major factor in the team’s triumphs was that there were so many runners who ran similar times. This is important because many of the teams had a wide variety of times which affected their score. This year the team has all their times packed even closer than last year. Teams such as Thayer have the top 15 runners of the Independent School League (ISL) on their team, but also have runners who run 25 minutes. This makes their total time count significantly higher than teams with a smaller range of times.

     The girls varsity team lineup similarly experienced major changes this season. A freshman, Wren Fortunoff ’22, quickly became the number one runner on the team and holds a personal record of 20:20. The number two runner, co-captain Abby Kirk ’19, was injured last season during the New England Championships, but now is back and running brisk times like her 21:46 at Tabor. Lucy Gund ’19 joined cross country this year and is number four with a time of 22 minutes flat. Another new addition to the team is Katie Reveno ’20 who improved from 12th to 5th place on the team and is running times just over 22 minutes.

The team lost three varsity runners last year but is still looking robust. Many teammates have improved their times drastically from last year, including co-captain Marianne Lu ’19 who runs a 21:38 – over a minute faster than what she ran during the New England Championships last year.

Overall, all the runners have only gotten faster from last year, and the incoming runners such as Wren and Lucy are talented additions to the team. After placing 11th during the New England Championships last fall, the team is prepared to achieve even higher results this year. As Marianne said, “Our team has only gotten faster, and we are ready to do well in the New Englands.”

Both the boys’ and girls’ teams placed 5th in the ISL during the championship last weekend with Leo and Wren coming in 10th and 11th, respectively, overall. Last year, both teams were able to cut over 20 seconds off their team averages from ISLs to New Englands, and if that trend continues this year, we could see astounding results. We look forward to hearing about both teams’ successes.