Wildcats Cross Country
The Cross Country team wrapped up a wonderful and successful season at the Patroon Conference Finals at Schodack Island State Park on Tuesday. The course was flat, weather was cool, and the sky was overcast providing the perfect conditions for our team to post stellar performances both personally and in all divisions. We finished fourth, but two of our runners are conference all-stars and our season was filled with success!
In the Modified division of 44 runners, eighth grader Josiah Hinestroza placed second overall on the 2.1 mile course running an average pace of 7:12 min/mile. Harry Saunders is a rising star, placing fifth overall as a seventh grader, and Everest Xie-Burns was only ten seconds behind Harry. The future is bright! Nimai Coffin and Charlie Malone finished close together in the middle of the pack, making it look easy! Eleanor Novobaczky had a blistering finish, and I’m looking forward to seeing more of her speed next year. Lianna Mullaney had one her best performances of the year!! Well done Lianna on some inspirational running. We missed having our positive sunshine Bella Jensen out there who could not run due to injury. Looking forward to having her on the Varsity squad next year!
Our Varsity boys posted some great times among a very tough field of competitors, and all three of our sophomore competitors placed in the top 20 in a field of 50 runners. Congratulations to Alex Beck! He placed 9th overall with a time of 18:53 on the 3.1 mile course, an outstanding performance that landed him a spot on the second team conference all-star team. Thomas Madey ran a great 19:33 placing him 18th overall. He displayed great sportsmanship throughout the year, and I’m looking forward to seeing him break 19 minutes on a consistent basis next year. Theo Bergquist was just behind Thomas, placing 20th and running an average pace under 6:30 min/mile. Theo has a bright running career! Owen Beck was not far behind the sophomore class, running a 20:49. He fought hard and was focused with a clean looking stride that will only get better over time. His fellow classmate Theodore Bissonette, was unable to compete due to illness but was one of our most improved runner. Starting on the Modified team and working really hard, he was outstanding during the long distance runs at Varsity practice and had a great performance at the Maple Hill invitational earlier in the year. It was always a pleasure coaching our two varsity runners Idris and Amir Evans this year! Sadly, Amir had a season ending injury just before the conference final. He was a consistent and steady runner with a great looking stride. Wishing him the best in his future running adventures. Idris ran strong at the conference final, and I think he should be really pleased with his time. A natural sprinter, he still looked at home on the cross country course, and it wouldn’t surprise me if he became a talented distance runner.
Lulu Saunders instilled fear in her competitors and for good reason. A naturally talented runner, she placed among the top runners in every meet. She finished 7th at the conference final with a time of 21:41 and third at the Maple Hill Invitational where she ran an average pace of 7:09 min/mile. She is a first team all-star for our conference!! Congratulations Lulu. ~ Coach Vineis
