Varsity Cross Country at NEPSTA

Over the weekend the boys and girls varsity cross country teams competed in the NEPSTA tournament, with the girls placing first and the boys second...Congratulations to both teams! The following are the highlights from coach Miguel Pizarro:

The Berkshire School is a good place for Hopkins Cross Country. The last time the NEPSTA championship races were held there, in 2002, the Hopkins teams came back with two team championships, also the last time the girls' team won the race. This year was almost as good.

Walking the course before the race, the teams knew that it would be a tough day. The beginning and ending of the course, that is, the parts that spectators could see, were not particularly hilly. However, the part they couldn't see, where the course disappeared into the woods, was a different story, with a particularly steep hill, its corresponding descent, and real "cross country" terrain.

The varsity boys ran first, and in the first 400-800 meters they were not in particularly good position. They didn't panic, and by the two-mile mark, they had worked themselves into contention, with a stellar race from junior Matt Klein, who finished second in a time of 16:53, a very good time on that course, which earned him All-NEPSTA honors. Junior Andrew Segraves got 16th place, junior Teddy Haines was 25th, senior captain Justin Manley 27th, and senior captain Alex Heyison 31st. Sophomores Calvin Park and Jake Marks rounded out the race for the Hilltoppers, as the non-scoring (but displacing) 6th and 7th runners. Matt's superb performance was crucial, but what should not be overlooked is that the strength of the team all the way through the fifth runner was what allowed us to do well. Many teams had two or even three runners who were all faster than most of ours, but only one other team, eventual champion Brunswick, was stronger through the fifth man. As a result, Hopkins was able to take the second-place team title with only one individual star, but with a very strong and consistent team, the first time they had placed so high since 2007.

The girls went into the race with higher expectations than the boys, as on paper they knew that they had an excellent shot to win, having already beaten the most dangerous team in the field, Winsor, at the Canterbury Invitational in September on another very hilly course, although only edging them by two points that day. It is safe to say that most of the girls did not like the hill. One of the coaches, watching the race on the hill, was alarmed by what he saw. Of the scorers, one threatened to drop out, another was briefly reduced to a walk, and a third was wheezing "like a pipe organ." By the time the course flattened out, the team regrouped both mentally and physically and started to re-exert control of the race. Eighth-grader Hannah Springhorn, a star on hills, out-dueled the individual champion from our local FAA league, who had won every race in the FAA this year, including a 25-second win over Hannah on a flat course five days earlier at the FAA championship. Hannah finished second in the race, with a spectacular time of 19:49. Breaking 20:00 is always a good indicator of a strong performance from a girl, but to do it on such a hilly course was phenomenal. The Balcezak sisters, Isabel and Lucy, finished in 7th and 8th places. Junior Erin Rosenberg had a very strong race, finishing 14th, and junior Margaux Sica finished in 16th place. The top 15 finishers in the race earned All-NEPSTA status, and so the team came within a hair of having all five scorers earn that honor, which also qualifies a runner for the NEPSTA all-star meet the subsequent week. Junior Katie Farrell and senior captain (and six-year varsity runner) Gabriela Cooper-Vespa, returning from injury, rounded out the race for Hopkins. With such a dominating performance, the Hopkins girls earned their first team title since 2002.

The JV races also featured some wonderful performances and great ways to end the season, and in some cases, cross-country careers. First-time runner, senior Nate Smith, who had not been at 100% through most of the season, won the race handily by 13 seconds. Senior Dylan McDonnell ran a very solid race for 7th. Sophomore Dan McCabe ran well for 9th. Senior captain Erik Jorgensen, who had perhaps the worst luck of any of our runners throughout the season, struggling with allergies and at least four ankle sprains, all of which interfered with his ability to train effectively, ran a very good race for 16th place. The whole rest of the JV team ran great races as well, in many cases some of their fastest times of the year, particularly impressive on such a tough course.

In the girls' JV race, junior Nicole Gorton, who had been wondering for days if she could win the JV race outright, did just that, opening up an insurmountable 17-second lead by the two-mile mark and not letting go of it by even a second. Sophomore Kirsten Jorgensen and freshman Etana Solomon ran impressive races for 5th and 6th places. Freshman Susan Zea broke into the top 15 by placing 13th, and senior captain Gemma Regan-Mochrie (also a six-year runner) ended her career with a very hard-fought performance for 20th place. It was also great to see freshman Kaitlin Hickey continue her return to racing with a solid race.

It was a great day for Hopkins runners, the best in recent memory. Even though we had two six-year runners on the team, neither of them had been on the team the last time a Hopkins team won a title at NEPSTA. The coaches could not be prouder of what these teams achieved this year, and we're already looking forward to next year.