Boys' XC Undefeated for 2nd Straight Season

Record: 5-0 (NE Champions) Burnished twilight filters through thetrees of the Loomis Chafee New EnglandChampionship course as senior captainKieran Scannell runs the last straightawayof the race completely alone. The crowdmurmurs at rst, then begins to creak andgrumble before climaxing in a roar as hepasses the nish line of the New EnglandChampionship in rst place, with a 5ktime of 15:24 and a mile pace of 5:08 for3.1 miles. Soon to follow, in less than aminute, are lower Holden Hammondtreein 7th, upper Tyler Courville in 10th,upper Sam Gray in 16th and senior AlexSardanis in 28th. Many of these placesare separated by fractions of seconds andwaves of runner pour across the nishas Phillips Exeter wins the Varsity NewEngland Championship. “Even after the race, we weren’t surethat we had won,” Scannell said. Scannell,who had taken an unquestionable leadin the rst mile, wasn’t even sure of hisvictory until the nal lap. “I only knew Ihad the race when I hit the nal stretch.”Scannell won the race by twelve seconds:a massive lead in a race with the NewEngland quality of competition. “The highlight of the season was de -nitely us coming together at interscholsand coming back home with a big plaque,”upper John Kennealy said. The boys’ JV cross country teamalso swept their race by placing in thetop six: senior Ben Corson won the race,upper Sam Blank came in second, seniorJackson Smith took third, lower QuincyTichenor took fourth, senior Connor Mulligantook fth and lower Max Larnerdplaced sixth. “We have the deepest teamin New England,” Courville said. “Theinter-team rivalry brings us together: it’sgood to have people you can race with andtrust on the team with you in practice.”Five of the top six runners on the JV teamran sub-17:00 5k times, an unheard of featin a junior varsity competition. Exeter’s boys’ XC went 7-0 thisyear and were the NEPSTA Division IChampions for the second year in a row.Up against individual opponents likeNorthfield Mount Hermon, Andover,Deer eld and St. Paul’s, and invited toInvitational competitions at Choate, theteam dominated every opponent on theelds and in the woods. The team took the top four spots atthe second North eld race and the raceagainst Andover. The members of thevarsity team, led by Instructor in ClassicsNicholas Unger and coach BrandonNewbould, were seniors Scannell,Sardanis, Mulligan, and Austin Crouse,uppers Gray, Courville, Kennealy and TJHodges, and lower Holden Hammondtree.The team captains were Crouse, Scannell,and Mulligan. The season began on a strong notewith an invitational at Choate RosemaryHall, which upper Sam Gray won. “Therst meet was very good,” Kennealy said.“We came into the season with a lot ofschools that would be our competitors,and with our number one runner our sick,Sam Gray won. I think it was a sign thatall of our summer training had paid off.” Races progressed well through theseason, and the competition consistentlyfell to the Academy’s runners. Scannellset a new course record at the North eldMount Hermon away race, and then brokethat record in the second meet there twoweeks later. “It felt really good,” Scannellsaid. The expected rivals of the team,DeerField Academy, were soundly beatenin a home meet in the middle of the seasonas the Academy took the top four spots.“I’d say the standout of our season wasthe Deer eld race,” Courville said. “Wewere thinking they were the team to beat.I was thinking about it all day in classes,and I think that day [of the race] we realizedour potential.” The team continued its progress,racking up victory after victory until theirrecord stood at 7-0, and they became thefavorites to win interschols. The teamvisited the course a day in advance andstayed the night in an effort to scope outthe competition. “The day before interscholswas important: there was a silentair of con dence, when we all knew whatwe had to do and we all knew we had toget it done.” Sardanis said. The seasonculminated in the two team victories:varsity and JV, in the New Englandchampionship. Much of the victory is attributed tothe coaches of the team: “Newbould” and “Unger,” as theteam calls them. “Coach Unger was alwaysso inspirational and motivational; hewants you to perform at your best becausethere’s something almost spiritual aboutit,” Sardanis said. “Newbould is erce ineverything he does. There’s a culture onthe team that if Newbould tells you to dosomething, you do it. There are two sidesto the coaching team: one guy telling youyou can do it, and the other telling youwhat you have to do.” Others specifically pointed to thecoaches’ training plans for the team asthe pathways to victory. “I think that thecoaches did a better job this year in decidingto break up the team into smallergroups, so no one trained to much or twolittle,” Scannell said. “That made sure thateveryone hit the sweet spot in the season.” Beneath the victories, there’s a deepsense of conviction in the team: a bondthat transcends trophies. “There’s somethingbeautiful that we can show up to arace, the school’s funding has us in ratteduniforms, and we’re in the lane and weknow that we can win.” Sardanis said.“We can make a statement in the waythat’s not very impressive other than theactual facts of it.”