Girls' Cross Country Places First at NMH

GILL, MA - Big Red girl’s cross country ventured to Northfield Mount Hermon for their second invitational of the season, and the first one scored on a team-basis.Despite the tough conditions, including warm weather and a challenging, hilly course, the girls persevered to finish in first place against six other schools. Exeter had the most top-20 finishes in the entire race, with 10 girls finishing in this top tier.Senior co-captain Anika Ayyar was impressed with the girls’ ability to perform so strongly in one of their first races of the season.

Senior co-captain Anika Ayyar was impressed with the girls’ ability to perform so strongly in one of their first races of the season.

“We had a pretty difficult week in terms of workouts, which were quite tough, so it was great that even after that everyone was able to have a great race,” Ayyar said. “I definitely think that we had a stronger race than our last race, even though we did really well in that one as well, because people ran faster times. We had 10 people in the top 20, which is crazy because it was a multi-school invitational. Groups of Exeter runners were coming in together, which is again always good because it’s good to run in packs.”Senior co-captain Valerie Bright also felt that the girls rose to the challenge and did not let nerves become an obstacle to a successful meet. She said, “This race went even better than the last one, because wecourse, but we still managed to get through it really well, especially our runners that finished in the top 10. It was impressive how many of them there were.”Particularly notable performances came from prep Christine Hu and upper Elsa Chinburg, who finished second and fourth, respectively, with times of 21:34 and 22:05.This was Hu’s second consecutive second-place finish in a race, an impressive feat especially given that this is her first season running for Big Red.Hu accredits the team’s overall success this season to Ayyar and Bright’s leadership skills. “The captains Anika and Valerie are doing an amazing job leading the team and setting good examples—they are the people who motivate and encourage everyone on the team, and we wouldn’t be able to perform as well without their leadership,” she said.Despite their successes, the team is suffering from injuries to three of their most dedicated runners: Ayyar, lower Audra Smires and upper Courtney Smith. Their injuries, according to Bright, are mostly concentrated in the shin and ankle.“The girls who are out are all very serious about cross country, so this definitely hurts the team to have them out with injuries like that. The fact that they’re not running definitely impacts the team, so we’re all hoping they will get better soon,” Bright said. “The good news is that there is still time in the season for them to get better.”For the remainder of the season, the team is looking to continue its winning stride while also maintaining the health of its runners, which will be crucial for a successful run at Interschols.“We hope to get everyone healthy and training hard again because that will definitely give us the strength to compete for one of the top spots at Interschols this year,” Hu said. “We have the determination and the spirit.”