Boys and Girls XC Meet with Choate

By: Michael Yang, Anvi Bhate

The boys and girls cross country teams had their season opener at the Choate Invitational with a handful of other New England boarding schools. The cross country teams competed against seven other schools: Choate, Loomis, Avon, Westminster, Kingswood Oxford, and Trinity-Pawling. This was the first time since 2019 that the cross country teams competed.

Lower runner David Goodall described the races and course. “There were three races, the boy’s veteran race, girls veteran, and combined boys and girls novice race. The Exeter boys team had fourteen people in the veteran race and the rest of the team was novice,” Goodall said. “Choate has a very beautiful but hilly and physically demanding course.”

The boys’ head coach Brandon Newbould talked about the team mindset going into the meet. “The Choate Invitational was a strong and successful opener for us, and a celebratory return to racing. I told the boys in both races not to worry about re-asserting their dominance or making some kind of grand statement, and simply to practice and enjoy competing again,” Newbould said. “They did that, forging to the front of the veterans’ race and establishing tight packs, but along the way dominated the field.”

Post-graduate runner Kamran Murray reflected on his feelings and experience running for Big Red. “For me, as someone coming into Exeter as a PG [post-graduate], I have lots of experience racing XC all over the country but to put on the Exeter singlet and run with a team instead of a lot of solo races that were all too common during COVID was something I treasured and look forward to doing more of this season,” Murray said. 

Murray went on to talk about the atmosphere of the competition on race day. “Everyone seemed very excited to be in a real race again since it's been so long and we were all eager to see where we are performance-wise at this stage in the season after working hard all summer,” Murray said.

The boys team placed well all across the board. Goodall said, “The meet could be considered as a success overall. We swept the top seven for boy’s veterans and had ten runners within the top fifteen. The junior boys did very well too, placing third through ninth, plus strong showings from everyone else.”

In addition to the strong results, both new and old runners finally enjoyed a normal race on the hills after prior COVID restrictions. Goodall explained, “It was a great experience to finally have the opportunity to race after a previous season of staying on campus, being masked, and having interschols on the track. This race was the first cross country race for not only the preps but also the lowers.”

Newbould added, “This meet was unscored, but we displayed depth and strength that should terrify the rest of the league.”

Going forward, the cross country team is looking forward to more meets to come. Newbould expanded on their plans for the rest of the season. “We can move on from this opener with excitement for our regular season and the championships beyond,” Newbould said.

Murray added, “We had highlights across the board but it was amazing just seeing the packs of Exeter runners towards the front of the race, pushing each other to the line and coming away with a good team showing.”

Goodall reflected on the thrill of the races. “The races were thrilling for all the underclassmen to finally get a taste of competition, and great for the upperclassmen to get back on the course,” Goodall said.

The girls' meet consisted of a veterans' race, as well as a novice race which was combined with the boys’. A large number of the girls’ cross country team are preps and lowers, and thus, for many, this was their first high school cross country race. 

“This was my first cross country meet ever, and I would say it lived up to my expectations!” Lower runner Tenley Nelson said. “All the different teams camped out near the start/finish, with lots of spectators walking around. The overall atmosphere was very fun, and I had a great time!”

  Lower runner Annika Finelli added, “I loved it. This was my first ever high school meet, because we were unable to travel due to COVID last year, and I loved the amount of energy coming from the team.”

The girls cross country team arrived there around noon, after a tiring, three-hour long drive. “I personally thought it was very organized but also a little hectic,” Finelli described. “We arrived there by bus and jogged the course. After that, we watched the returning boys and girls veterans races before competing ourselves.” 

According to many of the runners, the Choate course is notorious for being one of the hardest high school courses, and apparently, it lived up to its name. “It was a really difficult course overall, so just completing the race was a highlight,” Lower runner Caroline Ciaschini stated. “It was also great to be able to cheer everybody on like normal and support each other.”

Nelson mentioned that the hill was one of the hardest parts of the course. “One of the highlights of the meet could be the humongous hill at the end of mile number two, which was probably the biggest hill I’ve raced on,” Nelson said.

Despite the notorious difficulty of the course, Big Red cross country certainly showed up at the Choate season opener this past weekend.