Highlight: Cross Country

By SAM ALTMAN, LUKE CHON, SARAH HAO, V MURDAYA, AALIAYAH SALVA, and ISHAAN SINGH

On Saturday, Sept. 28, 2024, the PEA cross-country team competed in the Black Bear Invitational Meet at Coe-Brown Academy in Northwood, New Hampshire. Together, they took first place overall in three of the four-race divisions.

“We won the boys JV race, we won the girls JV race, we won the girls varsity race, but unfortunately in boys varsity, we took second. We lost by just a few points to Coe-Brown Academy, the school that was hosting the meet,” upper Ethan Benenson said.

Regarding the girls’ cross country team, upper Cecily Reed stated, “The meet went really well, and we obviously had incredible finishes. Both of our team captains are on varsity and they both have been the soul of our team. They have been making traditions for us, resuscitating old ones, and motivating us every day to get out there and push ourselves.”

Reed continued, “One person I was really proud of was Annika, the younger sister of our old captain Andrea, who actually won the race, and right behind her was Olivia Littlefield. Annika obviously ran a fantastic race, but I was so proud of Olivia because she got out there within the first hundred meters and was leading the pack by about 10, 15 meters. Annika also led, pacing us for one of the fastest opening miles we’ve seen in a while.”

Benenson discussed what the team expected going into the meet. “At this meet, Andover is usually pretty strong competition. They have a great running program and a runner last year who was running neck and neck with Byron and actually broke the meet record. So we knew Andover was going to be a pretty strong force. But, in all of the races except for boys varsity, they got second place to Exeter. It was great to see some of the new Coe-Brown runners getting in the mix,” he said.

As for the training that went into the meet, lower Owen Cosgrove commented, “We have done a lot of long mileage, hill work, and tempo work to be prepared for the hilly course.” 

Benenson concluded by explaining what the season looks like going forward. “I think we’re all very excited about the new people we have. Our team is definitely in a building phase because we had so many upperclassmen who graduated last year. But, I’m excited to see what these new freshmen can do going forward. We have a home meet over parent’s weekend, so definitely pull up to that!”

“Go Big Red and Ache Te Vitu!” concluded Cosgrove.