Improvement continues at NEPSTAs
Best times for EVERYONE! An absolutely amazing day - I couldn't be more proud of this group of runners. Results posted in the race report.
The trip started late Friday night, with a bus ride down to Bristol for the night. The team go good night's rest at a beautiful hotel after enjoying their warm welcome cookie at reception. (Thanks, Doubletree!) The next morning we traveled the rest of the way to Canterbury School in central Connecticut.
The course weaved around the playing fields at Canturbury, and wound breifly through the fields and "woods" of the campus, so there were at least a half dozen opportunities to see everyone throughout the race. The course was relatively flat on a cold windy day. Normally the terrain would warrant fast times, but the weather would be a challenge. The field of varsity runners for both the boys and girls was very large - about 150 runners in each race, and consisted of only the top 7 runners from each team.
By the end of the race, the large field of high level of competition had pushed most of the team to personal records beyond what the had expected of themselves. Girls team captain Amelia Larkin leveraged the excellent field of competition, and persevered through her asthma to run her PR by 30 seconds to finish in 22:03 - way to tough it out, Amelia. Less than a minute behind her, Eleanor Ashton finished under 23:00 for the first time in 22:53. Excellent job to both girls!
On the boys side, team captain Gavin Black had set out to break 19 minutes at the start of the season. On this day, he broke 18 with a time of 17:59! Jadon Boudreau - already our most improved runner on the team this season, set out to break 21 minutes this year. He went 19:55, making his grade total for time dropped this season 3 minutes and 35 seconds! Finishing beside him was Gavin Prough, who had aimed to break 20 minutes all season, and finally made it happen! Asher Pollak had the biggest time drop in a single race dropping over a minute from what he had run just 10 days earlier, finishing in 18:42. He came in just ahead of Spencer Cline who, despite being sick and having to stop to put his shoe back on still managed to drop a few seconds from his best, finishing in 18:52. Just behind him was Hunter Conway, whose goal at the start of the year was to break 20 minutes. In his last high school cross country race, he broke 19 in a time of 18:58. Way to go Hunter! And last but certainly not least was Gus. Gus was selected to come to NEPSTA because of his steadfast commitment to this team. There were one or two team members with faster finishing times on record, but because of Gus' leadership in consistent and steady improvement throughout the season, he got to run this race. On this day, he ran faster than everyone he was selected over, and is now officially the seventh fastest runner on our team, finishing in 21:16. Way to go Gus! You are a model of consistency, hard work and dedication to your teammates!
For complete results, visit: http://www.coolrunning.com/results/15/ct/Nov14_NEPSTA_2_set1.shtml
This concludes the 2015 season - great job to the entire team. You all should be very proud of what you've accomplished this year!
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The course weaved around the playing fields at Canturbury, and wound breifly through the fields and "woods" of the campus, so there were at least a half dozen opportunities to see everyone throughout the race. The course was relatively flat on a cold windy day. Normally the terrain would warrant fast times, but the weather would be a challenge. The field of varsity runners for both the boys and girls was very large - about 150 runners in each race, and consisted of only the top 7 runners from each team.
By the end of the race, the large field of high level of competition had pushed most of the team to personal records beyond what the had expected of themselves. Girls team captain Amelia Larkin leveraged the excellent field of competition, and persevered through her asthma to run her PR by 30 seconds to finish in 22:03 - way to tough it out, Amelia. Less than a minute behind her, Eleanor Ashton finished under 23:00 for the first time in 22:53. Excellent job to both girls!
On the boys side, team captain Gavin Black had set out to break 19 minutes at the start of the season. On this day, he broke 18 with a time of 17:59! Jadon Boudreau - already our most improved runner on the team this season, set out to break 21 minutes this year. He went 19:55, making his grade total for time dropped this season 3 minutes and 35 seconds! Finishing beside him was Gavin Prough, who had aimed to break 20 minutes all season, and finally made it happen! Asher Pollak had the biggest time drop in a single race dropping over a minute from what he had run just 10 days earlier, finishing in 18:42. He came in just ahead of Spencer Cline who, despite being sick and having to stop to put his shoe back on still managed to drop a few seconds from his best, finishing in 18:52. Just behind him was Hunter Conway, whose goal at the start of the year was to break 20 minutes. In his last high school cross country race, he broke 19 in a time of 18:58. Way to go Hunter! And last but certainly not least was Gus. Gus was selected to come to NEPSTA because of his steadfast commitment to this team. There were one or two team members with faster finishing times on record, but because of Gus' leadership in consistent and steady improvement throughout the season, he got to run this race. On this day, he ran faster than everyone he was selected over, and is now officially the seventh fastest runner on our team, finishing in 21:16. Way to go Gus! You are a model of consistency, hard work and dedication to your teammates!
For complete results, visit: http://www.coolrunning.com/results/15/ct/Nov14_NEPSTA_2_set1.shtml
This concludes the 2015 season - great job to the entire team. You all should be very proud of what you've accomplished this year!
