October 20th, 2012
The NYA Girls Cross Country team ended its regular season on Saturday at the Class C Regional Championships at Twin Brooks in Cumberland. At the end of last season the returning runners totalled 2 freshmen yet this season we ended up with 6 new athletes for a full team of 8. 6 girls took to the line on Saturday to cover the torn up, muddy 5k course in hopes of finishing in the top 5 teams to earn a spot in the State Championship race on Saturday. The girls ran a strong race filled with desire while overcoming a strong case of nerves ( 4 of the 6 girls had never raced in a championship meet like this before) and while they individually raced at, or better than, their seed it still just wasn’t enough. Individually 2 of the girls were able to qualify to race this coming Saturday up at Belfast in the State Championships – Hannah Austin ’15 and Kate Hilscher ’16 finished in the top 30 which earned them their spot.
Muddy is an understatement when describing the course. Since 5 races had already taken place on the course by the time they took to the line the majority of the grassy areas were more like running on ice than grass or mud. The slick surface made for an extremely challenging race for Abbie Hinchman ’15, Ellis ’15, and Rhiannon Ramsey-Brimberg ’15 as they each tried their best to drive through the conditions in regular training shoes while the majority of their competitors had 1/2″ spikes in the bottom of theirs. The times these ladies were able to run given that disadvantage was nothing short of amazing. They finished with everything they had and though they struggled to look at the times they ran – these times were in no way indicative of the effort they showed in the race. Hannah Austin was the lead finisher for NYA finishing in 21:29 which was good for 2nd place. Her runner-up finish came after taking the lead shortly before the 2 mile mark and holding it until the last section of the course where she fell back to 2nd and held on strong for that amazing place. Hannah had a race plan which she followed to the letter and the place and the time showed it. Kate Hilscher finished in 18th (no small feat for a freshman) after a strong and steady race through the mud, making moves all the way to the finish to pick up precious points for the team while melting away seconds from her time. Maddie Cutten was our final spike wearing runner and she crossed the line 3rd for NYA. After struggling in her last 2 races with an illness that got the best of her mid-race she pulled herself together for this one and pushed from start to finish.
Although we will not be racing on Saturday as a team at Belfast the effort these ladies showed all season in bringing up their conditioning, coming together as a team, and supporting each other all the way is nothing short of amazing and I look forward to the years to come with these young ladies. They will be a formidable foe indeed. As for the 2 girls continuing on to Belfast – They will have the full support of 6 loud teammates as they race for glory and represent their school and their team at the championships.
Click here for full results and photos. You should also check out the Photos page on the left sidebar to see photos from the last few meets.
