9/13/13 – The NYA Boys Cross-Country team took second place in rainy and messy conditions at Sacopee Valley today in a race against Gray-New Gloucester, Wells, Traip, and the home team. Steady rain leading up to the race prevented our intrepid photographer from taking his usual action shots, but the boys raced quite well on Sacopee’s wooded trails. The 5k course was sloppy in places after the heavy rains of the past several days, but the runners plowed through, with several of them setting personal records, even under such unpromising conditions.
NYA was led by Matt Malcom ’15, who was neck and neck with one of the WMC’s elite runners for most of the race. Although they became separated on the big hill in the third mile, Matt finished the race strong for a solid second place in 17:59. Haley Cunningham ’15 was NYA’s second runner. He improved his time over last week by nearly a minute to take 4th place overall in 19:31. John LeBlanc ’15 ran third for the Panthers. His time of 20:20 was good for 8th in the field of 31 runners. Patrick Jackson ’15 continued his impressive debut season with a personal record of 21:25 as NYA’s fourth finisher (11th overall). Jin Yao ’14 repeated as the Panther’s final scorer; his 21:59 was good for 13th overall. Jack Kostelnik ’17 ran a strong race (22:49 / 16th) and Jake Malcom ’17 (23:03 / 18th) barely nipped Alec Stuckey ’16 (23:03 / 19th) for the last varsity spot in the top 7. That time was a personal record for both Malcom and Stuckey. Ethan Madore ’16 finished in 25:26 and Jake McLennan roused the crowd with a stirring sprint to the finish to set a new personal record of 30:42.
Full results can be found on our results page here.
As a team, NYA finished with 37 points, behind GNG’s 29 and ahead of Wells’ 58.
Next Friday, the Panthers host a home meet in Royal River Park. Come out and cheer on our harriers! The girls race at 4:30 and the boys at 5:00. We will also need volunteers to help staff the course and make sure everything runs smoothly. If you can help (no experience required, all training provided), please let one of the coaches know.
Thanks for all your support!