The NYA Boys cross-country team travelled to Belfast on Saturday to compete at the largest high school sporting event in Maine – the Festival of Champions race. Almost a thousand boys from three states and two Canadian provinces ran in three heats on the rolling, grassy course that will also host the state championships in November. Clouds helped keep the temperatures down but the high humidity occasionally turned to drizzle throughout the day.
The unseeded boys led off the day with a massive 369-runner field. Jack Kostelnik ’17 was NYA’s top runner here, finishing 93rd in 20:27. Patrick Jackson ’15 followed close behind (109th /20:36). Jack Malcom ’17 also ran a strong race for a 22:06 finish (222nd).
Next came the freshman race, with 185 runners. NYA’s top runner was Devlin O’Keefe, whose 22:04 was only 5 seconds shy of a personal record (102nd place). Justin Guo (22:43 /123rd) and Jack Sillin (22:44 /125th) finished steps apart and both set personal records. Parker Elkins also finished close to a personal record with his 26:38 (173rd).
Finally, the boys seeded race wrapped up the day for the team. Matt Malcom ’15 got off to a blazing start with a 5:02 first mile and was able to hang on for a time that was very close to a personal record (16:51 / 30th in a field of 316). Haley Cunningham ’15 also ran close to a personal best with a gutsy 18:47 (182nd).
As a team, the Panthers finished 47th out of 65 teams. A special shout out to Devlin for his first race in the scoring varsity five and to Justin, who made the varsity seven for the first time this season.
Complete results are here. You might be able to find your runner among the meet photos here as well.