Hopkins Girls XC Takes 3rd at NEPSTA Race

On Saturday, November 8, the boys' and girls' cross-country teams traveled to Easthampton, MA, for the NEPSTA Div II championship race, held at Williston-Northampton. The day was dry and pleasant, even warm, and a welcome difference from the forecasted rain. The Div II championship race was last held here in 2021.

 

The girls varsity raced first, their high hopes tempered by the illness that kept 2 varsity-level runners at home and had sidelined a third for the previous two days. The course was challenging, and times in general were on the slow side, with only one girl in the entire field running under 20:00. Three girls finished in the top 20, earning first-team NEPSTA honors. These were freshman Audrey Xia, sophomore Anoa Dawson, and senior captain Mikoto Araki-Siegenfeld. Freshman Willa Kennedy was just outside the top 20 in 22nd, with captain Vivian Huang close behind in 25th, sophomore Cordelia Thompson in 28th. Rookie senior Amelia Hudonogov-Foster, called up from the JV (where she had won the FAA JV Race), rounded out the varsity in 39th. By finishing in the 21-40 spots, those four athletes earned second-team NEPSTA honors. The team ran well, but was unable to outrun either defending champions Middlesex, or the Governor's Academy (formerly Governor Dummer). Still, it was a great day for the girls' team, which finished 3rd overall out of 15 teams.

 

The JV girls also ran very well, with Amelia Andersson and Rebecca Spiewak finishing 4th and 5th, and with four other girls in the top 20: Caysani Colón-Wang, Keira O'Donnell, Abby Smolenack, and Alora Hanson. The entire team ran hard and has much to be proud of! The JV girls placed 2nd of 9 JV teams.

 

The boys varsity went into the race with a different kind of expectation, knowing they didn't have the speed up front to challenge for top honors. Instead, each runner challenged himself to run the best he possibly could both for himself and for the team overall. Even though no Hopkins boy finished in the top 20, with two in the top 40 (captain Daven Kaphar and junior Julian Peccia) AND a particularly tight spread of 57 seconds between the 1st and 5th runners, the boys team ran a strong team effort to finish a respectable 7th out of 19 teams. The effort and heart put forth by every member of the team were inspiring, and like the girls, the boys should be proud of their efforts on both the day and the season leading up to it.

 

In the JV race, Hopkins placed a very respectable 4th of 14 teams, with Edward Russell finishing 10th, and Alex Monin 17th. The top 7 JV boys for Hopkins all finished in the top 40: Jackson Murphy, Nate D'Amato, Luke Wargo, Keegan Slovinski, and Ozzie Pitkin. 

As the girls, the boys JV also ran their hearts out, and their coaches are very proud of them and of their improvement and dedication throughout the season.

 

RUN FAST DO GOOD WIN!