The Bromfield boys and girls varsity cross-country teams easily outran the visiting Blue Knights of Lunenburg last Wednesday, Sept. 13, winning both races on a somewhat modified home course at Harvard Park. For both Bromfield and Lunenburg, it was their first meet of the season.
The boys, led by senior Jack Stahl (18 minutes, 5.9 seconds), sophomore Harrison Binnick, freshman Ben McWaters, sophomore Christian Johannesen, and junior Liam Kemeza, took the top five spots in a field of 28 runners, giving the team a 15-46 edge over Lunenburg to win the meet.
The girls were led by junior Evelyn Wool (20:3.8) , sophomore Rosie Bradley, and junior Isabel Jackson, who won the top three slots among 23 runners, helping to earn a 19-36 win. In cross-country races, only the top five runners on each team are counted, with the first place finisher receiving 1 point, second place 2 points, third place 3 points, and so on.
“It was a rainy day—perfect XC weather!” boys coach Marisa Steele wrote to the Press. “Both the boys and girls put in a lot of miles over the summer so it was great to get them back out racing again,” she added.
The top five boys pretty much ran as a group, staying with the Lunenburg top runners until just before the 2-mile mark. “Then they took the race over,” seemingly running “with ease and skill,” Steele wrote.
Steele had special praise for the sixth and seventh finishers in the boys race, freshman Charlie Gowel (19:22.2) and senior Diesel Whitten (19:28.5). “Charlie is new to the sport and ran an amazing race for a novice,” she said. “Diesel Whitten, one of our senior captains, has really come into his own this year with much greater strength and speed. Whitten has logged over 3,000 miles during the course of his career (including summer and cross-country season mileage) and has provided an exemplary role for the younger athletes on how consistency in training pays off,” wrote Steele.
In the girls race, wrote coach Matt Lynd, “Bradley, Evelyn Wool, and Jackson worked together to pace one another and found themselves up in front of Lunenburg’s top runners fairly early on. Essentially they cruised to a victory with Wool just outpacing her teammate [Bradley] at the end.” Though she finished 16th, sophomore Christina Kekis had a personal best, noted Lynd. Her time of 26:30 was more than two minutes faster than her previous best time last season.
A heavy rain before the race eroded parts of the team’s home trail through the woods adjacent to Harvard Park and rendered other sections, such as the Harvard Park lower throwing field, unusable. The teams, their families, and other volunteers had worked Saturday, Sept. 9, to clear the woods trail and fill in all the eroded areas,” Steele wrote the Press. “Unfortunately, the deluge on the following day [Sept. 10] took out all of our work.” Instead, Steele reported, the racers ran three loops on usable portions of the trail through the woods and field, and finished with a 300-meter stretch on the [McCurdy] track for the requisite total distance of approximately 5 kilometers.
The boys and girls teams are each currently in second place, behind Hudson, in the Midland-Wachusett C League. At midweek they were preparing for an away meet Sept. 20 against Tyngsborough.
Results vs. Lunenburg
Boys (top 5)
- Jack Stahl (18:05.9)
- Harrison Binnick (18:06.1)
- Benjamin McWaters (18:06.5)
- Christian Johannesen (18:07)
- Liam Kemeza (18:09)
Girls (top 5)
- Evelyn Wool (20:03.8)
- Rosie Bradley (20:19.8)
- Isabel Jackson (20:57.1)
- Abby Wool (23:26.5)
- Gabriella Temps (23:31.4)
Eighth-grader Abby Wool, left, and freshman Gabriella Temps complete their first lap in the woods at the McCurdy Track woods course. (Photos by Kate Wool)
From left: Freshman Ben McWaters, sophomore Liam Kemeza, sophomore Harrison Binnick, senior Jack Stahl, and sophomore Christian Johannesen compete against Lunenburg.
