By Caitlin Cole – @DHSCCTF
I’m trying to come up with things to say about Saturday, but really the only thing that I can seem
to verbalize right now is: that was crazy. Crazy! I couldn’t even fully believe it when I looked at
all of the results afterwards. I thought there had to be some sort of timing error or that the
runners must have cut a few corners. Well, neither of those happened, it was just an incredibly
fast race.
The week ahead of Meet of Champions was fairly normal, I’d say. The only thing different was that
the long run got moved because it was so rainy and cold on Monday. Workout this week was: 8 minute fartlek (we call it a “Crazy 8”, but there’s really nothing that crazy about it), six 200s, and a
tempo mile to finish things off. Then we recovered the next day, pre-meet on Friday, and finally it
was time.
Last year at this same meet, we came in 6th overall, grabbing the last qualifying spot for New
Englands. Our top runner came in 13th. I remember watching it last year; Brianna Malone ran away
with the win, completely by herself, and then the next girls coming in were almost a minute behind
her.
This year could not have been more different. While Hanover’s Perreard did run away with the win
(props to her cause she’s done that all season) there was not as stark a difference between her and
the pack. This year’s race was SO FAST. SO. FAST. Anique was our top runner who outkicked Hopkinton
for SIXTH OVERALL. In an absolutely disgusting time of 18:11. I actually could not believe my eyes
when I saw 18:11. That’s like, a minute and a half PR for her. Insane. Margaret followed in a new
PR, then Alyson (season’s best), Maddie (PR), Janelle and Izi (PR and season’s best), and then
Evangeline (season’s best). MOCs is always a very fast race, but wow, that was more than I
expected. It helps that Alvirne a) feels like a true cross country course, and b) is relatively
flat. The footing there is really good (except when it’s pouring, as we saw at this year’s Battle
of the Border) and for me, at least, it goes by so fast.
I was so proud watching all of my teammates finish their races. Everyone has worked so hard all
season for this, and for them to perform so well at such an important meet is really cool to
watch. As a senior, it’s also very cool to see all of the freshmen on the course and in the results. These people are the future of NH running!
This Saturday we will take on New England’s finest in Belfast, ME. I cannot wait to see how we compete against such a big field. This is the last high school cross country race that a lot of our team will run in a Dover jersey, which is insane because I feel like I just joined the team last week. We have our end-of-season banquet on Thursday and we are really so close to being done with XC for the year. It’s been a fantastic season, and hopefully we can go out with a bang.
