XCountry Runners News Article !!!

....my husband, coach Fred Griffin, asked me to post this article which he also sent to Josh Kauffman of the Messenger.

There are two ways a team can finish second. One is to have victory in their grasp, only to underachieve. This is deeply disappointing. The other way is to do everything right, maximize performance, and by virtue of determination, intensity, and focus, reach as high as second place. This latter is the course the Fairfax Teams took this season.

We graduated 22 seniors last year and the fastest had anchored our varsities for four years. If you has asked me after the the first week of the season if we had the chance to content for two state titles, I would have laughed. The fact is that we had an extraordinary group of first-time senior runners, young second year runners and a handful of veterans who worked as hard and as well as any team I have coached at Fairfax. They worked tirelessly to be the best they could be. We are very proud of them.

Our top six girls were two juniors and four sophomores. Sophomore Emily Filiberti ran her best race of the year at States, charging from the get-go. Junior Allie Minor, who never stopped improving this season, took our second spot. Sophomore's Lyla O'Brien and Meghan Bochanski ran their hearts out to close our scoring. All of these girls ran their personal bests on the Thetford course. Junior Molly Hogan, first year runner sophomore Marin Varney and Sophomore Margaret Fitzgerald all ran great individual races for Fairfax. These girls never stopped trying to improve right Randolph was simply too strong for us.

Senior Cam Weber capped his astounding season with another remarkable run, winning the D III title and placing seventh overall in Vermont. He will race in the New England Championships on Saturday 11/13. Eric Newbury and Eli Phillips ran like lions to finish 10th and 12th overall. First year runner and senior Brett Hakey ran his customary gritty race to cap our scoring, but Juniors Tyler Meunier, Ethan Farmer, and Freshman Thomas Hakey were not far behind. All seven boys ran personals best for Thetford on a muddy, slow course. The leadership and grace from our three first year senior runners, Cam Weber, Brett Hakey, and Alex DeRaps turned what might have been an ordinary season into an extraordinary one.

Fred