Rev. Elizabeth
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« #3 : October 30, 2011, 05:19:56 AM » |
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This article is going to the Messenger.....Bellows Falls won first in division III boys.....read on...
The temps never rose from the mid-30’s. The saturated ground turned into a heavy mud the consistency of clay in many places and the going was slow. Times ranged approximately two minutes slower for 5k across the board from last week at conference championships in Swanton
I am profoundly pleased with the performance of our teams through the long season and today at State Meet. We have had more talented teams in my years at Fairfax but no group of kids who more thoroughly maximized their potential. They made all of us proud today.
In the girls race we quickly found ourselves outmatched by a superior Randolph team that finished 7th in the state overall, just missing a bid to the New Englands. Our girls went out fast, too fast, trying to keep up with this high-powered squad and then had to fight a mid-race sag. They did so in a gritty fashion and finished strong. Our stellar freshwoman, Chace Carpenter, took 4th, and 31st overall in the state. She also closed the distance on the states three fastest runners, Purrier, Palermo, and Spillane. I feel certain that in coming years Chace will move into Vermont’s elite. Senior Allie Minor came up big as she has done in every important race throughout her career to take second on our team. Emily Filiberti, handicapped with a nasty respiratory infection, clung to our third scoring position. Senior Mattie Hayes ran a personal best to finish our scoring. Close on her heels were senior Molly Hogan, junior Marin Varney and junior Lyla O’Brien. This was a great close to an excellent year for our girls team. We will miss Allie, Mattie and Molly next year but we have a strong group ready to move up.
The Boys D-III race was won handily by an upstart Bellows Falls team we had never seen, and which northern teams knew nothing about. The battle for second place however was the closest contest I have seen in many years. We scored 58 points, while Thetford and Stowe scored 59 points each and Rice had 61 points. This means that after four runners from each team ran a combined total of 12 miles, 2nd and 4th were separated by a handful of seconds.
Our boys team struggled much of the year to find an identity. We were hurt hard by last year’s graduation and remained very much a work in progress all season. Senior Eli Philips was one constant. Despite being burdened by a bronchial infection, he led the way for us again today. He started slowly then worked his way up into the top ten and stayed there. Senior Sam Lesnikoski ran the best race of his two year career, picking off runners throughout the last mile to take 13th overall. Freshman Michael Groening went out like a rocket, sagged in the middle but refused to buckle. He learned a valuable lesson while securing our third scoring slot. Senior John Wagenknecht, who has been a man on a mission for us all season, hung tough and closed out our scoring at 22nd. Here’s where it gets interesting. Our 5th and 6th runner, senior Ethan Farmer and junior Ben Pomichter finished 33 and 34 respectively, pushing the 4th scoring runner from Thetford back two places, we would have finished tied for 4th. Instead, we took 2nd place.
This was a splendid closeout for our boys. Some would say they over-achieved. I feel they reached that perfect place where one is truly the best one can be. Fred Griffin
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