Cross Country: Improving As A Team
by Liz Haas
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| Nat Lowrey competes at Derryfield Park, Manchester, New Hampshire |
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| Photos of Derryfield Park Race Courtesy of John Hass |
Hanover High school has traditionally had a stellar cross country team. Head Coach, Jim Eakin, assisted by Mr. Crane and Mr. Picconi, have led both the boys and girls varsity teams to great success during their tenure. The boys won the last two Class I State Meets and the girl’s won the last six Class I State Meets and went on to win New England’s in 2006 and 2007. The big question this year is: Will the Hanover teams live up to the high standard everyone expects from them? The boy’s team lost their top six of the seven varsity runners last year, including the number two runner in the state, Aaron Watanabe. The girls lost their number 1, 2, and 5 runners, including the number one runner in the state, Heidi Caldwell.
This year is going to be a tough one for Hanover with other schools gunning to beat them, but there is still hope. The only girls who ran varsity last year are senior and team captain, Emily Nice; co-captain, Lucy Skinner, a junior; and sophomores, Liz Haas and Kate Kerin. However, the girl’s varsity team showed what they were made of on the 11th of September when they came in first – both in class M and overall in the Mount Washington Invitational race, even though they had no runners in the top five. The secret to their success was that there was only a minute and fifteen seconds between their first and last runners and they were all in the top twenty finishers.
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| Kate Kerin competes in Manchester. |
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| Noah Williams passes opponents in Manchester. |
The boys, unfortunately, did not do quite so well. The only returning varsity boys are senior and captain, Nat Lowrey and sophomore, Noah Williams, who currently is Hanover’s top runner. The boys came in third in Class M at Mount Washington, which is encouraging considering that they are rebuilding the team this year.
It is still early in the season, so it is hard to tell how the team will do at states, but everyone on the team is dedicated and hard working, despite some untimely sickness that has been passing through the ranks. Both teams, especially the girls, have a good chance to defend their titles. The key will be continuing to work together as they improve as a team.