Cross-Country Focus

Even though it was Thanksgiving Day, 15 of our KES harriers showed up and ran their best around a four-kilometre course behind Brooklyn Elementary School on a beautiful fall afternoon.  

 

Notwithstanding the beautiful weather, cross-country is an odd sport. There is no other school sport where the athlete is actively competing for so long, emphasis on active. Our runners competed non-stop for between 14:41 and 26:08 minutes. Most of that time they are by themselves, alone with their thoughts for an average of 20 minutes. That is a long time to stay focused on a race, on doing their best. A few are fortunate to be in a race the whole time, like Vinnie Armstrong ‘25, the lead trading back and forth until Vinnie used his 200-metre speed to outkick his opponent to the finish line. For everyone else, I’m sure there were many thoughts of homework, of songs sung in their head, and maybe even, why am I doing this? Away from everyone else in the trees taking photos, I was cheering for Max Stulberger ‘24 with about 400 metres to go when he turned around and forcefully said, “I just want to beat them!” (And he did!) Being alone with your thoughts, probably while in some discomfort, is one of the reasons I love cross-country. How often are kids in that situation?

 

If your name was Hojo, then you picked up a (virtual) bronze medal today. Ken Hojo ‘27 led the way in the junior boys race before older brother Yasu Hojo ‘25 did likewise in his intermediate race. A couple of places back in fifth of the junior race was Fletcher Wellard ‘28. Count a couple more runners and you would have seen Eli Strum ‘28 come across the line in eighth. Landing just inside the top 10 was Harvey Hadley ‘27 and capping a very strong junior boys team in 13th was Altyn Hood ‘29.

 

Also putting on a very strong performance, as noted by the finishes of Armstrong and Hojo in the intermediate boys team, was Wesley Oulton ‘25 and Alex Graham ‘25. We need four to make a team to qualify at the regional championship meet for the provincial championships, and Oulton and Graham did their best to get ready for that. Oulton had a very good run and finished sixth. Making his 2022 cross-country debut, Graham was in fine form in eighth place.

 

Our senior boys were well represented by August Henrici ‘23 in fourth, and Max Stulberger ‘24 going home proud in a hard-fought eighth place.

Chelsea James ‘29 was the most consistent girl from lap one to lap two over her four-kilometre course which resulted in a silver medal performance in the junior girls division. One spot behind was fellow Highlander, Natalia Shaw ‘27 picking up another podium finish. (Then she raced off to basketball practice!) Maggie Wellard ‘28 caught several runners on the second lap to crack the top 10 with an eighth-place finish. If all goes well, we should be back to full strength on the junior girls team next week so we can qualify for the provincial championship (again, at least four runners needed).

 

Last week I neglected to mention the photographs contributed by Coach Robinson, and especially those by parent Ed James. All of the best photos came from him! Another thank you is due to a mystery man from our KES home race a few weeks ago. Someone was very thoughtful and proactive in shoveling out a significant amount of mulch on one particularly muddy part of the course. I sought out this person for about a week before someone told me, “That was the Head of School!” Thank you for that kindness, Mr. Joe Seagram.

 

Our next race is the very important western regional championship meet on Monday, October 17 at River Hills Golf Course, Clyde River, Shelburne County. 

 

9:30 am Registration Begins 

12:00 pm Junior Girls’ Event

12:40 pm Junior Boys’ Event

1:20 pm Intermediate Girls’ Event 

1:30 pm Presentation of Awards (Junior) 

2:00 pm Intermediate Boys’ Event 

2:30 pm Presentation of Awards (Intermediate)

2:40 pm Senior Girls’ Event 

3:10 pm Senior Boys’ Event / Para-Athletes’ Event 

4:00 pm Presentation of Awards (Senior)