KUA XC Trounces Competition
KUA Cross Country continued its winning ways at Holderness on Wednesday, as the boys took first in the Lakes Region. The girl’s team rested its top two runners for the Championships next week and was unable to put up a team score. Although the weather refused to cooperate, the spectators were rewarded with a number of spectacular and dramatic finishes. Kimball Union’s great depth of runners, 5 in the top 11, would continue to pay dividends for the Wildcats.
Captain Aaron Picard came flying in to second place overall and first for the Wildcats as he finished just a second and arms length behind Tilton’s best runner at 17:52. It appeared as though Picard might overtake his opponent and was steadily gaining on him just as the course flattened out for the finish. KUA’s next runner, freshman Henry Vansant, finished in sixth place with a blazing time of 18:53. Vansant was just seconds behind the fifth place finisher and was narrowly edged out of the top five runners. Senior Captain Isaac Dayno rounded out the top ten with a sub-20 time of 19:33. Sophomore Kodi Alvord was right on his heels to conclude the varsity scoring and secure the KUA win with an amazing 19:39 finish. Zack Hallock, Aaron Mitchell, and Phil Sparks all had strong races on Wednesday and helped KUA secure the win. Peter Prendergast also had a great 67th showing for the day at 29:41. With a boy’s team score of 29, KUA managed to once again land the top spot in the meet and prove that it will certainly be a top contender for the Lakes Region Championships next week.
The lone wolf, Annie Loftus, solely represented the Lady Wildcats at Holderness this week and took a not unexpected first place for the KUA girl’s team. Finishing in the top five runners, Loftus set a personal record with a time of 25:04 and a number five slot. Emma and Caitlin Porrazzo, KUA’s go-to-girls, sat this race out in order to prepare for next week’s Lakes Region Championship’s at Proctor. There Kimball Union looks forward to competing for both the girl’s and boy’s trophies and hopefully bringing home some serious hardware.
