Girls' Cross Country vs NMH School

Score/Result: 24-35 W

Just one week after a loss to Choate, the Taft girls’ cross country squad rallied in an impressive way.  The starting line was a haze of red and blue, with over 90 starters from four schools, three of which sport red uniforms.  Loomis did a wonderful job of orchestrating such a large race, and things went seamlessly.  About a mile into the race, Hotchkiss’ Sammi Glass was the front runner, followed by a tight pack of girls, including Taft’s Sara Iannone and Dana Biddle.  Sammi extended her lead over the next two miles and won the race by a commanding 30 second margin.  Just as Sammi crossed the line, two fleet footed NMH girls began their surge to the finish line.  However, Sara Iannone charged past them over the last yards of the course to finish in second.  Dana Biddle was only six seconds behind Sara and finished fifth overall.  Newcomer Maggie Swomley solidified her spot as third runner on the team by finishing seventh overall.  Rounding out varsity for Taft were Colleen Iannone, newcomer Kim Amelsberg, Livvy Barnett and Caroline Manly.  It should be noted that Kim was running her first Taft race despite a nagging and painful injury and Livvy shaved 30 seconds off her mile splits in just two weeks.  The efforts of these seven young ladies resulted in victories over all three of our rivals: Loomis, Hotchkiss and NMH.

The JV squad was every bit as gutsy and successful as our varsity squad.  They also swept the competition, beating all three schools.  Rashi Narayan was first for JV, despite running in borrowed shoes.  Bella Ordway was second for JV, shaving a more than a minute off of her last race time.  Captain Megan TeeKing and veterans Courtney Jones and Leah McIntosh rounded out our JV scorers, with Amanda Roberts and Paige Whittemore in sixth and seventh for JV.  In other notable finishes, Eugene Lee had a great race and shaved over a minute and a half off of her last race time.

This week, the team thoroughly exemplified the commitment and competitive spirit that are quickly becoming their hallmark.  They won a meet that we have not won in at least the last seven years, and they did it because every single girl who crossed the finish line ran as hard as she could for the team.

Thank you to all the parents who came to support the team.  Your presence clearly was a huge factor in the success of the team.

Our next meet is against Suffield and Berkshire at Suffield.