This year the girl’s cross country team has been working extremely hard. The last few weeks their efforts have truly paid off for both JV and Varsity. The girl’s training plan started in June, and everybody’s motivation has been JV Division 1 States and NHIAA Divisional Championships. These past months have been filled with smaller meets and invitationals all leading up to these past weeks where both JV and Varsity competitively ran at their state meet.
The girl’s JV team ran their hardest and came out on the top, winning the title of JV Division 1 State Champions for the second year in a row. The race was held on October 19th at Alvrine, which hosts the 5K course that most girls on the team seem to love. The Bedford girls competed against 13 other teams and won the race with a score of 29 points. The girls crushed their competition, winning by 45 points to second place team Pinkerton, who had a score of 74 points. The team scored so well because of the many runners who led the front of the pack during this race, these girls include Emma Chisholm, Avery Houghton, and Niamh Russel who all placed in the top five during this race. Emma Chisholm even placing as the runner up of the JV Division 1 race.
Emma described this race as “an intense race with tons of competition but I fought my hardest and wanted to do good for my team. Having everyone’s support from my team gave me motivation, and turning around to see my teammates after the finish was a great feeling. I really love my team. They are the best.” It is clear that the girls have a tight bond on the team. With a JV team of around 30 girls, every girl putting in their effort led to the victory for the whole team. The back to back state title for the team was won due to the hard work and determination of this impressive JV team.
The seven varsity runners also had an amazing season which ended the weekend of November 4 after they advanced to the Meet of Champs. Their state race was held on October 27th at the infamous Derryfield Park, which is a course consisting of multiple large hills. The runners even have to run to the top of McIntrye Ski Mountain. The girls had put in many months of hard work that led up to this one demanding race. The girl’s motivation for this race was qualifying as a team to the Meet of Champs, and their goals were achieved after their challenging race. The conditions the day of the race were not ideal; it was cold and rainy but the girls pushed through and came out with an exciting 7th place win for the team. The varsity runners competed against 15 other teams and beat 9 of them in order to advance to the Meet of Champs. Individually, the girls did extremely well placing Delaney Flanagan and Carly Rinko in the top 25 with Kaitlyn Boles not far behind.
Carly Rinko, the lead runner for Bedford, says that “even though the weather was not the best I was glad to run with my teammates. It was sort of reassuring to know that everyone was feeling the pain of the cold with me. The ending was tough and knowing my teammates were behind me gave me encouragement. I was so happy to advance to the Meet of Champs and mostly to spend another week with my great team.” The girls deserved their spot in the Meet of Champs through their immense amount of hard work and determination throughout the season. Although the girls as a team did not advance to New Englands, they left everything they had on the course. Their fullest efforts went into the last team race of the season and they were rewarded with looking back a great season. However, most girls had continued to cheer on their teammate Carly Rinko who qualified for New Englands.
Overall the BHS Girls Cross Country Team for both JV and Varsity finished the season with impressive wins and races. This promising team is one to keep an eye on. They are a team filled with talent and great things that lie ahead.
