Peninsula Catholic Girls CC Repeat as State Independent Champs: Harpen wins TCIS and VISAA Boys titles


Bolstered by the late season return of last year’s Daily Press Runner of the Year Martine Hunnicutt, the Peninsula Catholic girls’ cross-country team returned to the site of its greatest team victory, Woodberry Forest School, in early November and successfully defended its VISAA Division 2 title.

The Lady Knights tallied 76 team points to finish 22 ahead of local rival Walsingham. Hunnicutt, who was hampered by injuries earlier in the fall, took fourth place (20:55) to lead the way. The team was helped by the pack running style of its other runners, a strategy which helped them to achieve runner-up status in the earlier TCIS championship. Becky Aungst (12th  - 21:51.23) and Molly McKenna (13th – 21:53.13) ran a strong second and third for Peninsula Catholic, while Grace Miner and Jessica Armstrong rounded out the top five.
Now in her 18th year at the helm of the PC girls program, Coach Susan Bender attributed her team’s success to their ability to “tighten up the pack,” in essence, closing the gap between their second and fifth runners. Because of the way it’s scored, in a championship style meet, the success of the fourth and fifth fastest team finishers can affect the team score more than the performances of the top runners.

The girls’ team was not alone in their post-season success. The boys squad, led by Philip Harpen and Kevin Riley, took the top team honors at the TCIS meet, while placing second in the VISAA Division 2 championships.

Harpen took the top individual honors in both races. His time of 16:19.95 at TCIS easily outpaced his competition, with Riley taking third, helping PC to a narrow 62-64 victory over Norfolk Academy. At VISAA, Harpen traveled over the rolling hills of Woodberry Forest’s 5,000-meter course in 16:52.54, with Riley in fourth. The Knights team score of 143 was far short of first place Veritas Christian of Richmond who totaled 42, but still resulted in a second place finish of the 29 full teams represented.

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