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.
No comments:
Post a Comment