Going with a double dose today. Both of these articles appeared in the Town Square sections of the DAILY PRESS on Dec. 15. The first describes how the Peninsula Catholic girls cross-country team captured the school's first state title since the school changed names from St. Vincent, whose girls basketball team won a title in 1946. This appeared in the Newport News edition. The second article is about their coach, Susan Bender, who is from Yorktown. This article is more personal and deals with triumph after loss. It appeared the same day, but in the York County edition.
After over 100 years of existence, the female
distance runners of Peninsula Catholic earned the school its first girls’
athletic state championship ever, taking first place in the Division 2 section
of the 47th annual Virginia Independent Schools state cross-country
meet, held on November 11th over the challenging hills of the 5,000
meter course at Woodberry Forest in Orange, VA. (Note: Editor Lynn Burke, who has written for the DAILY PRESS for quite
a few years pointed out that the school’s other girls championship from 1946.
How he knew that is way beyond me!)
The VIS meet is run in two divisions, and each
school is entered according to the total number of males or females that are enrolled.
Any school with less than 161 students of either gender is slotted in the
Division 2 section. For the female harriers, a state title may have been won a
couple of years before. Says Susan Bender, now in her 17th year as
the PC girls coach, “we had a strong team several years ago (2008) and had a
great chance to win. It turned out that our school had one too many girls (161)
enrolled, so we were entered in Division 1.” In that race, the Knights placed 4th,
ahead of larger schools such as Paul VI and Bishop Ireton.
Freshman Martine Hunnicutt finished an amazing
rookie campaign, winning the race in 20:12, a full 13 seconds faster than
runner-up Bethany Barclay of Norfolk Christian. For Hunnicutt, it was her
second state championship. Two weeks before, she captured the individual title
at the Virginia Catholic Schools meet in Newport News Park, running over the
pancake flat course in 19:00.
At Woodberry Forest, Hunnicutt performed like a
veteran, holding her ground among the top ten runners during the early stages. Bender
noted her steady progress through the race saying, “She started out in sixth, and
then moved up to third. But once she let loose and took the lead, that was it.”
Bender is impressed by her ace runner’s attitude
toward the demanding sport of cross-country. “She’s a natural. But she is
humble. Martine is the type of runner who works hard and doesn’t take her
natural talent for granted.”
Newport News runners took the next two spots for the
Knights. Sophomore Molly McKenna, figuratively following in the footsteps of
her brothers who ran for boys coach Chris Peterson at PC, placed 11th
with a time of 21:39. McKenna has been hampered with breathing problems this
season. Says Bender, “Molly went out there with gusto, even though she was
hurting.” Teammate Jessica Armstrong was the third PC runner, taking 28th
place (22:42), just ahead of fellow co-captain, senior Celia Pincus, who was 33rd
(22:52). Freshman Emmy Bennick rounded out the team scoring, placing 64th
out the 193 runners that finished.
Bender attributed the team’s closeness, in races and
among each other, as reasons for their culminating achievement. “The girls are
close knit and have always supported each other. Our captains (Armstrong and
Pincus) have experience. They have been there before.” With reference to their
close races through the season, a one point loss to New Kent, as well as razor
slim victories over TCIS conference rival Bishop Sullivan were pointed out as
motivating factors. “We had a lot of close races through the season. It kept
the runners on their toes. We realized that we had to give it our all, in races
and at practice.” The close calls
helped, as the margin of victory at Orange was three points over Trinity.
The opportunity to repeat as state champions looks
bright for the Knights, who are graduating only one of the top eight runners
who finished at Woodberry Forest.
Led by sophomore Madison Strickland, the Denbigh
Baptist girls placed fifth in the Division 2 race. Strickland placed third in
21:17, just ahead of freshman Keavy Baylor from Hampton Roads Academy, who was
fourth in 21:24.
VIRGINIA INDEPENDENT SCHOOLS – DIVISION 2 GIRLS
Team – 1. Peninsula Catholic 112, 2. Trinity 115, 3.
Walsingham 116. 5. Denbigh Baptist 171.
Local Individuals – 1. Hunnicutt (PC) 20:12, 3.
Strickland (DB) 21:17, 4. Baylor (HRA) 21:24, 11. McKenna (PC) 21:39, 28.
Armstrong (PC) 22:42, 29. Hernandez (DB) 22:48, 33. C. Pincus (PC) 22:52. 45.
Thomas (DB) 23:15, 51. Kane (DB) 23:29, 64. Bennick (PC) 23:48, 69. M. Pincus
(PC) 24:11, 78. Ti. Groulx (DB) 24:37, 81. Stewart (PC) 24:42, 85. Alvesteffer
(PC) 24:47, 93. Miner (PC) 25:05, 140. To. Groulx (DB) 26:56, 142. Graham (PC)
27:04, 155. Yu (PC) 27:56, 179. Madril (PC) 32:02.
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