Sports

Josh Wolfe ’04 Runs to Blue Ribbon at Canterbury Invite

When Josh Wolfe ’04 stepped up to the line last year for his first cross-country race, the expectation was that he would be quite successful at the 5k distance. Already successful on the track, the new Upper had the hopes of his team riding on his Canadian shoulders. After more than a year at Andover, Wolfe has proven the expectations correct to the fullest extent. The number one runner for the Boys in Blue has emerged as a top competitor in the Prep School league. Wolfe won last week’s Canterbury invitational with a time of 16:51 on the hilly 5k course, beating out his nearest competitor by fourteen seconds. This is only the latest of Wolfe’s many running successes, which include a 1:53 800m time and two first-place finishes at the 2003 Outdoor Track Interscholastic Championships. Though set back by injury earlier this year, Wolfe has been able to persevere and keep his speed up. Said Wolfe, “I was injured last year for most of indoors, and then I slowly started to get back into it for outdoors and ran a couple of races here.” Encouraged by his success at Interschols, Wolfe decided to extend his outdoor track season by continuing his training for the 800m in Canada, where, as Wolfe commented, “I hit my stride.” Back in racing form, Wolfe’s training consisted of low mileage, high intensity weeks, culminating with his success at UNH, where he ran a PR of 1:53 for the 800m. With his focus now turned to the cross country season, Wolfe has set two lofty goals, “I would like the home course record. Then I have to choose between the Foot Locker Northeast Regional and the Canadian Championships. If I come in top six in Canada for my age group then I’ll get to go to worlds.” A good showing in either of the races would cement Wolfe’s spot as an international competitor. Foot locker is regarded as the elite American cross-country race, and being a part of the Canadian national team would also bode well for Wolfe’s future running career. As teammate JJ Feigenbaum ’04 bluntly put it, “Not bad for a guy that only started running the 5k a year ago.”