The Andover Girls’ Cross-Country Team won a close race against a challenging Deerfield team with a score of 25-30 on Saturday. Katie Faulkner ’06 led the race. However, she did not lead with as large of a margin as she is accustomed to since Deerfield’s top runner remained at her heels the whole race. Faulkner still managed to secure first place with a 20:04 time. Erika Roddy ’07, who has been out of the lineup since the third week of the season, ran an amazing first race back. She strategically stayed a few paces behind Faulkner and Deerfield’s top runner, but never allowed the distance to exceed more than a few strides. When Roddy reached the Great Lawn, she managed to beat out Deerfield’s runner by four seconds with a time of 20:06. Roddy commented, “I guess I could’ve been in better shape but I’m more rested and I think that works to my advantage at this point in the season. I definitely did miss out on some tough workouts, but I’m really happy to be so far along in spite of my injury.” Following Roddy was Jen Downing ’08, who came in fifth after Deerfield’s second runner. Downing, in spite of a slight injury earlier in the week, managed to run a personal best of 20:39. Trailing Deerfield’s third runner, Katherine Adams ’06 finished seventh with a 21:19 time. Katie Morris ’07 raced extremely well, with a particularly impressive finish that demonstrated her determination and desire to win. She sprinted with Deerfield’s fifth runner almost all the way down the last stretch, only to be beaten out by one second. Morris finished with a season best with time of 22:04. Rounding out the Varsity team was Debby Kuhn ’05, in 11th place with a 22:15, and Becca Waldo ’07, following closely, with a personal best of 22:19. Deerfield’s JV team was much weaker than their Varsity, and the Lady Blue easily beat them with a score of 20-42. Co-Captain Anne Sharp ’05 led the JV team to victory in a 22:32, followed by Kendra Allenby ’05, Alison Murphy ’05, Rachel Reinauer ’07, Charlotte Pougnier ’05, Andrea Coravos ’06 and Komaki Foster ’07. Despite the JV’s success, the team missed three of its top runners, Courtney Fiske ’07, Sara Ho ’08, and Chris Sargent ’06. Sargent, who also could not race at NMH, started the race out strongly, but had some difficulty towards the end and had to drop out. Ho and Fiske have also been out this past week due to injuries. The rest and cross training has paid off and they both expect to run against Exeter this weekend. The Cross-Country team looks forward to racing Exeter this weekend, which will be the last race for those not competing in the NEPSAC Interscholastic Championships.
