Despite the rocky and unpredictable terrain at Northfield Mount Hermon’s (NMH) course, Girls Cross Country dominated against NMH, Deerfield, Choate, and Phillips Exeter Academy (Exeter) this Saturday. The team had four runners place in the top ten, with Emma Hagstrom ’25 coming in first, Storrie Kulynych-Irvin ’24 coming in second, Anya Budzinski ’26 coming in third, and Tara Menon ’26 coming in sixth.
Faced with a course full of technical trails and rolling hills, Andover went into the meet with a strategy to tackle the terrain. Because of its difficulty, runners primarily focused on challenging themselves, rather than striding for personal records (PR).
Menon said, “We went to the race knowing that it was going to be a tough course and that we… [needed to use] a lot of strategy. [We knew] to use the second, third mile to pass people and to keep the first mile a lot more comfortable… This wasn’t a race that we were going to PR on, but it was a race to push ourselves on.”
Edy Leach ’25 noted that before the race, Head Coach Patrick Rielly emphasized the difficulty of NMH’s course. With the obstacles, the course added another layer of depth to the race, challenging every runner.
“We were told by our coach, Coach Reilly, that the course was going to be a ‘mud and blood’ one. So I think a lot of people were anxious… In the end, I think everybody enjoyed the course. They either thought it was beautiful or really challenging and not really in the mindset to admire the beauty,” said Leach
Chloe Song ’26 explained how Coach Keri Lambert’s words of encouragement resonated with teammates, despite her maternity leave. Song recalled Captain Patrica Tran ’24 reminding teammates of Lambert’s saying to “hurry back.”
Song said, “[We] were all standing on the starting line and from behind us, Patricia was like, ‘Coach Lambert just said [to] hurry back’… And my mind went back to last year at NMH where [Lambert was] here with us. And it brought me back to that exact moment and I was like, ‘She is here with us.’ And so it really helped me push through the race and think ‘hurry’ back.”
Leach noted areas of improvement for the upcoming Andover-Exeter meet, such as pacing the final leg of the race well. She stressed the importance of pushing through the races, especially as the team nears the New England Preparatory School Athletic Council Championships (Interschols).
Leach said, “I personally could improve on pushing through the third mile only because that is the hardest mile, especially on that course. That was the hardest mile. And I think just for [the] future, gaining a stronger mentality just to finish the last mile of the race… We have pretty good third mile finishes, but I think we can definitely be stronger.”
Andover Girls Cross Country will race at home against Exeter on Saturday.
