Meet Recap
September 15th, 2012
Girls and Boys finish 3rd at Windham Invite
by Alexandra O'Kane
On Saturday September 15, the boys and girls teams traveled to the Windham Invitational, where they competed against almost 20 different teams from around the state. There were three races on each side: Freshman, JV, and Varsity. The freshman races were 2 miles long while JV and Varsity ran 3 miles. It was especially exciting to see all the freshman race against others in their own age group.
On the girl’s side, this entire meet was one of extreme improvement. Looking back on the results of last year, every single girl who raced both years ran a faster time this year. The girls were really happy with these times and it got everyone excited going into the rest of the season.
First for Staples were freshman Hannah DeBalsi, who ran the girl’s varsity race and placed 5th overall, and senior captain Henry Wynne, who won the boy’s varsity race. They led both teams to an overall third place finish.
The top finishers in each of the races got custom meet tee shirts, something that everyone had been looking forward to. In the Varsity races, the top 50 finishers got a tee shirt, and the top 30 got them in each of the other races. These tee shirts were a nice incentive and at least one Staples runner got a shirt in each race.
Maybe the most exciting part of the meet, though, was the coach’s race, which Mik, Malcolm, and Amanda ran in. Laddie joked that he was planning to race but got disqualified when he told them he would have to be on his bike.
All week, both teams were excited to see their coaches run in a race. Mik was challenged to beat Malcolm (which he did) and Amanda hoped to be the first woman to finish (which she was). Watching and cheering for the coaches was a fun role-reversal for everyone, especially when all three of them did so well.
 Amanda |
 Malcolm |
 Mik |
September 11th, 2012
Opening the Season with Inspiration from Little Tom
by Alexandra O'Kane
Both the boy’s and the girl’s teams usually dress up for school on the day of a meet, and they continued this tradition on Tuesday. Each runner wore a green tee shirt with the saying “Run for Lil’ Tom”. Little Tom is Caroline Koenig’s nickname from cross-country last year, when she trained with the boys at the end of the season. In order to show their unified support for Caroline, all the athletes sported these shirts for the day. Everyone wanted Caroline to know that they are always thinking about her.
The girl’s team has dedicated their season to Caroline and their cheer at the beginning of the race was “For Caroline”. The goal was to think of Caroline in
each moment of the race when it felt hard and painful. Little Tom was there for the team as well, cheering for them as they raced around the track. The Trumbull team even brought Caroline blue and white roses and wore ribbons in their hair for her. Caroline has become an inspiration to so many in the FCIAC, most especially the teammates who know and love her. Her motivation and dedication to the sport and the team is evident and heartwarming, even when she can’t be running alongside the girls.