October 25, 2007

Cross Country Boy's team on top

Sean Ross of Milton sprints to the finish line just in front of Rice’s Nathan Hauke, taking fourth place by less than three-tenths of a second in the Northern Vermont Athletic Conference Cross Country Championships at Missisquoi on Saturday. Milton won the boys Small School division, led by Thomas Hitchcox (second), Bryan Geary (third) and Ross, and the Yellowjackets were seventh in the girls race. Photo by Josh Kaufmann, St. Albans Messenger.
On Saturday, the Milton boys' cross country team finished first among six teams participating in the small-school division race at the annual NVAC Cross-Country Championship held at Missisquoi Valley Union High School. Having avoided the rain, the race was held under near perfect conditions on MVU’s mostly flat course. Milton’s team score of 41 points bested 2nd place BFA-Fairfax (64) and 3rd place Missisquoi Valley (77).

Three Milton runners placed in the top four among a field of 43. Sophomore Thomas Hitchcox finished 2nd overall with a time of 17:44.25. Senior Bryan Geary placed 3rd with a time of 17:57.32 and junior Sean Ross was not far behind, coming in 4th with 18:08.60. A team’s total score is based on where its top five runners place, so of equal importance to the day’s results were the performances by sophomore Jamie Deuell (14th, 19:06.78) and senior Casey Rock (21st, 19:32.08). Seniors Josh LaCroix (25th, 19:57.21) and Adam Lavigne (31st, 20:31.75) also finished well for Milton.

The Milton girl’s team ran earlier in the afternoon and placed seventh among eight teams. Andrea Deuell, a senior, was the top Milton finisher coming in 19th with 22:45:15 among 58 runners. Junior Courtney Pidgeon finished next with 23:14.81, followed by sophomore Brittaney Rice (34th, 23:50.67).

The Vermont State Cross Country Championship will be held this upcoming Saturday in Thetford. Both teams are hoping for conditions better than those faced at last year’s meet, where a torrential rain turned the course into a quagmire for the boy’s race and then forced postponement of the girl’s race. The boy’s team is positioned to do very well considering their recent performances. Although Harwood is favored heavily to win, Milton has a good chance of finishing as high as second, after placing 10th out of 15 last year.

Go Yellowjackets!!

 

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