After waking up to the sound of heavy rain on Saturday morning, the Deerfield girls cross country team were relieved to arrive at St. Paul’s School in Concord, NH under blue skies and warm temperatures. The Varity seven headed to the line in good spirits, with Larrabee Pollack ’23 providing motivation and positivity as she got ready for her last XC race for Deerfield. Unfortunately, out on the course some minor disasters befell the team, but Alexis Miller ’24 managed to keep up with the competitive pack at the front to come in first for Deerfield and 13th overall. The team, also comprising of Lillian Auth ’24, Kyla Wagstaff ’24, Victoria Lee ’25, Kaitlyn Xia ’24, and Lexi Watson ’24, came in 11th, which although better than last year, did not feel representative of the potential of the team, and so we are already excited for the Varsity team to race again next year!
Excitingly, for the first time since 2017, Deerfield fielded a full JV scoring roster for this championship, which highlights the growth and dedication of the team this year. Taz Hancock ’24 had the race of the season, finishing as the only runner from DAGXC to get a season best time on such a tough course. Ava Lennon ’24, Tatum Lowe ’23, Jenny Jin ’24, Haley Hickman ’25, Fiona Howes ’23, and Alice Zhang ’24 rounded out the top 7 on the JV team, coming 7th overall. It is also worth mentioning that we had 12 runners in the JV race, and we are especially proud of Tene Ouedraogo ’24 and Jennifer Luiru ’24 for stepping up at the last moment to ensure that we could field a whole JV team. From the start of this season to the very last race, it has been clear that this a supportive team who genuinely cares about each other, and the coaches are grateful for each and every runner who has been a part of the fall season.