On a cloudy and warm afternoon, a group of WHS athletes visited Bedford High School for a non-scoring scrimmage style meet on a 3 kilometer (1.87 mile) course. In addition to the hosts, Newton South and Westford Academy also took part. All of the Wayland runners were making their season debut, with many running their first high school race. Despite this, the sound racing tactics were impressive from Wayland runners. The course, which lacking much in the way of vertical relief, still required some discipline early on.
The first of two races contested by WHS athletes was the boys JV race, with almost 100 finishers (over half of those from Newton South). In these crowded conditions the first three Wayland finishers were all 9th graders, led by Henry Tharpe in the top 20 with Connor Thomas and Henry Vukson in the top 30. Not long after, a group of 10 runners that included 11th grader Caleb Grace and 9th grader Rhys Hill crossed the line within six seconds of each other, packing that is normally seen only at large invitational meets. 9th graders Dylan Stack and Peter Sondey were part of another clump of runners (six finishers in five seconds) fighting to the finish line. Rounding out the Wayland contingent were 10th graders David McLaughlin and Drake LeBaron and 9th graders Daniel Alappatt, Anthony Choi and Cesc Garcia-Rivera. LeBaron, as the only Wayland runner with prior experience with high school cross country, was the grizzled veteran of the group.
In the girls varsity race, the 10th grade pair of Ivy Robertson and Brynn Andrus established a competitive position early and made it stick at the end, with both finishing in the top 10. While Robertson has experience from the track team last year this was an impressive effort for her first cross country race.
The next race on the schedule is next Wednesday, which is the first of two home meets this season. This will also be team picture day. As can be seen from the meet schedule overview linked above, there are nine meets remaining on the schedule. While no one on the team will be competing in every single one of them, there are plenty of opportunities to race between now and the end of the season.
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