Girls' Cross-Country Has Surplus of Talent

Coach Bruce Douglass has seen a lot of runners at all talent levels in his 36 years of coaching girls' cross-country at Ledyard High School. This year he really likes what he sees.

"We're far better than we were last year," Douglass said during a recent practice, describing last year's season as "somewhat dismal."

"We had some injuries we had to work through, and some mishaps," he said. "This year we can't help but be better."

In fact, he feels his 2010 season is definitely on an upswing, and could be one of the better teams he's coached since the mid-1990s.

"We have two outstanding runners," he said, referring to juniors Lindsay Ackley and Cedar Nelson, who finished third overall at a meet in Windham last month.

"We've had years where we've had one or two good runners, but it's not often you have a team to back them up," Douglass  said. "In the past we've had teams that have worked hard but just didn't have the talent. This team has talent and a good work ethic."

Douglass said his personal goal this year is to finish among the top five Class M teams in the state. "If we can do that, and send a couple of our runners to compete in the states, and maybe the New England championships, we're OK."

He isn't ruling anything out. "Perhaps we can do even better," he added.

Senior captains Nikki Campbell and Chelsea McGarry, may find themselves running behind some of their younger teammates this year. Besides Nelson and Ackley, freshman Rachel Legg is an excellent prospect, Douglass said, as well as top sophomore Minnie Zhang. 

"Minnie has taken a huge step up this year, and Rachel is just an outstanding runner," Douglass said.  "Rachel runs with the varsity and is one of the top five. So even though Nikki and Chelsea are the leaders, they may not always be the fastest."

As always, part of the team captains' role this year, Douglass said, is "helping some of the others be better than they are, even as they continue to improve their own times."

The 17-member squad's other members are: Rachel Yano, Kim Codding, Kelsey Nixon, Grace Chattin, Sydney Davies, Ava McPhail and Rachel Legg.