Weston Girls Cross Country Finishes Strong Season

Editor's note: Submitted by Bob Walmsley, a Weston resident and parent of Weston Girls Cross Country team member Charlotte Walmsley.

The Weston Girls ran their final meet of the season last Saturday, finishing third in the Nike Cross Nationals (NXN) Northeast Regional Cross Country Championships at Bowdoin Park in Wappingers Falls, New York, which included runners from Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Vermont, Maine, Connecticut, Rhode Island, New Jersey and Pennsylvania.

Weston finished ahead of the Massachusetts Division One champions Whitman-Hanson, Massachusetts Division Two champions Bishop-Feehan, Rhode Island champions La Salle, Connecticut champions Guilford and many other top teams from New Jersey and Pennsylvania. In fact, Weston came within one point of an automatic qualifying birth to Nike Nationals, narrowly losing out to second-place team and New England Champions Champlain Valley, Vermont, 197-198.

Team scoring for Weston's Wild Kitten Athletic Club were Olivia Brackett, 19:43 (13th place); Charlotte Walmsley, 19:56 (22nd place), Abigail Pohl, 20:09 (27th place); Read Allen, 20:50 (60th place); Edom Wessenyeleh, 21:12 (76th place); and Zoe Snow, 21:34.1 (95th place). Overall, the team is ranked 43rd in the country.

"This was undoubtedly the finest team performance in the history of the Weston Cross Country Program,” said coach John Monz.

The Weston boys also performed well, each running personal bests for the course. Championship Race Matt Herzig was 47th in 17:07; Open Race David Freeman was 17th in 17:38; and Gavin McEwen ran 18:52.