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caption, page 8:
Captains
From left: Leah Castle, Linsey Arends and Carah Bruce will serve as captains for the Woodstock Academy girls’ cross-country team this season. Marc Allard photo.
Centaurs look
to overcome
unexpected
departure
Woodstock Academy girls’ cross-country head coach Joe Banas knew he wouldn’t have his No. 3 runner, Stella DiPippo, back because she graduated. But the departure of one of the top two runners, junior Brooke Bergevin, that caught him a little by surprise. Bergevin’s family moved to Massachusetts and she transferred to Tantasqua Regional.
Fortunately, Linsey Arends is back. And for the first time in a couple of years, the senior is running at full strength.
Her doctor discovered last year that she had an iron deficiency and took steps to correct it.
It meant she was hardly herself last year but, then again, neither was the sport which was limited to only regional competition by the pandemic.
Arends had a highlight-filled sophomore year when she finished second to Bacon Academy’s Jordan Malloy in the ECC championship.
The two will, hopefully, meet again in this year’s championship meet at the Norwich Golf Course and Arends hopes she has a little psychological edge.
“I raced against her in track (last year) in the 800-meter and won so, hopefully, I can repeat that,” Arends said. “She’s definitely really good, healthy competition that I’ve been running against for a while and I can’t wait to race against her again.”
According to Banas, Arends is running about 2 ½ minutes faster than she did as a sophomore.
That could also bode well for the States as Arends finished second in the Class MM state championship as a sophomore and was 33rd in the State Open.
Arends is hoping to get to 19 minutes flat and after a recent time trial, she believes she may have the chance to accomplish that.
She is also looking forward to the larger meets such as the Ocean State and Wickham Park Invitationals.
“I want to do the invitationals. It’s great to see all the competition and fre-enemy rivalry type people that I will get a chance to race against from this area. I want to push myself and see how good I can do. I’m also excited for our regular season meets because we really didn’t get any last year so I will take any meet,” Arends said.
After this season, she hopes to be running in college and is looking at schools such as UConn, the University of Rhode Island, New Hampshire and a couple of others.
Banas said: “She is one of the top runners in the conference and, hopefully, makes it to the (State) Open, but as we all know, it’s all about the pack when it comes to the team,” the veteran coach said.
But how that pack will shake out is anyone’s guess. Senior Leah Castle and junior Carah Bruce will share the honor with Arends of being team captains. Juniors Lauren Brule and Tessa Brown and sophomores Julia Coyle and Talia Tremblay comprise the remainder of the “pack”.
“I have a decent pack of six after Linsey and I couldn’t even tell you who is going to be the 2-3-4-5-6 runners. I believe throughout the year that they will be playing musical chairs because the gap is so small between them. It may depend on whether it’s a hilly course or if it’s a grass course or something,” Banas said.
Banas said he is excited about Coyle’s potential and even with Bergevin’s departure, has high hopes.
“I would be disappointed if we were not in the top three (in the ECC),” Banas said. “We’ve always been up there with E. Lyme and NFA. I’m hoping for a top-eight finish in the Class MM meet as well with Linsey as a frontrunner and if that pack can get up there, we can make a little noise.”
Marc Allard
Director of Sports Information
The Woodstock Academy
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