POMFRET — The team result might not appear great, but the story behind the number tells a different tale. Hosted by Suffield Academy, the race also featured Avon Old Farms, Worcester Academy, and Canterbury — the latter two being divisional foes. Though the Pomfret School cross country team was beaten by Canterbury, the Griffins WA, a team that had beaten them pretty handily not two weeks ago at Marianapolis. Being able to turn the tide on WA is a good indicator that, now mid-season, the team is starting to round into shape.
At the start of the 75-person race, Jeffrey Gibbs ’20 had the heel of his shoe stepped on, causing it to come off. Gibbs had to take a few seconds to get the shoe back on, and with a rush of adrenaline, he moved steadily back into the front pack within the first half mile. Blake Zahansky ’21, buoyed by some good practice and his most recent race, ran the first mile confidently and just a few seconds behind Jeffrey. Cam Adams ’21, hung back in the back of the front pack, biding his time before making what has become his signature effort of moving up steadily throughout the race. Kellen Horst ’22 and Cole Hecker ’22 both had exceptionally strong efforts. When asked, Kellen had no explanation other than, “I just felt good.” That’s sometimes how it works. Perhaps Cole’s strong performance had something to do with his dad being in attendance? Cooper Ames ’22 ran his best race of the season, and Jacob Marasco ’22, back from injury reserve, slotted right back into a top 7 finish for the team.
Team Scores: AOF - 45; Suffield - 50; Canterbury - 54; Pomfret:- 97; Worcester:-109
Due to a timing error, we do not have official times. Unofficial time keeping shows that nearly all runners ran their season, if not their personal, bests. Among JV runners on the day, Jack Terwillger ’20, Ian Wolanin ’22, Alex Chen ’22, Kevin Li ’20, and Danny Wang ’21 all ran well. David Wu ’22, the lone brave freshman Bill Tian ’23, rookie sophomore Terry Kim ’22, and Ben Gordon ’22 also had fine races. Finally, Jay Kim ’21, battling illness, still managed to crush his personal best time by well over a minute.
By David Ring

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