The girls cross country top 10 girls competed in the eastern Massachusetts championship on Saturday, November 12 in Franklin Park. The challenging course consisted of 3.1 miles in the city park at the historic cross country course. In 1992 the world cross country championship was held at Franklin Park. Throughout the race, sophomore Kristen Coyne ran in the top pack staying in first for the rebels.
Junior Megan Peterson and freshman Emma Campbell ran together following Coyne. “Knowing that Meg and Emma were right behind shows that we were closing the gaps and it’s a good sign of how far we have come as a team since the season has started” said Coyne. About a minute behind that group of girls, seniors Joanna Garry and Paola Yerxa, sophomore Gabbi Petruzzelio and freshmen Kathyrn Lawton pack ran together helping one another finish the race. Coyne stole first place for the team finishing the race in 21:19 with Peterson 30 seconds behind her to finish to take second place at 21:41. Campbell ran a strong race finishing a second after Peterson to take third for the rebels. Campbell finished at 21:42 which is over a minute PR for her. Petruzzelio, Yerxa, and Garry all finished within 15 seconds of one another to take places 4, 5 and 6 on the team. Yerxa finished off her cross country career with a PR at 23:15. Lawton finished in 7th for the team at 24:22. The rebels finished in 15th overall out of 22 teams, which is good considering two of their top 7 girls are injured.
Being the seniors last cross country meet for Walpole, they finished off their seasons strong going against tough competitors from. “I was very impressed with their pack running and positive influence on the girls as they stepped up nicely in Miss. Farrell’s absence” said Coach Gillian Quan. The senior girls finished their season off at a challenging course against tough competitors. Yerxa and Garry stepped in for Miss. Farrell’s absence making sure all the girls stayed positive before the race started and helped their teammates get ready to run a big race for all of them, especially for the freshmen.
Next year the girls will have a chance at an incredibly strong team. There are so many strong runners who have stepped up this year to play a big role on the team. This year the girls cross country was a young team, but next year they are only losing three seniors and look to be a strong team next year.
