Girls Cross Country took home two more victories against Norwood and Brookline on October 16, 2013 to become the Bay State Herget Champions. The girls defeated Norwood with a score of 15-49, and Brookline with a score of 21-25 to make their record 7-3.
The emergence of junior Allie Morris has benifited the team the most despite being a rookie in Cross Country. Seniors Jackie Applin and Captain Kristen Coyne and sophomore Alyssa Murphy have announced themselves to be strong runners in the lead pack to help defend their League title.
“The Herget Title is something we have been working for and I am so relieved to say that we are in fact the Herget Champions once again,” said Applin.
The girls all finished 1,2,3,4 to take the victory over the two teams. One of the teams goals entering the season was to beat Brookline. Brookline has always had a stronger team over the past few years; however, Walpole was able to capture the win for the first time ever. The other goal of the night was to be defending champions.
Coyne said, “I take pride in the amount of hard work and passion that goes into our practices and meets. I have nothing but hope for the teams potential in the future, but I can definitley see the progress every week.”
Although the top four girls did not run personal records, the placing was far more important to capture the win. Freshman Stephanie Forester suprised many as she placed in fifth place as she ran a 15 second personal best.
The previous weeks meet was against Natick, another Herget Division team. The varsity girls race was mostly a battle between Walpole themselves; however, Morris took the lead with Natick’s junior Sarah Lagan. The trail pack included Coyne, Applin and Murphy. All three girls used each other to pace off of, but towards the end of the race Murphy created a divergent between herself and her teammates. The Rebel girls all ran personal records and placed one right after another to take home the win. Morris ran 3 seconds off of the course record with 15:34, and Murphy was Walpoles second runner under the 16:00 minute mark with 15:47. Coyne and Applin ran strong races with 12 second improvements to run 16:36, and 16:31.
Winning the Bay State Herget is one of the most accomplishing titles the girls have been aiming for since last year. With the roaring varsity team improving week after week they are sure to place well in the Bay State League Meet Saturday October 26, Morris said, “At the league meet I hope to run a personal record but I also hope that as a team we are able to perform strongly against the other towns.” The team has an ambition to continue to progress as the Division III Championships approaches in November.
