On a hot and windy day, we hosted Division I Miss Porters, who had just won a big invitational at Suffield the week before. The girls ran with great determination and effort, and we were able to win the race 25-32. Senior co-captain Abigail Touhey continued her progress, winning the race for the second week in a row, this week with a time of 22:20 under weather conditions that were not ideal. Elle Ash, with her leg taped prior to the race, and under constant pressure for 3.1 miles from the #2 Porters runner, gutted through to place 2nd for the team and 3rd out of 25 runners. Lucy Hoyt, in an individual battle of her own with the #3 Porters runner, held her off with a big finish, placing 3rd for the team and 5th overall. Junior Hannah Roche had one of her best races ever, picking off runner after runner in the second half of the race, and finally outsprinting the #4 Porters runner to finish in 7th place. Hannah was fourth for the team, her highest place ever. Sophie Chou had another excellent race and a PR, placing in the top five for Williston for the second week in a row, and earning a displacement. Brooke Manfredi was just off her best time on our course, placing 6th for us, and also displacing the #5 Porters runner. Annika Yeung also had a big race, breaking into our top seven for the first time. Congratulations to Sophie Chou and Annika Yeung for PRs, and also to Charlie Honig, Elle Christakos, and Stella Ditkovski for completing their first-ever 5K race for Williston. Our record now is 5-1, and we are at home again next Saturday against Taft.

Seventeen Williston runners competed against Kingswood-Oxford and Westminster at the West Hartford reservoir on Saturday. Senior co-captain Abigail Touhey returned to top form, battling two strong KO girls in a tight pack that led the race for the first two miles. Abigail passed both runners in the last mile and won the race in 21:06 on the 3.1 mile course. Lucy Hoyt and Elle Ash continued their terrific seasons with very strong races of their own, placing 4th and 5th overall, out of 39 runners from the three schools. Ellis von Schoeler-Ames and Sophie Chou broke into our top five for the first time, placing 11th and 14th, and Laura Porter and Pippa Berry rounded out our top seven. The varsity team suffered its first loss of the season, losing to Kingswood 26-33, but beating Westminster, 17-43. In the JV scoring, Williston defeated both opponents and now has a season record of 5-0. The varsity record stands at 4-1. Personal best 5K times were turned in by Lucy Hoyt, Elle Ash, Ellis von Schoeler-Ames, Sophie Chou, Laura Porter, Hannah Roche, Annika Yeung, Sarah Martini, Andie Kinstle, and Victoria Hop. The team will return home for three successive weekends, hosting Miss Porters School next Saturday.

Seventeen Williston runners competed against Kingswood-Oxford and Westminster at the West Hartford reservoir on Saturday. Senior co-captain Abigail Touhey returned to top form, battling two strong KO girls in a tight pack that led the race for the first two miles. Abigail passed both runners in the last mile and won the race in 21:06 on the 3.1 mile course. Lucy Hoyt and Elle Ash continued their terrific seasons with very strong races of their own, placing 4th and 5th overall, out of 39 runners from the three schools. Ellis von Schoeler-Ames and Sophie Chou broke into our top five for the first time, placing 11th and 14th, and Laura Porter and Pippa Berry rounded out our top seven. The varsity team suffered its first loss of the season, losing to Kingswood 26-33, but beating Westminster, 17-43. In the JV scoring, Williston defeated both opponents and now has a season record of 5-0. The varsity record stands at 4-1. Personal best 5K times were turned in by Lucy Hoyt, Elle Ash, Ellis von Schoeler-Ames, Sophie Chou, Laura Porter, Hannah Roche, Annika Yeung, Sarah Martini, Andie Kinstle, and Victoria Hop. The team will return home for three successive weekends, hosting Miss Porters School next Saturday.

On Saturday the girls cross country team traveled to Westminster for the Richard Miller Invitational. Seven schools competed, with about 45 girls in each of the varsity and JV races. Lucy Hoyt again placed first for Williston in the varsity race, with an impressive 5th place finish and an individual award, running the hilly 5K course in 22:38. Senior co-captains Abigail Touhey and Annika von Schoeler-Ames placed 2nd and 3rd for Williston, followed by Laura Porter and Brooke Manfredi. In the JV race, Sarah Martini and Sophie Chou led the way, each posting 5K times that would have put them in the varsity top seven. Sarah, Sophie, Pippa Berry, and Rylie Tirrell all won individual awards in the JV race, as our JV team placed first out of seven schools. Personal best 5K times were turned in by Lucy Hoyt, Laura Porter, Sarah Martini, Sophie Chou, Annika Yeung, and Shirley Shi, who completed her first-ever cross country race for Williston. Next week we face two tough opponents at the West Hartford reservoir, Kingswood-Oxford and Westminster.

On another very hot day, the girls cross country team hosted Northfield Mount Hermon and Worcester. Lulu Calame from NMH took spectacular control from the very beginning and led easily through the race before taking an unfortunate wrong turn in the third mile and getting disqualified. Even with an eventual first-place finish for the NMH runner , Williston would have won the race, but the score would have been much closer, and the DQ opened the door for the Williston girls to gain a comfortable victory over NMH, 22-37. 9th graders Lucy Hoyt and Elle Ash again led the way for Williston, placing 1st and 3rd overall, out of 35 runners. Both Lucy and Elle turned in PRs, and Lucy moved up on the Honor Roll from #11 to #8 all-time. Senior co-captain Annika von Schoeler-Ames had another strong race, placing 6th overall, and third for the team. Senior Ava Larkin had a huge race, passing several runners in the last two miles and placing fourth for the team and seventh overall. These were critical passes by Ava in what was at the time a very close race. We had PRs from Lucy, Elle, Annika Yeung, Sophie Chou, Andie Kinstle, and Brooke Manfredi, who placed in the varsity top five for the first time in her Williston career. Senior co-captain Abigail Touhey and junior Hannah Roche rounded out the varsity top seven. The varsity beat NHM 22-37, and Worcester by a score of 19-44. The scoring in both JV races went to Williston with perfect scores of 15-50. This was a big step for the team, which is now 3-0 on the season. Next up for the team is the Richard Miller Invitational at Westminster next weekend.

On another very hot day, the girls cross country team hosted Northfield Mount Hermon and Worcester. Lulu Calame from NMH took spectacular control from the very beginning and led easily through the race before taking an unfortunate wrong turn in the third mile and getting disqualified. Even with an eventual first-place finish for the NMH runner , Williston would have won the race, but the score would have been much closer, and the DQ opened the door for the Williston girls to gain a comfortable victory over NMH, 22-37. 9th graders Lucy Hoyt and Elle Ash again led the way for Williston, placing 1st and 3rd overall, out of 35 runners. Both Lucy and Elle turned in PRs, and Lucy moved up on the Honor Roll from #11 to #8 all-time. Senior co-captain Annika von Schoeler-Ames had another strong race, placing 6th overall, and third for the team. Senior Ava Larkin had a huge race, passing several runners in the last two miles and placing fourth for the team and seventh overall. These were critical passes by Ava in what was at the time a very close race. We had PRs from Lucy, Elle, Annika Yeung, Sophie Chou, Andie Kinstle, and Brooke Manfredi, who placed in the varsity top five for the first time in her Williston career. Senior co-captain Abigail Touhey and junior Hannah Roche rounded out the varsity top seven. The varsity beat NHM 22-37, and Worcester by a score of 19-44. The scoring in both JV races went to Williston with perfect scores of 15-50. This was a big step for the team, which is now 3-0 on the season. Next up for the team is the Richard Miller Invitational at Westminster next weekend.

On Saturday the girls cross country team hosted Kent School, and it was terrific experience for us to get back to competition, after almost two years without it. We got a late start on Saturday, on an extremely hot day, far from ideal for any long distance race, but the team rose to the occasion and ran hard under difficult conditions. Our two phenom 9th graders, Elle Ash and Lucy Hoyt, battled with a Kent girl for most of the first mile, but took control in the second mile, and then ran by themselves well out in front for the last third of the race. Elle was able to put together a very strong finish and won the race with room to spare with a very good time for such a hot day on a hilly course (23:17). Lucy also had an impressive time of 23:53, placing 2nd out of 29 runners. Our top five filled out with senior co-captain Annika von Schoeler-Ames in 4th, senior Sari Yamagata in 5th, and senior co-captain Abigail Touhey in 6th. Congrats to Victoria Hop for running a PR for our course, and to three runners who are new to the team this year, Laura Porter, Sophie Chou, and Isabel Gargamelli, all of whom ran their first Williston 5K, and automatically recorded PRs for our course. This was a big team effort, with all 19 runners finishing the race. Williston took 14 of the top 17 places, and both Elle and Lucy are now on the Honor Roll, Elle in 8th and Lucy in 11th place. Considering the heat and our short pre-season, this was a very encouraging first race, and we are looking forward to hosting Northfield Mount Hermon and Worcester next Saturday.