The girls ran their second of three home meets in a row, facing Division I Taft. We sent 22 runners to the line, the closest we have been all season to having our full team run in a race. Abigail Touhey continued her impressive season, earning a home course PR for the second week in a row, with a time of 21:17. With a big push in the second half of the race, Abigail pulled away from the field and finished first out of 39 runners, 42 seconds ahead of teammate Anna Richardson, who also had a home course PR and cracked the 22 minute mark at 21:59. Madison Hamilton completed the top three sweep with an excellent run of 22:35, one second off her best. Jordyn Meunier had her best race of the year, placing 4th for the team and 5th overall with a time of 22:59, cutting 1:05 from her previous race on our course. Senior co-captain Chloe Prouty got up from a tough fall in the middle mile to recover and place 5th for Williston, and Annika von Schoeler-Ames returned to competition with an impressive and courageous run, placing 6th for Williston with a time of 23:54. Senior Lily Harris rounded out the top seven varsity team, with a home course PR of 24:26. The Honor Roll changed again with Abigail at #1 with a new Williston course record, Anna at #2, Jordyn at #6, and Lily at #12. The JV seven also had a big day, with Ava Larkin and Pippa Berry leading the way. Jenna Perry, Ciara Tapanes, and Hannah Roche earned 5K PRs. The varsity beat Taft 18-40, putting their season record at 7-0, and the JV won 21-34, putting their season record at 6-1. The Shaler Invitational is next up for the team.

The girls cross country team returned to our home course on Saturday, after three weeks on the road. Both the varsity and the JV teams continued their strong competitive performance with victories against Division I Miss Porters School. With two runners from our top five missing from the race, the rest of the team knew they had to step up, and they did so in dramatic fashion. Sophomore Abigail Touhey stayed with Alexandra Poole from Porters for as long as she could and eventually took second place out of 34 runners in a personal best time on our course of 21:20. Filling in crucial spots behind Abigail were senior co-captain Chloe Prouty and junior Madison Hamilton, both with home course PRs. Our second varsity pack was also impressive, with Ava Larkin (her first time in our top five), Lily Harris, and Pippa Berry all earning PRs on our course. For the second week in a row, Anya Rozario placed in our top seven, this time with a PR of 25:38. Finishing at #8 for the team, Rylie Tirrell led the JV seven with a PR of 25:45. The home course PR list or the overall PR list for the day was a long one: Abigail, Chloe, Madison, Ava, Lily, Pippa, Anya, Rylie, Brooke Manfredi, Greta Saxe, Jenna Perry, Shez Zangmo, Sasha Kracauer, Hannah Roche, Isabel Baxter-Paris, Linnea Rhodes, and Hollis Mann. Congrats to Ciara Tapanes for finishing her first-ever 5K race for Williston. The score in the varsity race was 22-38 and in the JV race it was 15-46. This was a very encouraging day for the entire team, giving us confidence for next Saturday’s race against another Division I opponent, Taft.

On Saturday, we traveled to the reservoir in Farmington to compete against Kingswood-Oxford and Westminster. The timing was tight due to the SATs, and the course tour was a bit rushed, but the runners made the most of their warm-up time and were ready to run. After a close matchup with Westminster the previous week at the Richard Miller Invitational, we were expecting a tough race, which we got. After a fast first mile (5:58) Abigail Touhey ran stride for stride with Annabelle Smith from Westminster for almost the entire race. They were still together with 100 yards to go, when Abigail outsprinted the Westminster runner to the tape for her third individual victory in three dual meets this season. Anna Richardson turned in another impressive race, with a PR at 21:11, taking 3rd place out of 38 runners. Chloe Prouty (21:42) won the second nail-biter of the day, outsprinting the #2 Westminster girl to take 4th place. Jordyn Meunier, Madison Hamilton, and Lily Harris continued their consistently strong performances as part of our top seven, where they were joined for the first time by senior Anya Rozario, in her best race of the year. The varsity were able to earn a 23-32 win over Westminster, and a 15-47 win over Kingswood. The second seven continued their strong performance, with Pippa Berry, Ava Larkin, and Rylie Tirrell again leading the way to a JV score of 15-50 over Westminster. This was a big day for all 20 runners who competed, with a total of 15 PRs: Anna Richardson, Jordyn Meunier, Madison Hamilton, Lily Harris, Any Rozario, Pippa Berry, Ava Larkin, Rylie Tirrell, Brooke Manfredi, Greta Saxe, Jenna Perry, Shez Zangmo, Hannah Roche, Carly Goodman, and Linnea Rhodes. This was a very encouraging double win for both the varsity and JV, and we are looking forward to three home meets in a row, starting with Division I Miss Porters next Saturday.

On Saturday, we traveled to the reservoir in Farmington to compete against Kingswood-Oxford and Westminster. The timing was tight due to the SATs, and the course tour was a bit rushed, but the runners made the most of their warm-up time and were ready to run. After a close matchup with Westminster the previous week at the Richard Miller Invitational, we were expecting a tough race, which we got. After a fast first mile (5:58) Abigail Touhey ran stride for stride with Annabelle Smith from Westminster for almost the entire race. They were still together with 100 yards to go, when Abigail outsprinted the Westminster runner to the tape for her third individual victory in three dual meets this season. Anna Richardson turned in another impressive race, with a PR at 21:11, taking 3rd place out of 38 runners. Chloe Prouty (21:42) won the second nail-biter of the day, outsprinting the #2 Westminster girl to take 4th place. Jordyn Meunier, Madison Hamilton, and Lily Harris continued their consistently strong performances as part of our top seven, where they were joined for the first time by senior Anya Rozario, in her best race of the year. The varsity were able to earn a 23-32 win over Westminster, and a 15-47 win over Kingswood. The second seven continued their strong performance, with Pippa Berry, Ava Larkin, and Rylie Tirrell again leading the way to a JV score of 15-50 over Westminster. This was a big day for all 20 runners who competed, with a total of 15 PRs: Anna Richardson, Jordyn Meunier, Madison Hamilton, Lily Harris, Any Rozario, Pippa Berry, Ava Larkin, Rylie Tirrell, Brooke Manfredi, Greta Saxe, Jenna Perry, Shez Zangmo, Hannah Roche, Carly Goodman, and Linnea Rhodes. This was a very encouraging double win for both the varsity and JV, and we are looking forward to three home meets in a row, starting with Division I Miss Porters next Saturday.

The girls traveled to Westminster School on Saturday for the 14th annual Richard Miller Invitational. Nine schools competed on a hilly course on a hot day. The varsity team ran a strong, aggressive race, and were able to earn one of the two team trophies that are awarded at the race. Suffield won the meet with 51 points, and Williston took second place with 66 points. Abigail Touhey had her best race of the year, finishing an incredible 2nd out of 51 finishers, and earning an individual award (top ten). Junior co-captain Anna Richardson also had a huge race, battling the #2 girl from Deerfield for the last mile, and finally outkicking her at the end, placing 6th overall and also earning an individual award. Both Abigail and Anna cut off about a minute from last year’s race. Madison Hamilton (#15), senior co-captain Chloe Prouty (#17) and senior Lily Harris (#26) also ran very good races to round out the top five. This was our first team trophy at this race since 2015. The JV girls also had a big day, winning the JV meet with a score of 53 points, over second place Bement (56 points) and third place Suffield (108 points). Individual awards went to Pippa Berry (#4 out of 55 runners) and to Rylie Tirrell (#8), who had their best races of the year. Jenna Perry took a bad fall on a steep downhill in the second mile, and while on the ground, was passed by several runners. Jenna got up and re-passed enough runners to eventually place at #9 overall, and also earn an individual award. Congrats to Hollis Mann and to Linnea Rhodes for completing their first-ever 5K race for Williston, and to Madison Hamilton (24:24), Jenna Perry (28:40), Shez Zangmo (31:30), and Isabel Baxter-Paris (32:23) for turning in personal best 5K races. The team continues to improve week by week, and we are looking forward to getting back to the regular season competitive schedule with a race next Saturday against Westminster and Kingswood-Oxford.

The girls traveled to Northfield Mount Hermon on Saturday to compete against NMH and Worcester Academy, on a very hot day, on a very hilly course. The top five varsity runners ran an aggressive race against a tough NMH team, beating them on their home course, 26-29. Abigail Touhey trailed the #1 runner from NMH for most of the race, but passed her on one of the last hills and won going away, winning by 15 seconds. In a very strong race that improved her time on the course by 1:30, Anna Richardson took fourth out of 40 runners and second for Williston. Anna was followed by a pack of three runners, Jordyn Meunier, Chloe Prouty, and Madison Hamilton, who held off a strong challenge by NMH’s fourth and fifth runners to secure a closely fought victory. Lily Harris and Ava Larkin, in her best race of the year, rounded out the top seven for the varsity team. In the JV scoring Pippa Berry led the way, followed by Anya Rozario, Rylie Tirrell, and Rachel Goodman. It was a great team effort to get our varsity record for the season to 3-0. We are looking forward to the Richard Miller Invitational next Saturday.

The girls traveled to Northfield Mount Hermon on Saturday to compete against NMH and Worcester Academy, on a very hot day, on a very hilly course. The top five varsity runners ran an aggressive race against a tough NMH team, beating them on their home course, 26-29. Abigail Touhey trailed the #1 runner from NMH for most of the race, but passed her on one of the last hills and won going away, winning by 15 seconds. In a very strong race that improved her time on the course by 1:30, Anna Richardson took fourth out of 40 runners and second for Williston. Anna was followed by a pack of three runners, Jordyn Meunier, Chloe Prouty, and Madison Hamilton, who held off a strong challenge by NMH’s fourth and fifth runners to secure a closely fought victory. Lily Harris and Ava Larkin, in her best race of the year, rounded out the top seven for the varsity team. In the JV scoring Pippa Berry led the way, followed by Anya Rozario, Rylie Tirrell, and Rachel Goodman. It was a great team effort to get our varsity record for the season to 3-0. We are looking forward to the Richard Miller Invitational next Saturday.

The girls opened their regular season on Saturday at home against Kent. We had a very good first race, with a surprising number of PRs, and some new names on the Honor Roll. Abigail Touhey took control of the race from the opening gun and led all the way, finishing in a time of 21:48. Abigail gave Williston its first individual win against Kent since 2015, and set the stage for an impressive performance by the rest of the team. Close behind Abigail were co-captains Anna Richardson with a home course PR of 22:29 and Chloe Prouty with home course PR of 23:03. Both Anna and Chloe moved up on our Honor Roll to #2 and #4. Jordyn Meunier (24:04) and Madison Hamilton (24:27) rounded out the top five varsity runners. New to cross country, Jordyn and Madison made a tremendous impact in their first race, landing on the Honor Roll right away. Jordyn now stands at #9 and Madison at #11. Lily Harris and Poojaa Prakash Babu finished out the varsity sweep of the top seven places. In the JV scoring, Ava Larkin finished at #8 overall, finally outlasting Kent’s number one varsity finisher, after chasing her relentlessly for the last mile. In her first race ever, Ava turned in an inspiring effort to lead our second seven. In total, eleven runners had their personal best 5K times on our course: Anna Richardson, Chloe Prouty, Jordyn Meunier, Madison Hamilton, Ava Larkin, Pippa Berry, Anya Rozario, Greta Saxe, Brooke Manfredi, Hannah Roche, and Carly Goodman. This was a very encouraging start to our competitive season, and we are excited for our next race against Northfield Mount Hermon and Worcester next Saturday.