The Portsmouth Abbey cross-country teams finished their seasons on Saturday, November 8, with Olivia Fay '10 capturing her second consecutive New England Division III Cross-Country title at the N.E. Championships, held at St. Mark's School in Southborough, MA.
Last year, despite being the EIL champion, Olivia was relatively unknown by most of her opponents. When she took off halfway through the race last year, no one went with her and she won by 27 seconds. There was no such anonymity this year, as Olivia was surrounded by six runners at the mile mark, including sophomores Alanna McDonough of The Governor's Academy and Faith Richardson of Groton.
The hilly second mile proved decisive, as Olivia dropped all pursuers except McDonough, emerging from the hidden hills of the course with a half mile to go and a small lead which she maintained to the finish, winning her second consecutive title by three seconds in a time of 19:43. The time was impressive for two reasons: one, the course was muddy and wet, and, two, Leah Murphy '00 ran 20:21 on this course in 1999 when she took 2nd in this meet.
Olivia was followed by Kaitlin Patton '11 in 21st, Broghan Zwack '12 in 50th, Sara Munda '10 in 73rd, Lauren Brodeur '10 in 76th, and Sara Stratoberdha '11 in 77th. The girls came in 10th of 14, one place behind Concord Academy (2nd place in the EIL meet) and one place ahead of Dana Hall (3rd place in the EIL meet). The Ravens girls' team has much to look forward to with its top 12 runners returning next year.
The Ravens boys' team finished in 10th out of 14 teams in the meet, one place behind EIL Champions Concord Academy. Ed Kielb '11 led the way for Abbey with his 37th-place finish, followed by Quent Dickmann '10 in 41st, Brendan Connelly '10 in 63rd, Madison Hansen '10 in 67th, and Devin Laviano '09 in 69th. The top five Abbey boys all finished within a minute of each other, continuing the team running that gave them an 8-0 record in the EIL this season but not quite able to move up far enough in the race to be a factor in the team scoring. However, with 4 of the top 5 runners returning from this young team next year, the boys are already looking ahead to next season.
Congratulations to Olivia Fay and both Ravens' cross-country squads on an impressive season!
