After a long summer of workouts six days a week, the boys and girls cross country teams were finally able to compete and quantify their progress during their first official meet of the season. The off-season work proved to pay off for each team, as they both walked away from the IMS course with perfect scores.

“I know a lot of times were faster than last week[‘s time trial], which is good, but more important than times is the fact that we’re competing against other teams and getting those competitive feelings going,”  Girls Head Coach Ryan Ahlers said after the meet.

The girls varsity stuck together in a strong pack for the first part of the race, breaking apart later on.

Amelia Morrow ‘18 brought the girls varsity to victory, leading the race for the entire 5k and finishing with a time of 20:15, a new course record.

“I felt really good, especially mentally. I had good thoughts and I didn’t want to quit,” Morrow said.

The JV team got their perfect score as well with Bridget Brown ‘18 placing first and Naomi Meurice ‘19 coming in second.

The Little Hawks’ success didn’t stop with the girls, both the boys JV and Varsity teams won the meet as well. Caden Turnbough ‘20 was the winner of the Varsity race.

“[The race] was very tough, [both] mentally and physically but through the race you just gotta push through. It was hard, but the end is what matters, I felt really good about it,” Turnbough said.

Both teams will compete next on Saturday at the Pleasant Valley Invitational.