TA News

The Panther harriers kicked off their season last Tuesday with a meet at Bellows Falls. Coaches Deffner and Silver were delighted to see 10 runners for the girls team toe the starting line and to see those same ten girls finish a rather challenging course. Having 12 girls on the team (two did not race) was particularly exciting, given the fact that in May, the team only had 3 confirmed runners. But Coach Silver presented an energetic and enticing video at a spring assembly, and Coach Deffner interviewed graduating members of the team about what the sport has meant to them. That, and a lot of individual recruitment conversations seemed to bear fruit.

While the team is relatively young and inexperienced, it’s anchored by strong returning runners, Ava Hayden and Lucia Carr. Ava is the girls’ team captain and addition to being a strong racer (she finished 2nd on Tuesday with a time of 21:27 in the 5K) she is a great leader and has been extremely helpful in helping the newcomers settle right in. In a girls race with three complete teams, the girls finished second, just edging Hartford by one point. Newcomers Maddie Piecuch, Ella Harvey, Alicja Perdrizet, and Omi Malin-Stremlau were a big part of that effort.

The boys team is a different story in that their rosters boasts a lot of returning seniors, who will be bolstered by the contributions of Wendell Durham, a junior, and newcomer Olivier Derrendinger. Senior Brady Sloop, a strong competitor who competed in New Englands last year, will captain the team. He finished second in Tuesday’s race with a time of 17:20. The boys team finished third on the day, with strong performances by Brady and Wendell, as well as the good races turned in by the tight pack group of Miguel Kutter-Walker, Ramona Spelman, Connor Gaine, and Liam Murphy.