Cross Country Hosts Twelve-School Meet on Home Course
September 15, 2026
Last Tuesday, the Panthers hosted a twelve-school meet on their home course. In total, twelve schools were represented, but only six fielded complete teams. The Panther boys led all challengers and marked their second win of the season, while the Panther girls team finished fifth.
The partly sunny day with temperatures in the low 70s yielded some hot times on the Dan Grossman Woods Trail. Of particular note were the early season times posted by sophomores Peter Horan (17:36) and Zac Amber (17:49), who finished first and second, respectively. Senior and co-captain Ollie Emery finished eighth and posted a time of 18:39, while Kai Slayton (19:38 –14th overall) and Micah Mahood (19:40 –15th overall) rounded out the scoring for the Panther harriers and secured the win. Coach Emily Silver noted that these fast times so early in the season were a direct result of the summer training these athletes put in.
Also racing for the boys that day were Zac Adams, Blake Farley, Jesse Martin, Brennan Punchar, co-captain Paul Hesser, John Roberge, Aidan Graham, and Thomas Gardner.
Leading TA’s girls and finishing ninth was Meredith Sloop who posted a time of 24:55, while co-captain Lola Squire (14th overall) was 20 seconds behind. Maddie Piecuch ran third for the Panther girls with a mark of 26:20 (18th). Rounding out the top five for the Panthers were Lacey Judd (33:49 –– 43rd) and Riley Punchar (34:07 –– 44th). Also racing for the Panther girls team were Veena Wang, Mercedes Schwarz, and Phoebe Hughes.
Of the girls race, Coach Deffner said, “We have a young and relatively inexperienced team, but we’re getting better each race and their captain, Lola Squire, is doing a wonderful job fostering great team chemistry.”
The team is looking forward to the next league race on Tuesday (September 15th) in Hartford, followed by the Manchester Invitational on Saturday, September 19th. The Manchester Race will be a good test to see what the team can do in a large race against strong competition. The team looks forward to that and to continuing our tradition of stopping for ice cream at the Puritan Backroom on the way home!