Boys’ cross country takes tough competition in stride
The boys’ cross country program may have had the smallest team that ARHS has seen since 1996, but it still took great strides this season to cement Amherst’s place among the top teams in New England.
The team placed second at the Amherst Invitational, third of almost 50 teams in the small-school division of Rhode Island’s Ocean State Invitational, and third in the highly competitive medium-school division at the Glennon Twilight Invitational in Cape Cod. They also finished second at Western Mass and eighth in the 2B State Divisional Championships, ending with a 6-2 record for the season.
According to head coach and ARHS social studies teacher Christopher Gould, who has been coaching the team since 1995, this year’s standout runners include Calvin Miller, Nico Lisle, Sam Woodruff, and Peter Nedeau. Miller and Lisle were consistently near the front of almost every race.
Gould noted that seniors Alden Pope and Myles Redington provided crucial support, often scoring as fifth runners, as well as helping to guide younger athletes and keep the team focused on their goals.
“[Pope and Redington] also kept the team fun by promoting Spikeball, team dinners, and individual accomplishments at our races,” said Gould.
He added that Owen Platt and Ian Burns “made great strides to keep the back end of the varsity pack fast and competitive.” All of these runners contributed to a varsity team that had the work ethic to make their ambitions a reality.
“We wanted to be more competitive in bigger meets,” said Pope, who has been running cross country since seventh grade, “and I think we accomplished that. It’s the first year I’ve felt like we were on par with a lot of teams at these bigger meets.”
Assistant coach Patrik Cooper, who graduated from ARHS in 2020, was also an important part of the team’s successes this season.
“Patrik is really helpful to the team,” said Redington, who has been running for six years and plans to continue in college. “He always leads us on runs, and he’s good at setting the pace during workouts.”
“[Cooper] has a lot of experience even though he’s pretty young,” said Pope.
The team bonds over pasta dinners, Spikeball, and running in new territory. “We always make time for Spikeball, before and after practice… or during,” said Pope. “It’s cool to keep up the competitive spirit, which I think is really important in cross country.”
Despite their huge accomplishments this season, the team is already looking ahead to the coming year. The varsity pack has a strong core of underclassmen, so seniors Pope and Redington believe their team will only continue to improve after they have graduated from ARHS.
“We’re only getting better,” said Pope. “We’re going to be a lot better next year.”
Coach Gould commends this year’s athletes for their “dogged commitment to training schedules.” He emphasizes that the sport requires “throwing yourself out the door even when rest and leisure appeal to your senses,” and that in order to develop into their best runner, athletes must commit to training even when sore and tired.
“As someone still competing almost at age 60, I can say that both the trepidation before the race and the euphoria after the race make all the training worth it,” said Gould.
