On Friday, the Groton Boys and Girls Cross Country Teams competed in the 2009 ISL Cross Country Champioships on the 5K Middlesex School course. 

Boy's Report:  The boys ran to victory in the ISL Cross Country Championships for the first time since 2005, edging out powerhouse Belmont Hill by 3 points, 77 to 80. Belmont had defeated Groton in a close season opener.  It was a top to bottom team effort for the Groton Harriers; finishing in the top 15 for Groton were Ted Leonhardt '11 (5th place), Jamie Norton '10 (7th place), and Josh Imhoff '11 (15th place).

Girl's Report:  Though this was a building year for the girls, given the loss of virtually the entire varsity squad of '08, a combination of new talent and committed returners resulted in a strong 5th place finish. Faith Richardson '11 found a new level of performance, winning the race in a time of 18:30--a new course record at Middlesex and one of the fastest times posted over 5000m (3.1 miles) in recent ISL memory. Promising young runners CiCi Ho, Adrianna Sclafani, Molly Lyons, Hannah Kessler, Julia Metzger, and the Anna Purcell--the one Sixth Former on the team, also ran well. The JV team was similarly strong in their race--and has improved so much over the course of the season that the JV is now stronger than Groton's varsity was at the start of the season.

More complete results of the ISL Championships in Cross Country can  be found at www.coolrunning.com