CSC XC team prepares for tourney
Castleton’s cross country team held its Vermont State Meet in Castleton on Saturday, Oct. 4, a rainy and overcast day. The meet included 10 men’s teams and 10 women’s teams. The men’s teams raced first in the morning and displayed very strong running, placing fifth in the standings behind teams such as the University of Vermont and Middlebury.
Jeffrey Paul had a great outing, finishing as the top Spartan male with a time of 29:38. Paul was followed by Peter Smith, Andrew Hicks, Nicholas Grasso, and Trevor Arthur, bringing the team to a cumulative time of 2 hours 36 minutes and 58 seconds. The average time for the team was 31 minutes and 23 seconds.
The women’s teams ran shortly after the men and endured an equally challenging race, with wet and muddy conditions impacting the trail. The Lady Spartans finished fourth. They looked very strong as well, only trailing behind teams such as UVM and Middlebury.
Maggie Klein finished first out of the Lady Spartans with a time of 20:07. She was followed by Lindsay Rines, Sage Small, Dana Pulkinen, and Lauren Cosgrove for a cumulative time of 1 hour 51 minutes and 45 seconds.
Klein said she and the team intend to improve weekly on their times during more tough practices in preparation for the postseason.
With only two more invitational meets before the North Atlantic Conference tournament, both the men and women are looking forward to the championships this year.
“We all are going to put in a lot of speed work to improve our times,” said Arthur of the men’s team. “We are real excited for the championships.