Williston-Northampton's course is fastest yet for Millbrook girls

A bitter wind didn't appear to slow runners at the 6-school invitational meet hosted by Williston-Northampton School on Saturday, 11/3.  Williston's 5K course is completely flat, on a combination of grass and pavement.  Olivia Dolan and Chloe Naese got a good jump on the pack of 70 runners at the start, and they crossed the mile mark at 6:08 and 6:09 respectively.  The rest of the team seemed to be caught by surprise at the rushed start, and they were boxed in by the crowds of runners for the first 3/4 mile.  They started making their moves after that, however, with Elizabeth Lowe steadily gaining, and a nice pack of Kelsey McEvoy, Charlotte Kasmin, and Maddy Lyons also moving up the field.  Meanwhile, up front, Olivia Dolan was in a battle with runners from Suffield, Williston, and Westover.  When she passed her coaches with less than a half-mile to go, Dolan smiled, took off, and beat all three girls to the finish, taking 7th place overall in a time of 20:37, her PR.  Chloe appeared to be in some pain, but she pushed through and beat out Olivia Silverman of Berkshire by two seconds, a runner who had beaten Naese earlier this season.  Chloe finished 12th with a PR of 21:00.  Next in was Elizabeth Lowe, in 20th with her PR of 22:02.  Charlotte Kasmin led the Millbrook pack in 23:01, fighting a Williston runner all the way to the finish and beating her by one second.  Kelsey McEvoy was close behind in 23:03, and Maddy Lyons had by far her best race of the season, finishing in 23:12.  Emma Feitelson had her PR of 24:01, and Sarah Dietrich finished in her best 5K of 26:20, in spite of making a wrong turn!   Millbrook lost to Suffield, Williston, and Westover, by respectable scores, and we had a very close loss to Berkshire, 28-29, and a victory over Miss Hall's.  After a focused, fun last week of training, the team should be ready to peak on our home course at the New England Championship next Saturday.

Many thanks to Yvonne Naese for the awesome power cookies!