The Panther Invitational

This past Saturday, while the Men's and Women's soccer teams and the women's field hockey team took on and soundly thumped the Jumbo Elephants from Tufts, the Cross Country teams played host to 9 teams for the running of the Panther Invitational. Temperatures hovered in the mid 70's, the light breeze - however slight, was welcome.

The women headed to the line first, ready to take on the competition. From the gun, the majority of the front pack of women donned Midd uniforms. Although the pack was led by overall winner Toni Wiszowaty of Plattsburgh State, the talent and depth of Midd quickly prevailed. As the runners covered the long grassy hill to the first mile and headed into the trails, it was clear the Lady Panthers were having a good day.
The top 5 women for Midd moved quickly as a pack and jostled for position coming into the finishing chute. Seniors Makely Lyon and Andi Giddings sprinted up the last hill, with Makely edging out Andi for 2nd and 3rd. 10 meters back had Midd's Erin Archard, Alexandra Krieg, and Devyn Young in a sprint finish of their own. The order of finish was Krieg, Archard, and then Young with only 1.5 seconds separating them. Midd's score for the day came in at 20 points. Anne Sullivan navigated the course well and was the next runner through (8th), followed quickly by Emily Jacobs in 10th place. Captain Claire Schultz stopped the clock next only 2 places behind Jacobs, still under the 21 minute mark. Amanda Quinlan and Emily Allison found themselves surrounded by runners from the other teams. Both did an outstanding job of kicking in and leaning at the finish. Amanda came in 15th and Emily earned 20th place. Katharine Gura and Kylie Taylor were separated by one second at the finish coming in 23rd and 24th, respectively. Anna Clock charged through the last half and surprised the 5 people she passed on her way. She came in 29th. Rounding out the Panthers for the day were Charlotte Bemis (34th), Hallie Fox (38th), and Grace Giles (46th).
As stated, the women won the overall team title.

Though only an hour later than the start of the women's race, by the time the men's gun sounded the temperatures had warmed up a few degrees.
Similar to the the women's race, a runner from Plattsbugh (Matt DeShane) took the lead from the start and did not relinquish it. Jimmy Butcher followed through and looked strong on his home course, cruising in to the finish for 2nd place. Will McDonough had the company of first-year Chris Free for the 1st half of the race but ran a negative split race and came in 4th overall. A short 8 seconds then separated Midd's next pack and rounded out the scoring for the Panther's. Chris Free, Bruce Hallett, and Jack Wambach came in 8th, 9th, and 10th places. Running through next for the men were Peter Murphy in 13th and Mike Mommsen in 14th. Mike Waters and Mike Panzer showed great strength and promise over the 5 miles and came in 16th and 18th. Rainey Johnson, sprinting and competing to the finish was next for the men and came in 22nd. 4 seconds back in 23rd place came Rainey's teammate (not brother), Pat Johnson. Dan Kaufman ran a huge negative split race, looking strong when crossing the finish in 25th place. Andrew Ruoss came through the finish next in 28th place. Neal Dignum, back racing after being injured much of last year came in 29th place. Midd's Glen Freiden came in 38th, followed by Russell Griggs in 49th, Jer Korsh in 59th and David Cha in 71st.
As with the women's team, the men's team took top honors for the day.
The familiar phrase 'It is a Great Day to be a Panther' was heard...



This coming weekend, we will be headed to compete in the Williams Invitational. The team is looking forward to a fun meet with some good competion.

Have a great week!
Nicole Wilkerson
Asst. Cross Country Coach