On November 9th, St, Paul's School (SPS) boys cross country competed in the New England Preparatory School Track Association (NEPSTA) Division I Championship. Other Division I schools are Avon Old Farms School (AOFS), Belmont Hill School (BHS), Brunswick School (BS), Choate Rosemary Hall (CRH), Deerfield Academy (DA), The Hotchkiss School (THS), The Loomis Chaffee School (TLCS), Milton Academy (MA), Northfield Mount Hermon (NMH), Phillips Academy Andover (PAA), Phillips Exeter Academy (PEA), Taft School (TS), and Trinity-Pawling School (TPS).
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In the varsity race, SPS knew that they had the speed and preparation to compete for the top team spots. Ready for the season's culminating competition, each of the seven SPS varsity runners executed their first 800m and mile well by establishing rhythm with appropriate close competitors. The course's middle mile, which features a steep valley gut check, challenged race plans for all teams and broke up several intra-school packs heading into the third mile. Even though every competitor seemed to understand the need to work that mile's long climb up to the finish line, SPS attacked well across the board and had each runner gain spots approaching the last 800m.
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The SPS top three of Captain
Andrew Carroll '25,
Owen Gorenc '27, and Linkus Krenkel '27 again finished in quick succession, with all three earning all-NEPSTA recognition for their top-20 finishes. Both captains ended their SPS cross-country careers on high notes: Carroll was the first SPS finisher across the line, and
Ian Chang '25 ran yet another personal best time while coming in fourth for the team.
Langston Williams '27, Chappy Carroll '27, and
Daniel Hong '27 ran well and rounded out SPS varsity to earn the team fifth place, improving on already-strong placement from the previous year.
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Varsity team scores: PEA 69, PAA 75, TLCS 95, DA 116, SPS 116, NMH 145, THS 188, BHS 192, BS 225, TS 277, MA 331, CRH 312, AOFS 359, TPS 426
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In the junior-varsity (JV) race, SPS was eager to test their end-of-year prowess against the deep rosters of their large-school opponents.
Jonah Farkas '27 hit the opening 800m hard and first among SPS runners, but he controlled the rest of the first mile well to find
Silas Collins '28 and
Luca Bocresion '26, and those three formed a strong pack in the middle mile. The steadfast duo of Sam Du '25 and Harry Moyer '27 set themselves up to score behind that pack by running with poise and carrying out their race plans well through the first two miles. SPS again attacked the course's last-mile hill and considerably improved their individual placements heading into the home stretch. Bocresion would storm past several runners there to snag a top-20 finish. Collins, Farkas, Moyer, and Du would score behind him to give SPS JV a fifth-place finish, matching the mark from the previous year.
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JV team scores: PAA 25, DA 57, PEA 70, BHS 117, SPS 144, TLCS 161, THS 221, NMH 225, MA 265, AOFS 286, CRH 323, TS 349
V Results
5. 116 ST PAUL'S ( 16:54 1:24:27 1:06)
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1 10 Andrew Carroll 16:26 5 41 Langston Williams 17:32
2 12 Owen Gorenc 16:29 6 ( 45) Charles (Chappy) Carroll 17:38
3 18 Linus Krenkel 16:39 7 ( 50) Daniel Hong 17:47
4 35 Ian Chang 17:21
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JV Results
5. 144 ST PAUL'S ( 19:01 1:35:01 0:49)
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1 18 Luca Bocresion 18:39 5 40 Shaoqian (Sam) Du 19:28
2 24 Silas Collins 18:42 6 ( 47) Grant Lebar 19:45
3 28 Jonah Farkas 18:56 7 ( 50) Seborn Ragsdale 19:50
4 34 Horace (Harry) Moyer 19:16