Disclaimer: Sam Houghton is a runner on the boys Cross Country team.
On October 4th, the girls and boys cross country teams traveled to Thetford, Vermont to compete in the 34th annual Woods Trail Run.
Unlike a typical meet, with junior varsity (JV) and varsity races, athletes competed in one of five seeded races based on their personal best time. Seed five was the slowest, and seed one was fastest, but some overlap occurred when athletes ran slower or faster than expected. Coaches could enter as few or as many runners into each race as they wanted.
Two buses left from Essex High School bright and early on Saturday. While the weather was comfortable in the morning, the afternoon sun brought the temperature close to 80℉, making conditions less than ideal for the runners.
Woods Trail is historically a large invitational, with Thetford being a central location for much of New England. However, this year’s meet was even larger, with 500 girls and 714 boys crossing the finish line. The reason for this is that Thetford Academy is hosting the 2025 New England Cross Country Championships on November 8th, so everyone wanted to get a preview of the course.
The starting gun sounded at 11:55 AM for the 5th seed boys. Defending champion of this seed, Essex’s Mattias Maier, a junior, got out fast and led the pack into the woods. He battled hard, but couldn’t hold the lead, finishing second in 21:52.22.
“I just hoped to have a good debut race for the season, and I think that this race qualifies for more than that,” Maier said. “I wish I played the first half smarter, as Thetford is a second half course, so I could’ve fought on the hills better in the second half.”
In seed three, 9th grader Molly Fay placed 4th, running 24:01.05. This was Fay’s first race back from an injury and her first time taking on the hills of Thetford.
“I was quite worried about the hills and they were just as big as I had expected,” Fay said. “Next time, I will focus on starting out a bit quicker to prevent getting boxed in by other competitors.
Following the girls, in the boys seed three, Essex junior Cullen Metayer placed 16th, running 20:24.92.
By 3 PM, it was time for the seed one girls. Essex’s varsity girls historically perform very well against Vermont and New England teams. Saturday was no different.
Freshman phenom Adrianna Bibeau crossed the line in 20:48.80, 12th overall. Seconds behind her was junior Ruthie Knox in 13th place. Kaelyn McNamara, also a junior, was third for Essex girls, running 22:11.57. Emily Dall, junior, and Ayla Gaa, senior, rounded out the top five in 88th and 92nd overall.
Bibeau has experience at Thetford from watching her older sister compete.
“Thetford was definitely a really challenging course but I knew it was going to be hard from watching Alyse run it for four years,” Bibeau said. “The hills were really tough and it didn’t help that I had a lung stitch (sharp cramp), which I feel like held me back from doing my best, but I pushed through anyway.”
When the points were totaled, Essex girls took 5th out of 40 teams from across New England, with 226 points. Champlain Valley won, but as Ayla Gaa points out, Essex was second out of Vermont teams.
“I was very proud of our performance at Thetford because we placed 5th overall and the three teams that placed before us were from out of state meaning our odds of getting second at states again like past years is very high,” Gaa said. “I love that we get to race the course before states because it’s great practice and helps us feel more prepared.”
Kaelyn McNamara also thinks the team energy is high going into the final weeks of the season. 
“As a team, people are putting in hard work at practice, and I am looking forward to seeing PR’s [personal records] at our remaining meets,” McNamara said.
At 3:20, the gun sounded for the final race of the day: the seed one boys. Senior Sam Curtiss finished first for Essex and 42nd overall, running 18:06.47. Close behind was Sam Houghton, also a senior, in 64th place. Hudson Cunningham, senior, Will White, junior, and Adam Niquette, junior, followed suit.
Cunningham got boxed in at the start, and in a large race that can dramatically affect the result. At the state meet, he wants to implement a new strategy.
“I need to get out harder and be more lithe in the first mile,” Cunningham said. “To do that I will try doing a quarter mile tempo before the race.”
The boys placed 20th out of 53 teams, notably worse than past years, but Jack Tremble, a senior, explains how a few seconds can mean all the difference in a race of this scale.
“If each of us improved just 15-20 seconds, we would have improved by over 80 points and scored right next to our state rivals,” Tremble said.
One major question for this year’s varsity boys is whether they can place in the top six teams in the State meet and qualify for New Englands. Tremble believes they are definitely not out of the picture just yet.
“We got a good chance of making it to New Englands,” Tremble said. “We’ve got a good chance of doing well at states, top three, top four. There are teams that are right within our grasp. We’ve just got to have everybody performing at their A game.”
The Hornets are getting into the final weeks of the season. The JV boys and the girls team are heading north to Missisquoi on Saturday, while boys varsity is driving south to Saratoga, NY for the Burnt Hills Invitational. Stay tuned for more updates on the season as the State Championships on October 25 inch closer.
