The boys and girls varsity cross country teams both won the Founders League Championship at Choate on Saturday.
The girls team placed five runners among the top 16 finishers, including the individual champion, senior captain Sophie Elgamal in a time of 19:44. The team sored 43 points to top second-place Choate (61 points), third-place Hotchkiss (89), fourth-place Taft (118), and the five other league schools.
Loomis packed its five scoring runners ahead of Choate’s third runner and Hotchkiss’s fourth runner to secure the team win. Junior Juliet Rhodes sped to fifth place overall in 20:58, freshman Neala Sweeney placed seventh in 21:16, senior captain Sophie Christiano was 14th in 21:36, and freshman Emma Tishler was 16th in 21:54. Sophomores Annabel Lyons (35th overall) and Faith Donegan (56th) rounded out the varsity Pelican squad.
For the boys team, the collection of determined Pelican performances added up to a team score of 44, placing Loomis Chaffee in first, with Choate in second with 49 points, and Hotchkiss in third with 73 points.
The team was led by freshman Matt Farrell, who crossed the finish line in first place with a personal best course time of 16:17. Next in were a pair of powerful Choate runners, crossing the line in personal bests of their own and just ahead of Kent’s No. 1 runner, with Loomis junior Ryan Heskin on the heels of this trio for fifth place, also in a personal best time on the course.
Ultimately, all seven Loomis Chaffee varsity harriers ran their fastest Choate-course times of the season, with Matt, Ryan, senior captain John Cox (11th), sophomore Mark Valadez (13th), and junior Rick Jatti (14th) earning All-Founders League status. Both junior Jacob Shichman and junior Ramesh Shrestha raced to top-25 spots, in 17th and 21st, respectively.
On the JV side, the girls won as well, by a single point, relying on all seven of its scoring and displacing runners to emerge with the JV victory. For the boys, despite sophomore Jaden Rismay and freshman Alex Stepney finishing in the first and second spots, the team came in second overall.
The Pelicans now focus their attention on the Division I New England Championships next Saturday at Exeter, the final meet of the season.