Harwood girls’ cross-country crushed the competition on Saturday, November 5, at the Vermont Division II state championships. Harwood girls had an incredibly low team score of 21 points (the placings of the top five runners are combined) for an impressive 46-point victory. The Harwood girls swept the first three positions: Junior Erin Magill, first; senior Anneka Williams, second; and freshman Julianne Young, third. They were supported by Junior Phoebe Sweet, eighth; senior Lily Clark, ninth; juniors Isabel Jamieson, 21st; and Willa Yonkman, 22nd.
When McGill crossed the finish line she became only the fifth girl from Harwood to win the individual state title. Past winners were Kim Blodgett, 1987 and 1988; Lori Blodgett, 1990; Annie Mendes, 2006; Jaime Thomas, 2010 and 2011. She is the third girl who previously attended Moretown Elementary School to win a state title in cross-country (Mendes and Thomas were Waterbury residents).
McGill took the lead 400 meters into the race and never looked back. She won the race by 24 seconds over teammate Anneka Williams.
“Team co-captain Anneka had a strong second half and appeared to be gaining on her teammate near the end. Freshman Julianne Young may someday add to the legacy of Harwood individual state titles,” said their very pleased coach, John Kerrigan.
This was the 11th state title for Harwood girls’ XC and the 24th for Kerrigan and Harwood cross-country. Kerrigan now has 42 state championships while coaching Harwood teams.
“I knew our chances of winning were good, but I was surprised by the margin of victory. Phoebe was coming back from an injury, Lily always runs with heart, but ninth place – wow! Izzy was emotionally devastated by the October tragedy; she had a gutsy performance. And Willa proved that she is also one of the outstanding freshman runners in Vermont. Willa finished very close to the No. 1 runner from U-32 and battled with the top runners from several other schools,” Kerrigan added.
Lily Clark represents a strong family legacy of XC runners. Her mother, Heidi, ran for Kerrigan before it was the “army.” Her uncles, Caleb, Rich and Jake, were part of state championship teams.
“This by far was the sweetest,” said the team co-captain. “We went through a rough time in October. Coach helped us all deal with the tragedy and gave us our own space.”
The tragedy appeared to create an even stronger bond among all of the team members, according to Kerrigan. “We supported each other as a family, said Isabel Jamieson, who lost one of her closest friends.”
“Our girls found that silver lining today,” said Kerrigan.
Harwood girls have qualified for the New England Cross-Country Championships next Saturday, which will take place at Ponaganset High School in North Scituate, Rhode Island.
