The Harwood Union Middle School girls’ and boys’ cross-country teams swept their home meet on Saturday at Harwood under blue skies and brilliant fall foliage. And, yet again, the Highlanders’ Julia Thurston and Tabor Greenberg were on top of the podium.
“Bobby Knight, most known for his legendary coaching of the Indiana Hoosiers basketball team from 1971-2000, said, ‘The key is not the will to win.... Everybody has that. It's the will to prepare to win that is important,’” said coach Lou Bevacqui.
“This couldn't be truer of our HUMS XC team this year,” he continued. “They've been racking up personal as well as team wins for the past two months. It would be easy to dismiss their success with a ‘They’re just that talented’ or a slight ‘It comes so easy to them,’ but truth be told, they all are workers, pure and simple. Winning becomes a byproduct, when you have a team with that kind of dedication and resolve, not just at meets but in the everyday efforts of practice when no one's watching.”
Greenberg (11:56) and Tony Viola (fourth) led the Highlander boys to a victory followed by Quinn Smith (eighth), Gavin Clark-Viola (15th), Christopher Cummiskey (16th), Finnegan Kramer (23rd) and Colby Kathan (33rd).
Thurston (13:54) and Heidi Haraldsen (fourth) crushed their home course to bring the middle school girls their fifth invitational title this season. McKenna Paxman (eighth), Hazel Lillis (14th), Celia Wing (16th), Sadie Haskell (18th) and Susannah Smith (19th) rounded out the top seven Harwood spots.
