Jourdain, Kirby Win Cross Country Opener
LENOX, Mass. -- The gun shot and it was off to the races for Berkshire County cross country runners, who recorded their first race of the season with temperatures in the high 80s on Wednesday.
Lenox hosted boys and girls teams from Monument Mountain, Mount Greylock, Pittsfield, and Taconic. The rest of the county's teams were further down the road in Lee.
It was the Millionaires' Emma Jourdain who took first in the girls race at Lenox with a time of 20 minutes flat. Following in behind her was Mount Greylock's Margo Smith with a time of 20:06.
Jourdain crossed the finish line and instantly went to the ground after making a burst past Smith to take first place.
"The heat really hurt, the fitness trails were covered in shade so they were fine, but I really felt it coming around those hills," Jourdain said. "I knew in that last lap that I just had to stay with her and wait for the hill and try it there because we practice that hill so many times and I knew that was my opportunity to go for it.
"I probably didn't need to fall over, but it felt like a good thing to do."
The hill that Jourdain referred to is the last climb runners take before the finish line.
Jourdain said she felt like she benefited from home course advantage but mentioned teams were at the school early in the week checking out the course.
"It definitely helps running here, most of our runs we finish there on purpose," she explained. "I love this course. It's really hard, but you get such a satisfaction when you finish it that makes it worth it."
On the boys side, four-time defending Western Massachusetts Champion Mount Greylock had four runners finish in the top five. Finishing first was senior Tommy Kirby with a time of 17:53.
Kirby had a pretty large lead between him and his teammate Jacob Fink, who finished at 18:42, but he said he does better running with people beside him.
"I like having people to push me, it's really a mental sport," Kirby said. "It's hard to give yourself the drive to get a really good time if you don't have others there for you to beat."
As it was the first race of the season, Kirby was satisfied with him place, even with the large gap between him and the second place finisher. The defending Western Mass champion explained that it's a new year with young talent, but it is nothing that will hold them back to getting right back where they left off in 2014.
"I think our team has a really good way of the young guys stepping up, we never really have to rebuild," he said. "The younger guys have the older guys to pace off of and we just reload."
Both the Lenox and Mount Greylock coaches are confident in the potential their runners have for the upcoming season and both agreed that today was only day one and it can only improve from here.
"I'm happy with our finish, because you never know," Lenox coach Jeanne Teasdale said. "All the teams that were here have strong programs; I know some girls from the other schools and now they're in the mix and it's nice to have that competition to push you."
Girls top ten- 20:00 Emma Jourdain (Lenox) 20:06 Margo Smith (Greylock) 20:20 Maggie Sorrentino (Lenox) 20:52 Alive Najimy (Lenox) 22:10 Emily Tibbetts (Lenox) 22:40 Meryls Phair (Monument) 22:49.12 Grace Ellrodt (Lenox) 22:49.96 Ellie Williams (Greylock) 22:54 Elizabeth Jarck (Lenox) 23:10 Tate Morrison (Lenox)
Boys top ten- 17:53 Tommy Kirby (Greylock) 18:42 Jacob Fink (Greylock) 18:47 Owen Brandriss (Greylock) 18:53 Sam Culver (Greylock) 18:54 Raphael Bruno (Lenox) 18:55 Trevor Pelkey (Taconic) 19:02 Noah Casino (Pittsfield) 19:24 Cameron Castonguag (Greylock) 19:27 Grey Fournier (Pittsfield) 19:37 Connor McNinch (Lenox)