Cross Country Season Recap: Champions!
2022 proved to be one of the greatest seasons in Forks XC history! Our athletes were able to take all their hard work during the summer and fall and translate it into tremendous performances during the championship portion of the season.
The first championship meet we ran in was the divisional championship. On the boys side, Brendan Heaney led the team with a fourth place finish while Connor Little added a sixth place finish. The girls team captured the divisional title with Pipher Reid and Quinn Sirgany finishing 1-2 and Kathryn White adding a fourth place finish. Audra Ackerson and Aubrey Bough added top ten finishes placing 7th and 9th.
Going into sectionals both teams were carrying high expectations. Both races were highly competitive on both sides due to the amount of talent currently in the section. The boys ran extremely well with Brendan(14th) and Connor(23rd) both running sub 19 minutes on the tough CVSP golf course. Thomas Kapinus(39th) added a huge sub 20 minute performance with Tommy Hillis(56th) running sub 21 minutes. Jake Zajdel, Lucas McPeak, and Rory Brennan finished in a pack to round out the top 6.
Milesplit flagged the girls class C race as the race of the day in their preview. Milesplit predicted an extremely close team battle with Forks, Owego, and Lansing while giving Owego a slight edge. The forks flock positioned themselves in a good spot early in the race but it was really what transpired over the last 1K that determined the difference in the race. With 1K to go, the girls were in a very tight race with Owego and Lansing and had a slight advantage. Over the last 1K, the girls closed extremely well and turned a tight race into a 17 point victory. Pipher beat standouts Jaelyn Chrysler and Ethne Degan to capture the individual title. Quinn Sirgany closed extremely well, passing Owego’s number 2 runner on the 17th fairway, roughly 400M from the finish fourth with a 13 second gap over fifth place. Kathryn White finished with a huge performance to beat Lansing’s number 2 runner and Owego’s number 3 runner which had been back and forth battles all season. Not to be outdone, number 4 and 5 runners Audra Ackerson and Aubrey Bough had final 1K’s that were as impressive as anyone. Both girls made major moves that resulted in finishing ahead of both teams number 4 runners. This put the race out of reach and helped secure the first sectional championship for the girls in school program history! Shaylee Meier and Faith Brown added great runs rounding out 7 great performances for the girls team.
Having won the sectional championship, the girls earned the right to compete in the state championship right back at the CVSP golf course. The race went out extremely quick but the flock stayed composed. Pipher ran an extremely smart and tactical race working her way up from the high teens to a tremendous 2nd place finish! Quinn, Kathryn, Audra, Aubrey, Faith added extremely strong performances as well. All six girls exceeded expectations which led the team to a better than anticipated finish as well!
Pipher qualified for the Federation Championship at Bowdoin Park. In what was considered the most competitive Federation field of all time, Pipher finished her Forks XC career and our 2021 season with an impressive 23rd place finish in another extremely well ran tactical race.
