The UHSSE cross country team is finishing their season off strong, placing second at the CRAL Championship Meet on Tuesday, Oct. 18.

Notable performances at the meet were Tanmay Thaker ’24 who placed 2nd in the boys 5k and Catherine Hockenhull ’25 who won 1st in the girls 5k race. “It was very exciting”, said Catherine, “I have never been a leader of a race before and that was very interesting for me.”

Catherine’s involvement in cross country instilled the importance of hard work and dedication. “Working really hard to get somewhere you want to be is really important. I’m trying to break the school record. It’s only 10 seconds off my PR,“ said Hockenhull.

Catherine is not the only cross country athlete whose goal is to beat a school record. Key player Tanmay Thaker hopes to surpass the boys cross country record by his fourth year on the team. He most recently ran a time of 17:55 for the CRAL Championship Meet; one second behind the first-place recipient. Tanmay has run exceptionally well this season. He has high hopes for his cross country career and can only go forward from here.

The UHSSE cross country team will compete in the CIAC Class SS Championship meet on November 4th, followed by the CIAC State Open Championship for anyone who qualifies. We expect them to continue performing remarkably as they move onto a higher level of competition.