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Cross Country
The Woodstock Academy girls’ cross-country team celebrates its sixth-place finish at the Ocean State Invitational in West Greenwich, R.I. over the weekend.  Woodstock Academy senior Linsey Arends sports her sixth-place medal. Photos by Josh Welch.

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Arends sets
record in win
at Montville
It was something Linsey Arends was completely oblivious to under well after it happened. The Woodstock Academy senior led the Centaurs to a pair of wins, touring Montville’s 2.6-mile course in 16 minutes, 19 seconds.
“Apparently, that is the course record there. I found out when I got a text from my friend congratulating me. I was like, ‘What record?’ Then, coach (Joe) Banas told me that I had and it was a nice surprise,” she said.
Her first-place effort led the Centaurs to a 19-42 win over host Montville and a 15-50 win over Lyman Memorial. The two victories raised Woodstock Academy’s record to 4-1.
For Arends, establishing the course record was just a little icing on the cake. Her biggest kick is just being able to get out and run again. Last season, she was plagued by an iron deficiency.
It was a much shorter distance than she is accustomed to. A regulation cross-country course is 5 kilometers or 3.2 miles.
“I tried to go out slower but then, I realized that I wasn’t going to be there as long so I might as well just kick for it and give it my all. It felt really short. I got to mile two and it was like, ‘I’m almost done.’” Arends said.
“She did great,” said assistant coach Josh Welch. “She looks much more powerful and everything is hitting in the right place versus last year when she had her struggles. It’s nice to see her coming together and having success. She seems excited about this.”
Lauren Brule finished third overall with Leah Castle fifth and Julia Coyle sixth.
“It was a breakout race for her. It was at or around the fastest pace she has run. It was cool to see that,” Welch said. “Hopefully, it will come around for some of the others. We were down three of our top seven for that meet and, fortunately, because of the efforts of Lauren, Leah and Tessa (Brown), we were able to come out ahead.”
The Centaurs also took part in their first large invitational race in two years, competing in the Ocean State Invitational in W. Greenwich, R.I. this past weekend.
Arends used that enthusiasm to her advantage as she finished sixth overall in 20 minutes, 10 seconds and helped the team place sixth out of 20 in the varsity 1 girls’ competition.
On the boys’ side, Ian Hoffman’s track experience came into play as he captured a first-place finish at Montville.
It was his first cross-country win in only his second meet in the sport. But it didn’t come as easy as coach Peter Lusa thought it had. The Woodstock Academy coach was well away from the finish line and when Hoffman passed him late in the race, he was 50 yards ahead of Montville’s Ranju Iyer.
Hoffman won by one second, finishing in 14:07.
“(Iyer) was pretty much on my tail the whole race and he was even in front of me for a part of it. With about a half-mile left, I sped up and gained a little bit on him but he caught up and the last 400 meters was really close,” Hoffman said.
Fortunately, Hoffman ran the 400-meter in track. The shorter course affected Hoffman in similar ways to Arends, running a different pace.
Hoffman’s finish was aided by a fourth-place finish from Vince Bastura. Seamus Lippy placed fifth and Christian Menounos was sixth overall as the Centaurs downed Montville, 21-38, and Lyman 21-37.
The Centaurs boys are also 4-1 on the season.
The boys’ cross-country team also participated in the Ocean State Invitational and Hoffman placed 43rd in 17 minutes, 51 seconds while Vince Bastura was 76th. The team placed 19th out of 30 teams in the boys’ varsity 1 race.
Marc Allard
Director of Sports Information
The Woodstock Academy

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