Last year, the Darien Boys Cross Country (Boys XC) team did something that few other teams can also say: it finished the year undefeated with a perfect 17-0 record. After beating both powerhouses, Danbury and Staples, in the same meet, this team earned a deserving spot as Overtime Team of the Week. This has been the first time in many years that the Blue Waves have beaten the Hatter. After losing four strong varsity senior members from last year, this team has a lot of depth to make up. However, this year’s team looks to make a statement again at its first meet. With the burden of living up to last year’s team, the Boys XC competed in its first meet of the season on September 11, 2012 at Ridgefield School, against Ridgefield, Warde, and Stamford. The Blue Wave did not fall short from expectation. They won this triple header Darien 19 - Ridgefield 42, Darien 18 - Warde 44, and Darien 15 - Stamford 50. The way the scoring works in Cross Country is that the team with the lower total rank wins. “We had an extraordinary performance for the first meet. Ridgefield is definitely a tough opponent in our league, but we finished with the win. It’s nice to start off the season on the right foot [no pun intended]” senior captain Sean Lee said. Darien has shown in this meet that they can still be strong even without their four captains from last year. Sophomore Alex Ostberg placed first in the race yesterday with a 16:40.3 for 3.1 miles. This equates to a 5:22 pace per mile. Ostberg was shortly followed by junior captain Marshall Huffman who finished in third, junior Colten Appleby, fifth, junior captain Peter Kreuch, sixth, junior captain Brian Davey, seventh, and junior Ben Olsen who finished in ninth place. Coach Tyson Kaczmarek who has been leading this historic team for 10 strong seasons is very hopeful for this season. He looks at this meet as one that will set a tone for future meets to come for this season. “This was a good start for us. There were a lot of positives with today's race. Ridgefield is a good team and they have a tough course to run on. I think we did very well considering everything” Coach Kaczmerek said. It is no doubt that he is more than capable of leading this team to another successful season. When asked what he planned to do to ensure a great season, he answered “We have to keep training hard and get better every day. I think if we do this we can have a very successful season.” This team has a great season to look forward to as it tries to live up to last year’s outstanding performance. Come to Taft Field at Fairfield Ludlowe on Tuesday, September 18th to cheer on the Boys Cross Country team.
Pictured Above: Sophomore Alex Ostberg seeks to attain the lead from Ridgefield as he completes the race with an impressive first place finish.
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