Dustin Dobbs ’10  and Jack Hennessy ’10  
Sports Editor and Web Sports Editor

The Staples Boys cross country team ran a tough race at Waveny Park in New Canaan Oct. 22 en route to a respectable 3rd place finish. Danbury High renewed its dominance in the sport with its fifth championship in a row.

Staples came into the meet expecting to place in the top four. Danbury, Darien, Staples, and Ridgefield all had a realistic chance at winning it all.

“Those four teams all could have won because they were out and away better than everyone else,” said coach Laddie Lawrence.

Laddie made sure his team was well rested in preparation for the big meet. He also made sure to give one his legendary inspirational speeches before the start of the race. The cross country runners admit it helps a lot to have him pump them up like that.

“After his speech, I couldn’t wait for the race to start,” said Trevor MacLean ’10.

 Pre-meet rituals are Laddie’s specialty. He has been coaching for YEARS, and each speech is as important as the last.

“I’m known for my inspirational stories about past Staples athletes that can be applied to the present situation,” said Laddie.  

In order to ensure an optimal outcome, the Staples runners ran in a tight pack throughout the race. This strategy served them well on the grassy 5k course because it was much easier to manage the pace.

“The first mile in particular was much faster than usual. Running together in a pack helped us run the race the way we set out to instead of having to rely on the other runners,” said MacLean. 

Staples stuck to its strategy all the way to the finish line where they finished with an unprecedented 11 second spread in between the first and last Staples runners in the pack. This pack consisted of Staples’ top runners Jack Roche ’11, Ben Aldrich ’11, captain Jon Foster ’10, captain Sam Zorfas ’10, and Trevor MacLean ’10.

Roche, who came in first for Staples, and 11^th overall, had a time of 16:57. Aldrich had a time of 17:04, resulting in 13^th place overall, and Foster ran a solid 17:05 securing the 14^th overall place.

These three runners were awarded First Team All-FCIAC for their impressive finishes, while Zorfas, MacLean, and Chase Tagen ’10 captured second team All-FCIAC.

“Although our goal was to win, we would have had to run faster than we have all season. Danbury just had a really good day,” said runner Aaron Kliegman ’10.

“Overall I was happy with the meet. Our strength lies in our ability to stick together because we just don’t have a great number one runner like most teams. We have depth which served us well, but unfortunately it wasn’t enough to win,” said Laddie.