The boy’s cross country team overcame rain and 50-degree weather to beat three teams in a blowout on Oct. 3. Even with the abundance of rival school runners on the Wakeman course, Staples was able to secure a victory over Bridgeport Central, Westhill and Norwalk. 

Following the outlined orange flags on the course, the runners made a loop around the track, then went up past the back of Bedford, continued around the soccer, football, and baseball fields, and made a circle back down past Bedford for a total of 1.8 miles. The JV team had to run once around the course while the varsity team had to run around twice. 

Though the other three schools had more runners, Staples was able to win both races. Cole Cummings ’26 won the JV race, finishing in around 10 minutes and 50-seconds, while Ben Lorenz ’24 won the varsity race finishing in around 16 minutes and 10 seconds. Both Lorenz and Cummings expressed their love for the sport after the meet. 

“For me, running those days in the morning super early in the morning, when you didn’t feel like it, having rough nights, and continuing to grind through the season is that passion for running,” Lorenz said. 

Staples finishes first for the JV race (Photo by Nile Jean ’24)

Cummings, who is relatively new to cross country, expressed his thoughts. 

“I need to focus more on my stride because I held pretty solid throughout the whole race […] and I really just want to have fun,” Cummings said. 

Since every cross country meet contains multiple teams, this marks the 12th school in a row that Staples has beaten. But captain William Fitch ’23 still thinks there are improvements to be made. 

“I think our underclassmen need to get a little faster,” Fitch said. ”We had a really great team last year, and in the years past, we were known for that. So we really need to work on that this year, and in the future.”