Brunnette to Return to Nationals

The men’s and women’s cross-country team ran their final races this past weekend at the NCAA division three New England regionals. Sam Brunnette (Newport Center VT) had a dramatic finish, fending off four opposing runners in the last 400 meters to earn himself a repeat championship title. He not only claimed the position of the first runner in NCAA to do a repeat, but also helped push Plymouth into one of their best finishes in the program's history. The men’s teams ended with 553 points and earned 18^th place out of the 58 teams running. The women’s team was right there too, making big stomps in NCAA. Freshman Kim Bowles (Wonalancet NH) broke a PSU program record by having the best finish for the women’s team in the cross-country championships. “Regionals was a highlight for us. We had excellent support from the members of the team that weren't racing, they drove themselves and were wildly load and did a great job cheering,” coach John Ostler said about the competition this weekend. “Sam winning his second New England title was a huge highlight, too. His race was thrilling.”

Bowles finished in the 116^th spot with a time of 24:07.22. Getting this top finish for Plymouth’s team capped the team’s placement at 27^thout of 57 teams. Haley Dennis (Coventry NH) and classmate Lora Giguere (Tolland CT) took the second and third fastest places for the women’s team, finishing 148^th and 161^st respectively. Only 11 seconds separated the two as it was a tight race divided by only seconds with over 400 runners on the course. Bowles’ teammate Mia DeMarco (Merrimack NH) was the last point scorer for the team, securing the 226^th spot and finishing with a time of 25:35.63. 

The Panthers end with a dominant performance by ending in front of five Little East Conference teams. They also finish with a .639-win percentage that was the best in the division three teams. 

“We always want to improve on last year, in all facets of our team. This year we had a better, more supportive team culture which helped us place better in the majority of our meets compared to 2017. The most successful goals we met were finishing higher at our regional championship on both sides than ever before. Each team had a better overall winning percentage than any team that's come before. I'd say we reached about two-thirds of our goals”, said Ostler.

Warren Bartlett (Loudon NH) ran his final cross-country race and finished with a 58^th place. Sophomore Marcus Cryan (Topsfield MA) came in third for the Panthers and 118^thoverall with a time of 27:19.69 and following him a minute later was Chaim Tendler (Manchester NH). Tendler finished his career this weekend as well finishing within the top 200. The last point scorer was Jared Wolf (Tyngsborough MA) finishing just under 29 minutes and taking the 199^th place. 

Brunnette will travel once again to the NCAA national’s competition at the University of Wisconsin this Saturday. “Sam was 25th last year so it's always the goal to improve on that. He's capable of racing at the front of the race. He's got some high goals for himself and I think he could turn in a really special race,” Ostler said.