Before the season even started, Hall’s cross country team was already turning heads. Having over 120 boys on the team, they are easily the biggest team in the state. Ranked by their performance in 2015, the team was ranked 13th in the state, according to ctcoachespoll.com. With the very impressive record they have right now, they have moved up to fluctuate between 4th and 5th place with New Milford, right behind Staples (1), Danbury (2), and Amity (3).

Hall XC has yet to lose a dual meet. Even when competing against the teams that beat them last year in the central Connecticut conference championships. Despite the stiff competition from the opposing teams, Hall hasn’t lost yet.

In the three invites that Hall has competed in, all with over 20 teams in the races, Hall has done very well. At the first race of the season, the Windham Invitational, Both Hall JV and Varsity placed 1st, and the freshmen respectively placed fourth.

Hall Cross Country’s coaches, Mr. Billing and Everett Hackett, tried something different with the varsity team at the next invite. For those of you who don’t know, in cross country, the top 7 on a team are considered varsity. For the meet that the team attended, the Strattonbrook Invitational, the Coaches chose to let the fastest seven seniors, who weren’t on varsity run the varsity race. Most of the seniors had never run in such a fast, competitive race before because the varsity team that sat out is made up of juniors and sophomores, so Coach gave the seniors a chance to show what they could do. Given the chance, they ran the race, aiming to place in the top 5, but got second place behind Staples, the best team in the state. The JV team also accomplished amazing things. Without the seniors leading them, they managed to grab second place behind staples too, just like varsity.

The most recent invitational that the Warriors have attended was the Bowdoin Invitational. Because this invitational was in Wappinger Falls, New York, only the fastest 20 runners went. They left for New York on Friday the 23rd, right after school and stayed overnight to race the next morning. The course is where the Nike XC regionals are held, so the course was very difficult. Going into the race, Hall had no idea what to expect in terms of placing. All the team knew was that they weren’t going to get first. The number 6 ranked team in the nation, Christian Brothers Academy, was going to be in same race as them. The Varsity team ran exceptionally well, and placed 4th out of the teams in the race. The JV team absolutely dominated, snagging first place.

As the season passes its halfway mark, the team is still doing incredibly well. With one of the biggest meets of the season coming up, the team can do nothing more than prepare, and work hard just like they do every other week in the season. Good luck to them this weekend at the Wickham Invite