Sturgis East Cross Country off to the Races in 2013

By Cooper Heilmann, staff reporter  

Tom Homand (left center), Jon Greeve (center), and Liam Doherty (far right) begin the race at Martha's Vineyard. 

This year’s Sturgis East cross country team has had a very strong start to the season.  Despite losing an excellent senior group last year, which included the Ohm twins, Noah Lonergan, and Mitch Kimber, the Storm have several returning veterans who are quickly and successfully stepping up to form a very competitive squad. This core group includes seniors Jonah Greenberg and Jon Greeve, and juniors Tom Homand, Liam Doherty, and Parth Patel.There is also a large number of new, upcoming runners who have already brought success to the team. One good example is brand-new freshman runner Caroline Sullivan, who just recently recorded one of the top times for girls in Sturgis Cross Country history (In cross country, runners are timed by how quickly they can run a distance of 5 km, or 3.1 mi).

Junior Caitie Pollard amidst a crowd of girls' varsity runners at Martha's Vineyard.

The season started out with an invitational meet on Martha’s Vineyard, where hundreds of runners from different schools throughout Massachusetts came to race. The boys didn't finish as well as they feel they could have, but the boys’ junior varsity excelled, even beating some of the varsity players’ times. The girls’ varsity efforts were highlighted by a superb performance by Caroline Sullivan, who finished with a time just under 22 minutes. The JV girls also ran very well and finished with solid times across the board.

Sophomore Holden Romage (middle) making a furious finish in the boys' JV race.

    On September 17, the cross country team had their first head-to-head race against Pope John Paul II at Bayberry Golf Course. This course is traditionally the most challenging course of the season, but Sturgis experienced a crushing victory nevertheless, taking the first five spots as well as seventh and eighth place. Jon Greeve took first place in the meet, while Caroline Sullivan and senior Cadance Sullivans helped lift the girls to victory.

Senior Jonah Greenberg (middle) and Tom Homand (behind) help the Storm defeat PJPII. 

The Storm cross country team is currently preparing for its next race on Tuesday, September 24, against Mashpee and Carver.