Girls Cross Country

Needham Track Club

Cross Country Team

Needham Track Club Goes to the Nationals!

On Nov 19th - for the first time in NeedhamTC history a full team qualiified for Nationals as the Midget Div girls took 3rd (nearly 2nd) place at the New Englands in Rhode Island.
Additionally Eva Lauer (Youth Div) took 19th and qualified as an Individual, Alyse Rocco placed 8th making it as an Intermediate.

The Midget girls were led by Kate Ellinger 12th, MollyMcLaughlin 14th, Sienna 17th, and with Caitlin O'Connor and Brennan Mullin rounding out the scoring.

Three more weeks of training would not prepare anyone for the weather at the Dec 10th Nationals.
A solid 9 inches of snow only delayed the start a bit as small tractors packed the snow down. The scene was similar
to what you see on tv for Olympic XC skiing.
Our Midget Div team was outstanding, taking 18th place with our top two girls, Molly McLaughlin and Kate Ellinger finsihing just over 100th place out of approx 300 runners.
Later in the day Alyse Rocco took an impressive 67th in the Intermediate girls race.
Great job to the girls and parents for the season !

Needham Track Club Wins 2005 Mayor's Cup!

NeedhamTC Girls takes 2nd place team in Mayor's Cup competition

Trying to defend the their 2003 title proved difficult but the NTC wound up with a very solid 2nd place showing Oct 24th
in Franklin Park, Boston.
35 girls age 6-15 raced for the NeedhamTC in this event
Top finishers for the club were Marlis Gnirke (5th) Anna Lukes (6th) Molly Pistrang (7th) and Annie Ecsedy (13th).
Annie is the captain + top female runner for the Pollard XC team and earned an 11-12 yr old age-group award for her efforts.

Next up for the club is the New England Junior Olympics Nov 14th in Amherst NH.
Finishing in the top 3 teams is the goal and would qualify the group for the Region 1 meet in Augusta Maine.
A top 3 finish in Maine would qualify the team for Nationals in Chicago
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Pollard XC Wraps Up Recordbreaking Season

The Pollard girls and boys teams capped off successful seasons winning trophies at the Dover Invitational.
The girls took the 2nd place trophy and were 50% responsible for the Co-ed Team title - top 3 boys + girls places are added for that competition.

The boys team is the best in Eastern MA (probably all of MA but hasn't raced west of Acton !) finishing a perfect 11-0 and
beating an additional 15 teams while winning two large invitationals.
They set numerous scoring and time records this season.

Leading the boys is NTC summer participant Jake Newfield who won every dual meet this season adding a 2nd and 3rd in multi team invitationals. Needham HS is eagerly awaiting the top 3 of Jake, Andy Gluesing and Brett Riley.

Girls captain Annie Ecsedy (7th grade) also came up "through the ranks" running summer track, the Great Bear runs and was a fledgling member of the NTC racing team. Annie won 5 straight dual meets to close out the season and this girls team will be very tough in 2005 as they lose no scoring 8th graders.

A number of these Pollard runners are not resting but preparing for the Junior Olympic competitions in Nov-Dec.
Good luck !
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Needham Track Club Cross Country Team - seeks runners age 8-15 for fun but competitive running team.
Our program has prepared girls in all age groups for Cross Country competitions. We'll be attending various races throughout the year including Indoor and Outdoor Track Meets, some road races and of course Cross Country. In 2003 we won the historic Mayor's Cup event held in Franklin Park, Boston and fielded age group teams that traveled to Junior Olympic competitions in New Hampshire and New York.

We have several experienced coaches, 30+ runners and are always looking to add new talent !
Fall practices are Sundays from 1:15-2:30 in Caryl Park, Dover and the adjacent running trails. Our XC season runs from late August through the Junior Olympics in mid November.

We have runners from a number of the surrounding towns - some of whom compete for their middle schools-high schools and join up with us for a weekend run and the Franklin Park + Junior Olympics competitions.

Play soccer ? Great ! Soccer players make great cross country runners - 8 of our top 10 runners also play soccer. The distance you cover in a single soccer game will most likely exceed any cross country distance you race.

We separate our runners into appropriate groups, graduating our runners up a group when ready. These groups typically run anywhere from 1-3+ miles depending on age group. We do most of our running on nice woodchip and dirt trails. Hills, tempo runs and some short fun relays add variety to our workouts and the mileage adds up without being boring.

The Junior Olympics and most races have age group divisions.
For 2004 the JO's define these divisions as :

Bantams - born 1994+
Midgets - 1992-93
Youth - 1990-91
Intermediates 1988-89
Interested in joining ? Questions ?
Please contact:
Brian Hall at (508) 785-8048 home,
( 617) 572-9463 work Or : Brian-hall@comcast.net

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