If you asked Katherine Leckbee what it felt like to pass 25 other runners in the last mile of a race she couldn’t tell you. When asked she stated, she said she was vaguely aware of passing other runners, but it was only after she had finished the race was she made aware that she had finished 14th overall. She was “just focusing on getting to the finish.”

Freshman Katherine Leckbee ‘22 was the highest placing runner for the Women’s Cross Country team at their last meet on Saturday, September 15th, at UMASS Dartmouth. Both the men’s and women’s team competed, the men’s placing 19th out of 41 teams in the 8K, or five mile race, with the women’s team placing 14th out of 45 schools in the 5k, or three mile race.

In their second meet of the year Leckbee felt that they’re “better able to focus more, and it was easier to work together.” Overall she feels that the team has had a great start, but there is always room for improvement.

Following Leckbee was junior Gina Pardi ‘20, and two other freshmen who finished back to back: Allie Demers ‘20 and Emma Yount ‘20. The women’s team had two individuals place in the top one hundred runners Saturday, out of 318 runners in total. The Women’s team placed three spots higher than rival school Babson, and 14 spots higher than rival Clark.

On the men’s side, the top runner was sophomore Terry Sun ‘21 who ran for a personal best of 27:03.9, close to four seconds faster than he ran last year at the same meet. Out of a total of 295 runners, the Wheaton Men’s team had one place in the top one hundred, and 4 within the top 120. Sun was followed by Dominic Sclafani ‘22, Will Entwisle ‘21, and Luke Thombs ‘20, placing 109, 112, and 115 respectively. As a team they were only one spot lower than divisional rival Babson, but placed sixteen spots higher than Clark.

The next time the Cross Country teams approach the starting line will be September 29th at the Saratoga Invitational. Leckbee states that “it’s gone very well. There’s a lot of room to get better, and we definitely will.” According to her, the team feels like a community and they are very excited, ready to improve on what already has been a solid start to the Cross Country season.