Windham Middle School cross country teams show promise in first meet

Windham sixth grader Beckett Bragdon heads to the finish line
 during Windham Middle School's first cross country race of the
season against Westbrook and Friends School of Portland on 
Wednesday, Sept. 22 at at Smiling Hill Farm in Westbrook.
PBY NMATT PASCARELLA

By Matt Pascarella

In Windham Middle School’s first cross country meet of the season, a one-and-a-half-mile run, many members on the team showed immense achievement and with future meets on the horizon, Windham looks very promising for the upcoming season.

Windham eighth grader Nathan White was first for Windham and came in second overall for the boys with a time of 11:15.31 minutes.

Windham eighth grader Sydney Broadbent came in first for Windham and fourth overall for the girls with a time of 11:23.84.

WMS traveled to Smiling Hill Farm in Westbrook on Sept. 22 to compete against Westbrook Middle School and the Friends School of Portland.

As a team, the Windham boys beat Friends School of Portland 37-28. Westbrook had no score during this race.

The Windham girls came in second with a total of 42 points, Westbrook was first with a total of 49 and Friends School of Portland had a score of 32.

Both Windham teams showed their training has already begun to pay off.

Boys

Windham sixth grader Adam Slomczynski finished second for Windham and fifth overall with a time of 11:21.31.

Windham eighth grader Nathan Paulding finished third for Windham and ninth overall with a time of 11:56.94.

Windham seventh grader Mason Bragdon finished fourth for Windham and 10th overall with a time of 12:07.44.

Nine Windham runners were in the top 15.

White said the race went well, not many hills, though the last hill was pretty steep. White said it felt good to finish first for Windham; he thought he was going to get at least fifth place, so this was great.

Girls

“I think the race went well but I’m still working on finding my pace,” said Broadbent. “The thing that went well was that I had motivation to run faster to catch up to the person in front of me. It felt good to get first for Windham.”

Windham sixth grader Habour Libby finished second for Windham and seventh overall with a time of 12:43.15.

Windham sixth grader Taylor Lucas finished third for Windham and eighth overall with a time of 12:43.88.

Windham sixth grader Mila Thomas finished fourth for Windham and ninth overall with a time of 13:38.69.

Windham eighth grader Kaitlyn Dickson finished fifth for Windham and 14^th overall with a time of 14:14.31.

Six Windham runners were in the top 15.

“I think it went really well,” said Windham Middle School Coach Phil Jackson. “The kids were really excited to run; it’s been two years since we’ve had actual in-person competition.”

Jackson said the team came ready to run and had good attitudes. They went out and did their best, tried hard and had fun. Jackson is excited to see what Windham can do the rest of the season. <