As the Boys’ Varsity and Junior Varsity Cross-Country teams crossed the finish line of the NEPSTA meet in Thompson, Connecticut, and received the results, they achieved something monumental in the School’s history.
The Gators traveled to Marianopolis Prep last Friday to compete in the NEPSTA meet—their most significant race of the season. As the boys’ cross country team’s final race, the group was determined to make it a memorable and fitting conclusion to their season.
Competing against 26 NEPSAC division IV teams across New England, the varsity team was challenged with some of the best competition they’ve faced yet. Despite the competition, the Gators varsity program finished second in the meet, which is an all-time best in the program’s history.
Varsity runner Brooks Neufeld ’26 reflected on the adversity the team had faced in the past few years to get to this incredible feat.
“We had Brian [Gamble] a couple of years ago and when we lost him, there was a little bit of worry on if we could meet the same standard that we were at when he was here. But this year, we trained hard which led to a great performance at NEPSTA.” Neufeld said.
Head Coach Ted Barker-Hook has built his program from the ground up, pushing his runners to achieve incredible feats on the course.
“He preaches a lot of just dedication. You gotta really be committed to his team to perform well,” Neufeld said, touching on the impact Barker-Hook has had on the teams’ success this season. “He makes you do a lot of stuff, but if you take that stuff very seriously, and you really just try your best to get it done, you’ll see improvements.”
Neufeld also credits Barker-Hook for what he preaches before the races, motivating the runners to achieve their best.
“He emphasizes the importance of remembering that in cross country, you’re running by yourself,” Neufeld said. But when you come together and look at results in the end, it really comes down to how you perform to help your teammates and everyone do well as a whole.”
Barker-Hook emphasized the qualities that stood out about his team this year compared to other.
“What I think was different this year that we haven’t seen for a long time is we didn’t have any truly elite runner,” Barker-Hook said. “What we did have is a big pack of good determined runners so there wasn’t much separation from our first to our sixth runner time-wise.”
Barker-Hook used this team setup as an advantage for the team’s training, as he instilled the importance of team running to boost chemistry and morale.
“This year I tried harder than other years to have kids training as a pack, getting used to running together as a pack, pacing each other, encouraging each other, and as the year went as some of the kids grew fitter and moved closer to our lead pack,” Barker-Hook said.
Barker-Hook believes that this team’s success will propel the Gator’s confidence heading into the coming years.
“I think when you can see this kind of success without having a superstar, it gives everyone who is a strong but not necessarily legendary runner a good chance to see that they can really matter and do something special,” Barker-Hook said.
Not only did the varsity team achieve historic success, but the junior varsity team also demonstrated promise by defending their title and finishing first in the NEPSTA Division IV JV race.
Here a well, Barker-Hook was impressed by his JV team’s success and views it as a way to drive his team for the future.
“They may be JV right now when we’re forced to create a varsity and JV team, but they are not JV forever,” Barker-Hook said. “They had some great times running the same course as the varsity, and I think it can give them a ton of confidence and a ton of reason to keep on going.”
