As we start the second month of the cross-country season, the top of rankings are starting to get very interesting. This past weekend, we had two more girls join the sub 19-minute club for the 5K distance and another boy dip under 16 minutes.
This week’s HOKA Athletes of the Week, are listed among them. For our female recipient, Pilgrim’s Keaney Bayha gets our nomination. Bayha moved to No. 1 in the rankings with a huge PR at Saturday’s annual Paul Short Run in Bethlehem, PA. The Patriots’ junior was ninth overall in the HS race with a time of 18 minutes, 39.70 seconds. Close behind Bayha for this weekly honor was Kiley DeFusco of Cumberland, who was ninth at the Maine Festival of Champions over the weekend with a best of 18:51.32.
On the boys’ side, Portsmouth’s Sean Gray made some noise in the Pine Tree State, and gets our nod. It was there that the Patriots’ talented sophomore had the most significant race of his inaugural X-C campaogn. Gray finished an impressive seventh overall at the Festival of Champions, crossing the line in 15:49.35.
Congratulations, Keaney and Sean!
