Recently retired Taft math teacher Don Padgett visited the boys’ cross country team and coaches Al Reiff, Stuart Guthrie, and Steve Palmer at the New England Cross Country Championships at Phillips Exeter Academy.
Exeter (3–0) to kick off the season. From that first set of wins through to the final game, the team theme of “Our House, Our Time” motivated the girls. Captain Karalyn Baird ’17 won the Volleyball Award as well as earning New England All-Star recognition. She was joined on the All-Star team by seniors Tise Ben-Eka ’17, Mary Collette ’17, and Kaia Whiteley ’18. Founders League honors went to Collette and Ben-Eka. All of the returners of this team were recognized by the AVCA All-Academic Team for outstanding achievement in the classroom.
Boys’ Cross Country 0–7 Taft boys’ cross country went about the difficult task of rebuilding after graduating a core of its varsity runners the previous year. This season was led by co-captains Calvin Palmer ’18, the lone varsity returner, and Zygimantas Jievaltas ’17. The team had some close, hard-fought races, but was unable to squeak out a dual-meet win; however, the 2016 season was marked by individual accomplishment, pride, and perseverance, and several harriers broke into the top 30 performances by Taft runners on the home course, including Nick Mortimer ’18 (19:13), Philip Huang ’18 (19:00), Jievaltas (18:46), Nick Carolan 32
Taft Bulletin / WINTER 2017
’17 (18:07), Palmer (17:12, 5th), and Ben Roberts ’18 (16:30, 1st). The season was capped by a strong performance at the NEPSTA Division I Championships at Exeter, as every varsity runner had a career or season personal record, beating out Avon, Brunswick, Milton, and Trinity-Pawling. Roberts had a breakout first year in the sport as Founders League All-Star (8th place) and All-New England honors (12th place). Additionally, he set the home course record for a Taft athlete (16:30) and was the recipient of the John B. Small Award. Palmer and Roberts will lead next year’s team as co-captains. Emma Vermylen ’17 takes a shot against Sacred Heart School.
Girls’ Cross Country 2–6 The season record of 2–6 does not reflect the achievements of the 2016 girls’ cross country team. Racing a tough dual-meet schedule against several non-Founders League teams, the girls faced close losses throughout the season, but ended up earning regular-season victories over Miss Porter’s and Kent before placing fourth at the Founders League Championships. The successes of the team were owed to the pack running of Hanna Murphy ’18, Juste Simanauskaite ’17, Claudia Vira ’18, and Caroline Winicki ’17, who