| 2000 Boys Cross-Country Season in Review |
| The 2000 Cross-Country season had its ups and downs for the Hillcats. Led by sophomore All-State runner Zach Emerson, the boys' team finished 8th in the class M&S State Meet. That's the highest of any HDHS X-C team in the last ten years. Also, with the top five finishers all coming back for next year we hope to have a top three place team, or higher. In the State Meet at Derryfield Park, Manchester, Zach Emerson hobbled his way to 14th. James Stafford and Josh Costa were a few places away from an automatic slot in the Meet of Champions finishing 22nd and 24th respectively. Only the top 20 make it to the following week and get All-state M/S 1st team awards. Places 21-30 receive All-State M/S Honorable Mention awards. H-D had three All-State runners on this years team! Wow! James Stafford might have had a little distraction Saturday that could have hurt his performance. An hour after the race he competed in an All-State band tryout for the saxophone. James is a great saxophone player and we know he did well. Only three people in New Hampshire get picked to play All-State for the saxophone per year, so James had a lot of hard competition. Good job James! The Tuesday before the State Meet at the Monadnock League Championship at Bow High School, Zach Emerson finished 2nd and only one second from 1st place. James Stafford finished 3rd and Josh Costa a close 4th. The team finished 2nd overall and got the runners-up trophy.That was the first XC trophy HDHS has received in eight years. Great job team. Bow won 1st place setting up battles to look forward to in the future. Zach was pretty shaken up from a fall at the start and Chris McKee got real dehydrated in his first race ever almost losing his vision for a couple of minutes. Chris ran great in states, not only running a PR by 8+ minutes but by placing 4th on our team. 2000 team captains James Stafford and Josh Costa ran solid all season and always worked hard. It shows by their top 25 state placing. Not only did they train hard all year long but they were the emotional leaders and kept the group close. Others who ran well for the states and other important meets were Chris McKee, Tim Henning, Dana Tilley, Matt Flautt, Scott Labier and Dennis Yeaton. |