McGovern leads runners to title No. 4

Then, because they are runners, they continued on foot to Stowe Elementary School, past a small crowd of early trick-or-treaters, to reunite with the bus and some proud parents.

Coach Becky McGovern was proud of her champions.

“They were ready,” she said. “They had vowed to win four in a row and they did it. Quite an accomplishment.”

Saturday was the final high school cross-country meet for roughly a third of the team.

“I have had a lot of these nine seniors since sixth grade,” McGovern said. “I am going to miss them tremendously. They are wonderful role models for the rest of the team, as they work hard both at practice and in the classroom. They set the tone on the team that makes it fun to come to practice day after day.”

For the five seniors on the boys’ cross-country team, it’s been an incredible run, so to speak. And for one runner in particular, this year’s Halloween state championship was extra sweet.

Co-captain William McGovern not only led his team to its fourth consecutive state championship, but he was the fastest runner in Vermont’s high school cross-country championships.

McGovern won the Division 3 race on Thetford’s hilly 5K course in 16:47 — faster than the top finishers in any other divison.

It wasn’t his fastest 5K ever, but he beat his best-ever Thetford time by 30 seconds.

“William had the best last mile of his life,” said Coach McGovern, who is also William’s mother. “He ran with the other two (frontrunners) for most of the race and then dropped them on the last uphill with about 600 yards to go. He definitely wanted that win.”

Playing the dual role of team coach and mom can spread a person thin, but Coach McGovern seems to be everywhere at once while her team is on the course. She said she knew her son was running tight with Sharon Academy’s Chris Gish, who finished about 15 seconds behind William.

“I was in the woods, running from spot to spot on the course,” Coach McGovern said. “The last time I saw William was just past the 4K mark — he was a few steps ahead of Gish at this point — and then I headed out of the woods to the finish. It is hard to get there faster than William can get there.

“I actually saw Chris first, as he is very tall, and I could see from a distance in the finish chute, and I thought he had outkicked William in the final K — but then my eyes moved forward in the chute and there was William.

“I was thrilled for him. His finishing kick has never been his shining glory, but that day it was.” 

Although the Stowe boys dominated the Division 3 race, the team wasn’t deep enough to secure a spot in the New England championships. Those coveted spots all went to bigger schools.

However, William McGovern earned an individual spot at New Englands.

“I hope to do well at New Englands, which is in a few weeks, but I don’t have any specific goal there,” he said. “I would like to PR (personal record) again, since it is at Thetford this year. Other than that, I am looking forward to training for my Nordic season and hopefully doing well this winter.”

McGovern said he doesn’t yet know where he’ll be attending college, but he does plan to run at the collegiate level.

“I have loved having my mom as my coach,” William McGovern said. “She knows a lot about running and has always fostered in me a love for running and living a healthy lifestyle.”

William is the youngest of Coach McGovern’s seven children, all of whom have been remarkable athletes.

“It has been a lot of fun coaching William,” his mother said. “I will miss having him on the team. We work well together. He trains hard and shows the other kids that some pain is OK and is necessary to improve your performance.

“I often tell the kids, ‘Don’t think, just do,’ when we are doing something that seems daunting, like three timed miles. Some of the kids think too much and get anxious. William has the focus necessary to just do the workout, and that allows him to be consistent with his training. Being consistent with your training is the secret to success.”

Seven in the top 30

Seven runners are allowed in a varsity race, and Stowe’s seven all came in the top 30 among the 109 Division runners on Saturday.

McGovern won, sophomore Keegan Loughran was fourth, senior Story Reynolds was ninth, senior Ben Wasser was 11th, senior Aidan Bernheisel was 16th and sophomores Sam Mathisen and Nathaniel Wells finished 18th and 30th, respectively.

Coach McGovern said Loughran was racing to keep up with Danville rival Riley Fenoff and may have started out too fast to keep up with the race leaders. He missed his goal of finishing under 18 minutes flat, but still set a personal record and finished fourth behind Fenoff.

“I am very optimistic about his next two years,” she said. “He is young and strong and will be at the top next year.”

Story Reynolds was the third Raider to cross the finish line, and his coach said he had a great race.

“He had moved up to third position on the team a few weeks earlier and really took charge in the race, finishing in the top 10,” said Coach McGovern.

Girls finish fourth

The Stowe girls have been growing their team and, with only six girls racing, they finished fourth among the 13 Division 3 teams.

Sophomore Heidi Brynn led the girls with a 13th-place finish in 23:34. Senior Amelia Nuzzo was 19th, sophomore Fiona Reed 21st, and seniors Paige Van Patten, Rachael Wells and Emma Mathisen finished 22nd, 35th and 45th respectively.

“Heidi Brynn ran a strong race, finishing within her goal time of 23 minutes,” said Coach McGovern. “The other girls had tried to stay with her, but couldn’t keep her in sight. The next three, Amelia, Paige and Fiona, all ran as a pack, which has helped them in the past. But they needed to move the pack up to improve their score.”

Boys’ challenge

Runners on the boys’ team who didn’t make the varsity cut ran in an open challenge race, part of a huge field of 329 runners across all three divisions.

While Division 1 and 2 runners took the top spots in that race, five runners from Stowe — junior Max Girt and sophomores Schyler Walker, Woody Laidlaw, Ian Noyes and Ethan Quine — were the top five finishers in Division 3.

End of an era

The last McGovern runner and a third of the cross-country roster is graduating next June, but a big bubble of sophomores is ready to step up. It’s not unreasonable to believe the Raiders have more state cross-country championships in their near future.

And the day after William McGovern won the state championship, Coach McGovern had her son come to the first-ever middle school cross-county state championships, held at the Trapp Family Lodge Outdoor Center. His job: Help recruit runners for next year’s Stowe High team.