Winchester Girls Cross Country Crowned Division 1B Champions

Author: Tess Machemer, WHS Class of '29

This past weekend, the Winchester girls cross country team won the MIAA 1B Divisional Championship Meet for the first time in the program’s history. The pressure was on, as the girls were favored to win their race according to Bay State Run MIAA Divisional predictions. The ranking had been based on last year’s team performance, as well as the current season record. However, Winchester had lost two of its top three runners from last year - standout and perennial number one for Winchester, Riley Newman and Chloe Walker, who had finished first for Winchester at the Divisional meet last year. The two juniors suffered season ending injuries midway through this season. Taking their places would be two freshmen, Millie McDonald and Chloe Chan, and junior Abigail Bastien all of whom were brand new to cross country.

The Winchester High School Girls Cross Country divisional champions.

During the first mile of the race, tension was high with the seven Winchester girls trailing behind all seven of Concord-Carlisle’s runners. Fortunately, by the second mile, junior Julia Ramsey was on the heels of Concord Carlisle's number one. The pack of Millie McDonald, Chloe Chan and Caroline Lanz had all strategically moved up, breaking up the sea of Concord Carlisle jerseys.

Halfway through the race, the Winchester girls were neck and neck with Concord-Carlisle and the stress was palpable. As the final results came in, four Winchester runners finished in the top ten. Freshmen Millie Mcdonald and Chloe Chan crushed it on the course, with McDonald placing third and Chan seventh. Junior Julia Ramsey had an excellent performance, finishing fourth. Caroline Lanz came in ninth to round out the top 10 finishers. Michelle Su, Abigail Bastien and Alex Machemer all had impressive races as well.

Still ten minutes after the athletes had crossed the finish line, the winning title was still in question due to the amazingly close race. Winchester was thrilled when they finally found out they had won by three points, making history for Winchester girls cross country.

Senior captain Alex Machemer expressed her elation, “After running with so many great girls over the past four years, I am so glad to be part of Winchester’s historic victory. I am very proud of the girls and so thankful for Coach Healey!”

Next weekend, the girls move onto the All States Championship for one last race and are predicted to finish 4th in Massachusetts. We can’t wait to see what they accomplish.