Cross Country’s championship win
Four DeMatha runners medaled as Top 12 finishers in the Varsity A race at the WCAC Championship on October 29. Photo credit to Antoine Keels ’03
November 4, 2022
DeMatha’s cross country just won their first WCAC team championship since 2006 this past weekend, led by their coach Cory Puffett ‘10, a DeMatha graduate and a runner on the 2006 team. Puffett was inducted into the DeMatha Hall of Fame this past weekend. After a 16-year drought, maybe now they can go on a streak for the next few years.
Coach Puffet said, “Their preparation was how they practiced and how they had to change their workouts and stretching because of Covid to get stronger and to show improvement.” The crazy thing is that, at first, DeMatha was losing to Gonzaga by six points, but because senior Ian Parsons, one of the varsity runners, placed nine spots ahead of Gonzaga’s fifth runner, he got them the win by three points.
Sophomore Jalen Neptune, the second place medalist in the JV race, said that for their preparation they “went to the [championship course] to practice running on the field to get the flow of how the race will be like.” He also said that “it feels good to win a WCAC,” since last year they got second place and he wasn’t able to participate because of a heart condition.