After a year-long break, Concord Academy wrapped up a great fall athletics season. This year, 3 teams earned New England Preparatory School Athletic Council (NEPSAC) spots: Boys Varsity Soccer competed in the Division III tournament, and both Boys and Girls Cross Country competed at the New England Prep School Track Association (NEPSTA) races at home in Carlisle, with representatives from both the Varsity and Junior Varsity (JV) teams.
The 2021 NEPSTA race was held at CA’s home course at Great Brook State Park. The entirety of the race is about five kilometers. After taking home the Eastern Independent League (EIL) championships, Boys Varsity Cross Country was eager for an opportunity to bring back-to-back championships to CA. Leading the group, Tyler McGarry ’22 ran a 17:26 race with a pace of 5 minutes and 37 seconds per mile in fifth place. Leo Koerner ’22 ran a 17:59 race with a pace of 5 minutes 48 seconds per mile, resulting in sixteenth place. Other notable finishers were Emerson Koch ’24, Ben Bartlett ’24, and Torin Pelton-Flavin ’23, all of whom contributed to the varsity team championship, which NEPSTA calculates by totaling the top five runners from each school’s race result. CA boys varsity scored a total of 108 points landing them in second place, only one point behind first place Canterbury School.
CA Girls Varsity Cross Country also competed in the NEPSTA tournament. Significant scorers were Asia Jaycobs ’23, who ran 21:34 to take home tenth place, and Grace Chen ’23, who ran 22:35 in twenty-sixth place. The girls’ team placed ninth overall, with a score of 236 points. Additional members who contributed to this result were Sarah Collier ’22, Tess Mooney ’22, and Will Simon ’24.
Boys JV Cross Country easily won first place with four of five runners in the top five. Their total score was 21, beating the second place school by 38 points. Girls JV Cross Country made a good effort but ended up finishing fourth of four teams.
This is the sixth consecutive year that CA’s Boys Varsity Soccer team has had a NEPSAC tournament bid. The team traveled two hours to Rockingham, Vermont to play against Vermont Academy in the NEPSAC Class C championships. The team did not have high expectations for the results going into the match—they were the seventh seed playing against the second seed. Throughout the whole game, the boys endured frigid temperatures on and off the field. The game was very close with equal opportunities for both teams. CA kept the score 0-0 until the seventy-fifth minute when Vermont Academy’s star player had an opportunity to score, bringing the score to 1-0. All in all, CA Boys Varsity Soccer had a great season despite their NEPSAC loss. CA has had a great season for fall sports and we are looking forward to the winter season.