On a cold and rainy Saturday, Hackley Cross Country traveled to Bowdoin Park in Wappingers Falls, New York, to run in the Nike Cross Nationals Regional Championship this Thanksgiving weekend. Many of the best teams across the Northeast came to take part in the New York/Northeast Regional races in hopes of making it to Nike Cross Nationals in Portland, Oregon.

Runners ran through mud, slipped on wet grass, and challenged the famed “El Diablo” hill to conclude another successful run of the NXR championship. Hackley brought eight runners, five boys and three girls, to compete against the best of the best cross country runners in the Northeast.

Junior Akash Samad loved the hilly race despite its difficulty. “[Bowdoin Park] was definitely one of the hardest courses I’ve ever run on, especially with El Diablo, but [Nike Cross Nationals] is now one of my favorite races just because of how close the finishes could be.”

In a competitive field of 29 teams, the Boys’ team came in 23rd, being the first Hackley Boys’ team in four years to have a scoring team at this meet. Freshman Will Crainer led the Boys’ team placing 87th with a time of 19:07 for a 5k. The Girls’ team returned to Bowdoin Park just a week after running the Federations Championship on the same course, but did not score as they did not have a full team. Senior Julia Stevenson led the Girls’ team placing 16th, running a time of 18:51 for a 5k.