Brunswick visited Hotchkiss on Saturday for a preview of the course hosting the New England Championships — defeating Deerfield, Berkshire, and Avon Old Farms despite falling to the host school in a thrilling finish.

Coach Polikoff described the result as “the best loss of his coaching career.”

Nathan Lee led the breakaway pack of 15 strong runners through the opening half mile, then established his lead during the long downhill on the second half mile. Teddy Hojlo paced himself behind Lee, stalked by Deerfield’s top runners a few seconds behind. Farther back, a battle was shaping up between the Hotchkiss pack and the remaining 3-5 top runners from Deerfield and Brunswick.

As the runners reached Cardiac Hill just beyond the race midpoint, Lee was firmly in control, en route to a winning time of 16:06, only ten seconds shy of the course record that has stood since the Championships were held here last in 2014. Hojlo (16:47) lengthened his own lead throughout the race, giving ’Wick the 1-2 finish that has been both foundation and inspiration of this team’s success.  

Moving up throughout the race, Arjun Kolluri (17:46) and Armaan Lakhani (17:49) continue to impress, improve, and impose their will on the opposition, disposing of the challenge from the Deerfield pack and each defeating one of the Hotchkiss racers whom he had finished behind at last week’s invitational. All this would set up for a dramatic finish, with the fate of the race resting on the feet of each school’s fifth runner.  

Separated by a whopping 45 seconds only one week earlier, the Bearcats’ senior captain and the Bruins’ eighth grader would each record identical times of 17:59. For Shaurya Gupta, it would be a personal best, but the Hotchkiss runner used the motivation of the home crowd to find a finishing kick. By the slimmest of margins, experience triumphed over youth.

Ollie Hegeman (21:58) and Alex Mastellone (24:10) closed out the scoring in style, as each posted his best effort of the season.  

“Today, we took another step in the right direction,” said Polikoff. “Cross country always demands speed, strength, and smarts — but competing with this opponent and racing on this course today also took courage. We represented well.”

Team Scores:
Wick 28-27 Hotchkiss (L)
Wick 24-31 Deerfield (W)
Wick 15-40 Berkshire (W)
Wick 15-40 Avon (W)