AMHERST — The Amherst Regional girls cross country team lost a lot of talent after last season.
Overall, the Hurricanes lost three of their top four runners, including Sophia Jacobs-Townsley, who won four-straight Western Massachusetts individual titles.
There was potential for the program to go through a rebuilding phase this fall, but this year’s upperclassmen picked up right where last year’s group left off.
Led by the team’s upperclassmen, the Hurricanes defeated Northampton, 27-30, to clinch the program’s third straight Valley North title on Tuesday.
Northampton’s Mary Yount placed first overall in 19 minutes, 40 seconds on the 3.1-mile course at Amherst Regional.
Senior Zada Forde led the way for Amherst, finishing second in 20:36. Freshman Tamar Byl-Brann (third, 21:15), and juniors Vivian Jacobs-Townsley (fourth, 21:24), Maddie Shea (sixth, 21:52) and Charlotte Staudenmayer (12th, 23:05) rounded out the top five for the Hurricanes.
The upperclassmen “are a really hard-working group of young women,” Amherst coach Elena Betke-Brunswick said. “They know the deep legacy that this team has. The upperclassmen really stepped up and have been working hard together and setting a positive example for the incoming runners. They know what it takes to work really hard and set the bar really high.”
Forde knew that placing first in front of Yount was going to be a tall task. Throughout the race, she tried to keep Yount in her sight line.
“I wanted to go out strong with Mary because I know that she is a strong runner,” Forde said. “I couldn’t really hold on to her for that long. I tried to keep her in my sights and see how long I could do that.”
Betke-Brunswick describes Forde as a “quiet but powerful” leader, but the program’s ability to continuously compete at a high level has been a team effort.
“A lot of our juniors have stepped up this year with leadership and bringing speed to the team,” said Forde, a senior. “Being an upperclassman has a lot of responsibility and I hope I’m living up to that.”
Naomi Andrew placed fifth for Northampton in 21:44. Seraphina Forman (seventh, 21:56), Quincy Biddle (eighth, 22:12) and Maggie Reade (ninth, 22:30) filled out the Blue Devils’ top five.
“I’m extremely proud of them,” Northampton coach Leslie Charles said. “They put out a great performance for where they are at. They did amazing. If you switch one or two things would it have gone different? Perhaps. … Is there something to learn? Absolutely. I’m happy about how they absorbed it at the end.”
With postseason meets on the horizon, the Hurricanes (9-0, 5-0 Valley North) are looking forward to competing against the Blue Devils (6-1, 4-1 Valley North) again.
“Northampton is going to be great competition,” Betke-Brunswick said. “We are excited to run with them again. I’m really happy that we get to run with strong competitive teams.”
The Blue Devils feel the same way about Amherst.
“Amherst is a great challenge,” Charles said. “It brings everyone’s level up. I’m excited about it. When you don’t win, you learn … Amherst is great competition. We really value that we have them as competition.”