Nick Steele (left) and Price Day finish a race earlier this fall at Fruitlands. (Photos by Lisa Aciukewicz)
Kate Toll at a race earlier this year.
Bromfield junior Nick Steele finished a stunning 5,000-meter race in second place out of 271 varsity runners at the eighth annual Ocean State Cross Country Invitational at Goddard Park in Warwick, R.I., on Saturday, Sept. 27. The boys’ varsity team placed 21st among 41 small schools, and girls’ varsity placed 26th out of 30.
In the varsity race, the top three performers on the girls’ team were junior Kate Toll in 48th place with a time of 21 minutes, 57.42 seconds, sophomore Tsun-Tsun Xue in 101st at 23:29.80, and freshman Sophie Beckman in 145th at 24:49.35. On the boys’ varsity team, with his second-place finish, Steele was Bromfield’s top runner with a time of 16:14.88, followed by freshman Ryell DeRuijter in 106th place at 19:17.96 and sophomore Will Day in 147th at 19:58.10.
Bromfield runners also competed in the junior varsity (JV) and freshman races. The freshman races were run on a 4,000-meter course instead of the 5,000-meter course used for JV and varsity races. The top female and male freshman finishers from Bromfield were Liza Toll in 35th place with a time of 18:36.97 and Cormac Day in 77th at 17:23.67. Luke Jones placed 49th in the JV race with a time of 20:23.40. Bromfield girls did not compete in the JV category.
In an impressive show of stamina and speed, Steele ran a personal record with an average mile split of 5:13.8. The next top performer on the Bromfield boys’ team, senior Price Day, was unable to compete due to a foot injury. Bromfield last attended the Ocean State meet two years ago in 2012. Day, then a sophomore, placed 22nd overall with a time of 17:01, with the next Bromfield finisher in 198th place. Clearly, the Bromfield boys’ team has improved dramatically over the past two years and now boasts a number of rapidly improving younger runners, two of whom placed higher than the second 2012 Bromfield finisher.
Girls’ varsity
(5,000-meter)
- 48, Kate Toll, 21:57.42
- 101, Tsun-Tsun Xue, 23:29.80
- 145, Sophie Beckman, 24:49.35
- 177, Samantha Schoenberg, 25:42.76
- 180, Julia Foley, 25:47.68
Girls’ freshman (4,000-meter)
- 35, Liza Toll, 18:36.97
- 79, Ivy Wang, 20:46.15
- 98, Isabel Barton, 21:21.07
- 110, Anna Schlimak, 21:51.73
Boys’ varsity
(5,000-meter)
- 2, Nick Steele, 16:14.88, (avg mile 5:13.8)
- 106, Ryell DeRuijter, 19:17.96
- 147, Will Day, 19:58.10
- 193, Jamie Barrett, 20:47.29
Boys’ JV
(5,000-meter)
- 49, Luke Jones, 20:23.40
- 65, Tucker Banios, 20:45.18
- 120, Brian Johnson, 22:04.33
- 179, Kyle Route, 23:54.73
Boys’ freshman (4,000-meter)
- 77, Cormac Day, 17:23.67
- 129, Will Squire, 19:21.54
- 144, Sean McNamara, 20:31.38
Lily Moore-Eissenberg is a junior at the Bromfield School.
