St. Mary’s cross-country team members participated in the AIA Sectionals on Friday to determine if they would move on to the AIA Division III state meet. The top 25 runners and 50 percent of the teams from each division continue on to state.

At the last meet, the team expressed concerns for the sectionals meet because of the hills throughout the course and the heat since they are not used to running in the afternoon.

“The hills take a lot more of your energy that you could be using to go faster at the end,” freshman runner Arianna Dominguez said.

“It gets hotter throughout the meet which makes it harder,” freshman Lily Fairbanks said.

Head coach Don Durkee had a positive attitude going into the meet, feeling confident that his team had improved throughout the season.

“We’ve been doing a lot of hills the last two weeks,” Durkee said. “We go to the golf course about twice a week so they can run those hills.”

St. Mary’s had two men compete in the sectionals meet: junior Pierce Vittone and senior Gerado Castro. Vittone finished the race with a time of 18 minutes 15 seconds and 6 milliseconds, coming in sixth place out of 97 other runners. Vittone will advance to the state meet and run as an individual.

"I’m excited, this is kind of a challenging sport so I’m happy,” Vittone said.

Durkee was glad to see Vittone place in the top 25 and continue onto the state meet.

“He always worked hard and showed up to practice,” Durkee said. “He finished where he should of finished. Last year he didn’t make it”.

Castro finished the race with a time of 19:20:8, finishing in 27th place and just missing the opportunity to continue on at the state meet.

The women’s team consisted of six girls: Lily Fairbanks, Genna Gignoux, Lizzie Gignoux, Arianna Dominguez, Faith Samuel and Kristen Keating, who also missed the top 25, making them unable to continue on to state.

Fairbanks finished with a time of 26:08:7, placing 43rd out of 84. Keating finished next with a time of 27:23:4, followed by Genna Gignoux at 29:22:5, then Samuel with 30:13:0 and, finally, Lizzie Gignoux with 35:25:5.

This marks the end of a long and difficult season for the Knights, with many runners quiting halfway through the season.

Durkee hopes that the team will get together one last time to show its support for Vittone on Nov. 16 for the state meet.