Recently, the Northampton cross country team officially wrapped up its season with an end of season banquet.

“Usually we would have a more sit-down banquet,” said head coach Dan Benner, “but with all the COVID issues, we did an outdoor picnic instead. It was a chilly day, but was a great day to celebrate the season and say goodbye to our seniors one last time.”

The Kids had 12 seniors to honor on the day: Georgia Wiswesser, Amber Poniktera, Noelle Eisenreich, Owen Nahf, Wyatt Poniktera, Nick Amato, Matt Heisler, Ben Heymach, Nico Quinones, Griffyn Wacik, Ambrose Roland, and Filipe Valerio (pictured below right).

The team also gave out the annual team awards as well (top right). The winners are as follows:

Gold Award - Zeke Colyer, Georgia Wiswesser, and Amber Poniktera

Silver Award - Owen Nahf

Bronze Award - John Breslin and Brianna Tyler

Freshman Award - Braeden Lower and Abby Enstrom

Most Improved - Evan Dempsey and Lauren Schuch

XC Award - Ben Heymach

Summer Award - Bryson Grover and Georgia Wiswesser

Middle School Top 3:

Boys - Abel Veltri, Eli Block, Spencer Parker

Girls - Hannah Bowers, Lindsey Reimer, Brooke Petraglia

MS Top 7th - Jayden Pongracz and Brielle Szoke

MS Most Improved - Liv Jusinski

The high school boys team also was awarded their trophy for winning the EPC Conference Division title as well.

“In a crazy year, it was great for the team to overcome so much to accomplish something special,” Benner said. “Despite all the challenges this year presented, hopefully this is a great memory they can take with them. It is a testament to all the hard work put in by the team as well as the assistant coaches. This success doesn’t happen without the contributions of Coach Miller, Coach Stevens, and Coach Davis; not just this year, but in previous years leading up through this season.

“It is our goal not to let this just be a one year thing, but to consistently be a contender among the best teams in the conference and district.”