Without front runners to lead, Tabor Academy Cross Country coach Chris Adams said the team looked towards its younger runners to carry the team to victory. The result was an undefeated season for Tabor’s JV boys cross-country team.

The JV capped off their season with a 45-0 record, while the boys varsity finished overall 40-10.

“Tabor had a great pack,” Adams said. “With ten runners constantly vying for the top seven varsity spots and a few more not far behind.”

The team, he said, lost their top three runners due to illness and injury at the start of the season but was able to make up for what they lacked for front runners with a strong depth team.

One of the team’s most valuable runners, Adams said, is sophomore Hiroshi Nakajima. Nakajima, from Tokyo, Japan, dropped 30 seconds from his best time recorded in 2010. He also finished in the top three at every meet Tabor had this season. Hiroshi placed 20th at Tabor’s New England Championship meet on Nov. 19 finishing the 5K race with a time of 17:45.

Tabor junior, Hunter Patrick, of Marion, finished first at Tabor’s Sept. 17 invitational and had a season best of 17:34 for a 5K race on Oct. 19.

Then there is the “dynamic duo,” as Adams calls freshmen Taylor Hatch, of Marion, and Sam Cook, of Duxbury.  Hatch was sidelined for a few weeks with an IT Band strain, Adams said, but Hatch recovered in time to place 16th at the New England Championship meet. Cook picked up a 2nd place team finish with a 17:33 time during the team’s last home meet on Oct. 29.

Adams called senior Jake Farias the team’s workhorse. “The tougher the course, the ore you can expect from Jake,” Adams said. Farias finished the New England Championship with 3rd place for Tabor’s varsity team, and Adams said, was a key component of the team’s overall 4th place finish for the day.

According to Adams, while Farias ran varsity during the New England Championship, sophomore A.J. Maestas, of Marion, took the JV win with a time of 18:18.

Sophomore John Kanto, from Marblehead, dropped two minutes from his freshmen year best record with a best this fall of 17:44.

With a number of younger runners on the team, Adams said he looks forward to the next season when the freshmen and sophomore athletes will move up the ranks.

“What I look forward to most for next year is having all of the young kids from the JV team,” Adams said.  “Some of those kids will be the front runners next year and we will be even better than this year.”

On Saturday Nov. 26, six runners from Tabor’s Cross Country teams competed in the Foot Locker Championships in Long Island.  Taylor Hatch, John Kanto, Jake Farias, Will Kadison, Matt Hlady and Julia O’Rourke from the girls team. O’Rourke placed 24th during last week’s New England Championships.