On November 8th, the Boys’ and Girls’ Cross Country teams traveled to the Taft School to compete in the New England Preparatory School Track Association Cross Country Championships. Runners from prep schools across New England traveled to Watertown, Connecticut to run the 5-kilometer course in the final race of the season. Alex Signorovich ‘29, who finished first out of all Milton runners and 28th overall out of the 96 reported varsity runners, “did incredibly well,” according to teammate Hudson Tulman ’29, posting a time of 17:50 and earning “an ISL all-school shout-out from the coaches committee.” With Signorovitch achieving this feat as a freshman, the team, says Tulman, has “high hopes for the rest of his career for the next 3 years to come.”
On the November afternoon, the Girls’ Varsity team started the day at 1:30 pm, followed by the Boys’ Varsity team at 2:15 pm, Girls’ JV at 3:00 pm, and Boys’ JV at 3:45 pm.
For the team’s final race of the season, the meet featured a large crowd and an intense atmosphere as hundreds of runners ran the course. According to Grant Wheelan ‘29, the course at Taft began “all downhill, so it was really easy to get out fast and feel good.” However, it became more difficult when the runners began to climb the hill, which “really slowed [the runners] down.” Since the meet featured so many participants and spectators, the runners, according to Wheelan, were fueled by an “electric” environment with lots of “people cheering.” Tulman described the meet as “incredibly positive, with lots of teams cheering with lots of energy. But overall, it was definitely competitive, as well.” According to Girls’ Cross Country captain Mason Porter ‘26, “NEPSTAs is a unique meet because all of the energy is put into ISLs the week prior.” She emphasizes that “NEPSTAs is still a great opportunity for runners to PR and compete.” Similar to the runners on the boys' side of the team, she notes that the course at Taft was “pretty difficult” and that reflected in many of the runners being “off from their personal records.”
Both Wheelan and Tulman emphasized the team spirit and fun throughout the entire day of NEPSTAs. Even in the spirited environment of the meet, Wheelan thinks that the Milton runners “were the loudest people there, especially during the awards.” Tulman mentioned that to lift spirits before the meet, the entire team “put face paint on, some more than others, some much more than others,” showing the high energy and fun that the team carried themselves with through the biggest race of the year.
After the race, on the bus ride home, per usual, the runners “sang as an entire cross country team, boys and girls combined.” Girls’ Cross Country runner Jennifer Li ‘26 mentioned that “this was probably the best bus ride we’ve ever had. We were all talking as a group” with upperclassmen and underclassmen mingling. The Boys’ Cross Country captains HT Xue ‘26, Hudson Li ‘26, and Teddy Choe ‘26 gave “an emotional reflection about the team.” They also revealed the captains for next year’s season: Jace LiVigni ‘27, Emlyn Joseph ‘27, and Emmett Burghardt ‘27. Li continued, saying, “Even though this was a less competitive race for us…We still had fun, and it was a beautiful course.” The teams had a positive day, enjoying each other's success in their final race as a team, even with the difficult course and some injured runners. “Ultimately, what makes Cross Country special is the spirit and support,” Li reflected, “and we sported both at NEPSTA.”