Hilltop Happenings

If the number of returning runners who placed among Salisbury’s top five finishers in one or more meets during the 2018 season were a bellwether for the 2019 campaign, well, fans of the cross-country team would have reason to expect great things from this fall’s aggregation. Ford Cousin, Holden Hobbs, Max Lampe, Robert Luo, and Parker Stone all scored points last year by finishing in the top five for the Crimson Knights. Unfortunately, the formula for success in cross-country is not as simple as that. If an opponent’s runners all finish ahead of your team’s top five, that’s a shutout.

Nevertheless, those five aforementioned Knights contributed significantly to a team that posted 11 wins a year ago, so there is good reason to expect that head coach Kevin Huber’s charges can surpass that total in the upcoming season. Assistant coach Thomas Severo is certainly a believer. “We look forward to another successful season of cross-country running this fall,” asserts Severo. “Last year's MVP and French recruit Max Lampe,” Severo goes on to point out, “will be joined by homegrown hero Robert Luo and the ever-improving Parker Stone, who – if he can get his times down a bit this season – has a legitimate shot at becoming a three-sport collegiate athlete in a few years' time.” [Ed. note: Stone started for varsity basketball last winter and rowed in Salisbury’s first boat in the spring.]

Among the newcomers to the program, perhaps none is more intriguing than third-former Jean-Mark Dingba, brother of Samuel Dingba ’15 and, like his sibling, a highly touted basketball prospect. Dingba, a product of Indian Mountain School, looks to use cross-country for conditioning but could well move into the team’s top rank of runners. Severo certainly anticipates his making a significant contribution. “Jean-Mark promises to add some firepower to the roster,” declares an expectant Severo, “alongside Sarum's own prodigal son, Ford Cousin,” the third-year coach adds, “who left the team last season as its top runner but, so rumor has it, plans to return to the fold.”

Will there be a breakout performer from among the ranks of other returners? The squad certainly has strength in numbers, many of whom are varsity athletes in at least one other sport. That group includes Dylan Anton, Joey Bresette, Bayron Canales-Lopez, Jack Chefetz, George Conroy, Brian Decelles, Ryan Jing, Drew Lavoie, Jerry Li, Peter Mauthe, Danny Newman, Alex Novak, Rowan O’Sullivan, Kyle Pinsonnault, Kyle Reilly, Junho Son, John Sterba-Green, Simon Tang, and Matt Wesson.

Huber welcomes another newcomer in the person of first-year faculty-member Mitch Morris, who joins the coaching staff. Severo was excited to learn that Morris comes to the Hilltop from Kenya, a nation that has spawned a disproportionate number of the world’s greatest distance-runners. Further investigation disclosed that Morris, alas, is American-bred, though his summer work in Kenya did involve teaching and coaching some of that country’s most talented scholar-athletes. And what’s more, the 2019 Williams graduate brings an impressive resume of accomplishments as a high-school and college runner, including multiple championships as well as league and regional honors.

Severo had this to add in his closing summation: “Look for big things from a highly revamped and re-energized cross-country team this season. Careful recruiting and a new training regimen have us poised to reap substantial rewards out on the trails.”

-Sports Information Director Procter Smith ​​​​​​​