Cross Country

The Peddie cross country team competed in the Thompson Two Miler at Thompson Park to open the season. Ten runners competed across six different class races at the 2026 Thompson 2-Miler.

The senior boys got the morning started and Anthony Kanis ’27 (24th, 12:14) set a strong tone for his teammates with the Falcons’ first medalist finish of the day, while Evan Ren ’27 (46th, 14:05) also met the challenge posed by the flat, fast first mile and the punishing hill on the back half of the course. Sophie Wang ’27 (25th, 16:40) picked up where her classmate Kanis left off, grabbing a medal of her own in the senior girls race with a ferocious kick in the final 400 meters.

In the junior boys race, Aaron Linke ’28 (61st, 13:56) and Arnav Shankar ’28 (64th, 14:07) finished in quick succession while Hari Pandya ’28 (88th, 18:05) put forth an admirable effort in coming back from a recent injury. In the largest race of the day, sophomores Aaryan Patel (82nd, 14:22) and Jaden Liu (87th, 14:39) both navigated their way through the masses to solid finishes.

The top performances of the day, though, belonged to the youngest Falcons as Hunter Norman ’30 and Elise Lousteau ’30 both made clear that they will have a large impact on the team this season. Norman established his place in second early in the boys freshman race and never relinquished that position, taking runner-up honors in a time of 11:26. Similarly, Lousteau (10th, 14:36) got off the line quickly and used that strong start to propel her to an impressive top-ten finish.

The rest of the Peddie squad eagerly awaits its chance to join their teammates, which will come next Saturday, Sept. 19, when the Falcons host and compete in the 13th Annual Jerry Hart Cross Country Memorial Invitational Memorial Invitational at Peddie Golf Course. Racing begins at 2 p.m. with the varsity boys, followed by the varsity girls at 2:30 p.m. and a mixed futures race at 3 p.m.

The Peddie cross country team competed in the 13th Annual Jerry Hart Cross Country Invitational Memorial Invitational at Peddie Golf Course. 15 teams competed.

Charis Chien ’27 placed 10th in the varsity girls race with a time of 20:19.5.

Princeton High School won both the varsity boys and varsity girls team championships. Peddie varsity girls cross country placed fifth as a team.

The Falcons next travel to The Lawrenceville School for a dual meet on Saturday, Sept. 26 at 1:30 p.m.

The Peddie cross country team competed against The Hill School and The Perkiomen School in a tri-meet on the road at The Hill School.

The matchup kicked off with the boys race, which saw Hunter Norman ’30 get his first overall win in a Peddie uniform as he broke the proverbial tape with a finish time of 18:18 on an appropriately hilly 5-kilometer layout. Norman paced for the first two miles with co-captain Theo Salapatas ’27 and two Hill runners but pulled away in the homestretch to secure the individual victory by 20 seconds. In his first race back following a long layoff due to injury, Salapatas showed all the grit that got him back to the starting line, fighting along the uphill finish to pass one of the two Hill runners who surged in the final half mile. That effort secured him third place in a time of 18:40.

The hosts took the next four places to secure a 24-32 team victory but Rohan Bhamidipati ’28 (8th, 20:55), Aaron Linke ’28 (9th, 21:08), and Aaryan Patel ’29 (11th, 21:23) helped to keep things close in rounding out the scoring five for the Falcons. Evan Ren ’27 (12th, 22:06), Alex Stover ’30 (13th, 22:11), and Arnav Shankar ’28 (14th, 22:31) took the next three places for Peddie before their teammates took the next nine slots: London vos Strache ’29 (16th, 22:45), Yi (Victor) Qian ’29 (17th, 22:54), Wei Jie Ng ’27 (18th, 23:10), Jiaxi (Carlos) Xie ’30 (19th, 23:13), Jaden Liu ’29 (20th, 23:14), Justin Tang ’27 (21st, 23:43), Landon Lill ’29 (22nd. 23:59), Finn Gorsline ’27 (23rd, 23:59), Sam Lallier ’28 (24:01). Austin Hua ’27 (26th, 24:58) and Hari Pandya ’28 (27th, 28:30) closed out the racing for the Falcons.

The girls race was even closer in terms of both the team score and the individual competition, as evidenced by key battles to the line and the final score of 27-28 that favored the hosts. Co-captain Charis Chien ’27 (21:25) was the top runner for the Falcons, running a strong solo race in second place. Taeeon (Alya) Kim ’29 (4th, 22:51) and Elise Lousteau ’30 (5th, 23:04) were impressive in pacing well together throughout the full 5K, demonstrating the potential of Peddie’s young runners and their pack mentality. The closest finish of the day came in the race for 7th place, as Moqiao (Angela) Tong ’30 (24:45) out-leaned Hill’s fourth runner to draw the two teams even at that stage of the team scoring. Four more Peddie runners crossed the line to complete the team’s entries in the race: co-captain Louisa Blix ’28 (25:58) finished 10th while Sophie Wang ’27 (27:06) overcame an ankle injury to take 13th, Lorena Camargo Carcano ’28 (28:24) nabbed 16th place, and Raven Sargeant ’29 (34:04) closed strong for 17th place.

The Falcons next travel to Rosedale Park to compete in the Pennington Cross Country Invitational on Thursday, Oct. 22 at 3 p.m.

The Peddie cross country team competed in the Pennington Cross Country Invitational at Rosedale Park.

The boys varsity race kicked off the day and Hunter Norman ’30 and Theo Salapatas ’27 picked up right where they left off nearly two weeks ago against The Hill School. The pair paced together perfectly through the first four kilometers of the course with Norman surging down the homestretch to go under 18 minutes for the first time (17:57) and take seventh place overall. Co-captain Salapatas maintained his placement in the final 1000 meters despite a cramp, earning eighth place with a time of 18:24. Classmates Rohan Bhamidipati ’28 (16th, 20:15) and Aaron Linke ’28 (17th, 20:38) used the same kind of teamwork to secure their spots in the scoring five while Aaryan Patel ’29 (23rd, 21:23) and Sam Lallier ’28 (24th, 21:28) finished in close succession to round out the Falcons’ varsity finishers. As a team, Peddie (71 points) took second place out of five schools, narrowly defeating hosts Pennington (76 points).

Next up were the varsity girls and Taeeon (Alya) Kim ’29 stepped up for the Falcons to place first on the team en route to a tenth place finish with a time of 22:25. Isabella Lee ’28 (13th, 23:06) put forth an impressive effort to finish her first race of the year, taking 13th place in 23:06. Both postgraduate Kate Gironda ’27 (15th, 24:05) and senior Sophie Wang ’27 (27th, 25:25) ran the final mile strong to cross the line as the third and fourth Peddie runners while Olivia Timmermann ’27 returned from a long layoff to round out the scoring lineup for the ladies in navy and gold. As a team, Peddie (93 points) placed fourth out of six schools.

The mixed futures race rounded out the day with an outstanding 28 runners toeing the line and completing the five-kilometer course for Peddie. The boys placed nine individuals among the top 18 places, a group that included Wei Jie Ng ’27 (6th, 21:21), Arnav Shankar ’28 (7th, 21:22), Landon Lill ’29 (8th, 21:36), Yi (Victor) Qian ’29 (9th, 21:44), Jaden Liu ’29 (12th, 21:56), Jiaxi (Carlos) Xie ’30 (13th, 21:56), Evan Ren ’27 (14th, 22:02), Danan Chan ’29 (16th, 22:29), and Justin Tang ’27 (18th, 22:50). Milan Shah ’27 (21st, 23:21) crossed the line as Peddie’s tenth runner in the race before six consecutive Falcons took places 23 through 28: Alan Wang ’29 (23rd, 23:44), Zhenyu (Aaron) Li ’30 (24th, 24:13), Luke Liu ’27 (25th, 24:22), Warren Alderman ’30 (26th, 25:08), Michael Wu ’28 (27th, 25:17), and Rico Wei ’30 (28th, 25:18). Hari Pandya ’28 (34th, 27:15), Arjun Parikh ’30 (28:04), Devin Duckett ’29 (38th, 28:39), Aidan Sung ’27 (39th, 30:10), and Aaron Wang ’30 (40th, 30:35) also ran admirable races for the Falcons.

Co-captain Louisa Blix ’28 was the first Peddie runner and the sixth girl across the line in the futures race, finishing in a time of 25:34. Lorena Camargo Carcano ’29 (26:15) unleashed a blistering kick down the stretch to overtake another runner and capture 10th. Haum (Cielle) Jung ’29 (13th, 27:35), Layla Alrefae ’29 (14th, 28:40), and Ella Ross ’28 (15th, 28:48) all put forth impressive efforts while Doyun (Alice) Nah ’29 (18th, 33:17) and Raven Sargeant ’29 (19th, 36:07) had their teammates cheering loudly as they closed hard to the finish.

The Falcons will send their varsity sevens to Blair Academy on Wednesday, Oct. 28 to compete in the NJISAA Prep A State Championships; the Prep A boys race starts at 2 p.m. with the Prep A girls race to follow at 2:30 p.m.

The Peddie cross country team competed in the 2026-27 NJISAA Prep A & B Championships at Blair Academy.

Competing in the Prep A races, Peddie’s boys team took seventh place with 177 points while the girls team took sixth place with 144 points.

Hunter Norman ’30 (18:05) continued his run of strong performances, reeling in a number of runners in the second half of the five-kilometer layout and earning a top 20 finish in his first effort on the hilly Blair course. Co-captain Theo Salapatas ’27 (29th, 18:42) paced with Norman through the first half of the race and then surged to the line to overtake multiple competitors in the final 400 meters of his final run in Blairstown. Aaron Linke ’28 (43rd, 21:19) led the tight formation of Falcons that closed out Peddie’s scoring lineup, as Arnav Shankar ’28 (45th, 21:39), Aaryan Patel ’29 (21:42), and Sam Lallier ’28 (48th, 21:45) demonstrated smart pack running throughout the 3.1 miles.

Taeeon (Alya) Kim ’29 recorded the team’s best individual performance of the day, running a really smart race and grabbing 19th place in a time of 22:35. Elise Lousteau ’30 (25th, 22:55) secured herself a place in the race’s top 25 with a noteworthy push to the finish while Isabella Lee ’28 (29th, 23:23) continued to look strong in her second race back from injury. Annie Wang ’27 (37th, 24:32) submitted a gutsy performance to place fourth on the team and Kate Gironda ’27 (39th, 25:16) battled all the way to close out the Falcons’ five entries in the girls’ race.

The Falcons next compete in the 2026-27 MAPL Championships on Wednesday, Nov. 4 at 1:30 p.m. at Rosedale Park. The girls varsity will kick off the afternoon with a start time of 1:30 p.m. with the boys varsity (2 p.m.) and mixed futures races (2:45 p.m) to follow.

Peddie cross country competed in the 2026-27 MAPL Championships in a 5K course at Rosedale Park.

The Lawrenceville School placed first as a team in the varsity girls race. Peddie placed fourth out of six teams. Individually, Elise Lousteau ’30 crossed the finish line first for the Falcons, placing 18th in 22:31.9. Taeeon (Alya) Kim ’29 was 19th in 22:44.8. Isabella Lee ’28 was 21st (22:54.3). Kate Gironda ’27 was 22nd (23:03.0).

The Lawrenceville School placed first as a team in the varsity boys race. Peddie placed sixth out of seven teams. Individually, Hunter Norman ’30 placed fifth in 17:40.2, Peddie’s first freshman to be awarded All-MAPL in over a decade. Norman went from ninth to fifth in the final mile. Theo Salapatas ’27 was 15th (18:35.3) after fighting down the stretch.

In the Mixed Futures Race, the Falcons placed second of four as a team. Individually, Landon Lill ’29 placed seventh (20:58.4) and Samuel Lallier ’28 was 10th (21:07.2), Danan Chan ’29 was 11th (21:13) and Evan Ren ’27 was 13th in 21:20.5.

Full results can be viewed here: https://live.2lraceservices.com/meets/80169?fbclid=IwdGRjcAVYZpZleHRuA2FlbQIxMQBwZG9mAWZkaWQWURnnZ7Ojm8rrFs3eZJ3AfjqBex4WqHNydGMGYXBwX2lkCjY2Mjg1NjgzNzkAAR8zkzTfCqtFQP9y5F-ARGZyQpvAe_zX7neiAsbyfQXkusVRkmP0FLL_eQzFqQ_aem_2DkBAKXsnw0cVhP6kCFx0A

ÌThe Falcons next conclude the season and host Blair Academy for 2026-27 Blair Day on Saturday, Nov. 7 at 2:30 p.m.

The Peddie cross country team competed against Blair Academy on 2026-27 Blair Day to conclude the season. Blair won both Potter-Kelley Cup points (boys and girls). Hunter Norman ’30 finished first overall in the race (16:52.61) and Theo Salapatas ’27 was the second Falcon to cross the finish line and third overall in 17:32.53. Charis Chien ’27 was the first on the girls team and overall to cross the finish line in 19:28.75. She propelled herself in the final mile to win her second individual victory of the season. Elise Losteau ’30 placed fourth in the girls’ results (20:58) and Taeeon (Alya) Kim ’29 was fifth (21:01).