Exeter cross country turned in a strong showing on its home course on Saturday as Big Red hosted a quad meet with Andover, St. Paul's, and Deerfield. Bo Howland-Vlahakis and Harper Peters shined in their respective races, as they both earned first place finishes behind personal-best performances.

Howland-Vlahakis led the boys team to a first-place finish, separating himself from the pack in the opening straight and finishing with a blistering time of 14:44.7. Peters crossed the line first in the girls race with a blazing time of 17:24.4 to help Big Red secure a narrow second place finish, just two points behind Andover.

The boys placed five runners in the top-11 to earn the first place overall with 31 points. St. Paul's finished second (49 points), followed by Deerfield (55), and Andover (83).

Marcus Kiehl followed Howland-Vlahakis to claim second overall with a time of 15:32.7. Andrew Sharron added a seventh-place finish in 15:56.9 while Spencer Clemans (16:19.7) and William Miller (16:28.4) finished 10^th and 11^th with strong performances. Big Red showcased their depth with quality runs from Owen Cosgrove (16:56.3), Ian Koo (16:59.5), Otis Aley (17:17.0), James Travis (17:23.3), and Asher Bravo (17:33.6).

On the girls side, Exeter put together an equally impressive effort, narrowly missing the top team finish. Andover edged Big Red by two points while St. Paul's and Deerfield finished third and fourth, respectively.

Norah Pratt claimed second overall with a time of 18:34.8. Lakhi Baumgart and Brady Preneta each earned top-10 finishes, crossing at 19:03.2 and 19:30.6, respectively. Stella Gray followed at 19:34.8 while Lia Blitz (19:37.9), Alice Rourke (19:45.7), and Buddho Voelker (20:20.1) traversed the home course well. Maryn Bowman (20:35.2), Eleanor Bullock (20:49.9), Olivia Littlefield (21:00.5), Sophia Butler (21:07.4), Irina Wang (21:18.6), and Mari Ciaschini (21:19.2) also contributed strong efforts.

Big Red will be back on their home course next week when Exeter and Andover square off for their annual dual meet, starting at 2:00pm.