Maeve Westover Voted League MVP

Eastern Independent League coaches voted Newton Country Day School of the Sacred Heart junior Maeve Westover of Mount Vernon Street the Varsity Cross Country Most Valuable Player. This is a second league MVP Cross Country Award for the Beacon Hill resident. Westover was first voted the EIL MVP in her freshman year. At the Newton Country Day School Athletic Awards assembly, she was honored as the team MVP for a second consecutive season.

Westover notched her best varsity record this 2012 season. She finished first overall in every regular season and post-season meet. Consistently strong, she sliced almost two minutes off her time to break the 20-minute ceiling three times. Competing in eight regular season meets against fourteen schools, she clocked a 5K personal best of 18:58 against Dana Hall on Oct. 27. The team finished the regular season 13-1 overall, 10-1 in the EIL, and with three perfect races.

In her three years running with the varsity cross-country squad, Westover’s team built a 36-4 overall record in regular season team competition. In the 29 individual regular season meets, Westover finished in first place, overall, 25 times. She medaled for first place in the 2010 and 2012 EIL Championships and for second place in 2011. This year she finished 45 seconds ahead of the second-place finisher.

On Nov. 10, Westover and another six Newton Country Day runners competed in the New England Prep School Track Association Division III Varsity Championships at the Westover School in Middlebury, CT. Westover’s competition was tough. She was one of three undefeated Division III runners. They ran a demanding, wet and muddy course, across gravel, fields, and through woods impacted by both the wrath of Hurricane Sandy and the season’s first nor’easter. Running in a pack of 146 girls representing 22 schools, she maintained a strong 6:29 pace to roar to the finish in 20:08 and set a new course record. She remains the sole NEPSTA Division III undefeated runner. Westover and two teammates were named All-New England for finishing in the top 20 slots. All seven Newton Country Day runners finished well within the top half of the pack and the team was awarded a plaque for second place behind Middlesex.

The 2012 NEPSTA Championships marked Westover’s aggressive climb to the top. She finished in fourth place as a freshman NEPSTA competitor, in second place as a sophomore, and in first place as a junior. “Maeve is extraordinarily dedicated and truly enjoys cross country, often seen running Heartbreak Hill and the Commonwealth Avenue Mall,” said her coach, Carrie Anne DeDeo. “Always encouraging of her teammates, she will be a senior co-captain of the 2013 Newton Country Day team.”

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