ROXBURY, Mass. – Hazen Union’s Cassandra Royer put a bow on a stellar indoor track and field season earlier this month by competing at the New England Indoor TF Championships at the Reggie Lewis Center in Roxbury.
Royer qualified for New Englands with a fifth overall finish at states in both Division I and Division II in the 3000m event, posting her best time of the season. The talented senior posted a 29th place finish in Roxbury, with another personal best of 13:26.49 in the two-mile.
Returning from a junior season abroad as an exchange student, Royer didn’t miss a beat for the Wildcats, earning a victory and a trio of fourth-place finishes in the 3000m during the regular season. She also posted a third-place finish in the 1500m this past winter, qualifying for states. Royer also qualified for NEs in the 1500m and 4X800m relay events as a sophomore in 2022. She returned from Germany to the Wildcat cross country team this past fall, winning three regular season titles and posting a top five finish at states.
“Cassandra put in such a gutsy senior year performance. I remember her as a second grader in 2014. She was the youngest participant in the NEK Kids on the Move Running program that spring. A year later, she wowed us with a 7:35 mile in her first ever race and later that summer, she ran the full distance in a 5k race in Craftsbury,” said Jim Flint.
Cassandra’s sister Jessica recently finished up her sophomore indoor season at UVM. Jessica ran both cross country and track and field for Hazen Union.
Thetford Academy’s Margaret Tripp and reigning 3000m state champion led all Vermonters in the 3000m event with a 17th and 21st place finish. CVU’s Alice Kredell posted a top 10 finish in the mile and U-32’s Ginger Long finished 8th in the 600m event.
On the boys’ side, St. Johnsbury Academy’s (SJA) Andrew Thornton-Sherman earned a runner-up finish in the 1000m event, breaking his own state record by over four seconds. His time in the 1000m was the fifth fastest in the entire country this season. He also anchored the 4X800m team of Emmett Johnson, Carson Eames, and Moses Andrews to a school record and an eighth-place finish. Johnson also posted a 15th-place finish in the 600m with a personal best time and Eames finished 17th overall in the mile, solidifying SJA’s highest finish at NEs in program history.
