By Bill Alden

Martin Adams personifies the perseverance and progress displayed by the Hun School boys’ cross country team this fall.

After suffering hip fractures early in the 2016 season, Adams diligently rehabbed and has emerged as a star for Hun this fall.

“Martin is in great health now, he had a great summer training,” said Hun head coach Kate Butler of junior Adams, who started the season by taking first at the Newark Academy Invitational.

“He was very smart; he was working with a specific regimen designed for him so that really helped. He has been real strong.”

Last Friday, Adams produced a really good performance, taking 34th in the Boys’ Varsity race at the Mercer County Championships at Thompson Park in Jamesburg, covering the 5,000-meter course in a time of 17:29.04.

“We were pretty excited to see the kids come out today,” said Butler, whose squad placed 18th of 19 schools in the team standings.

“There is great competition on this day every year. Martin has had a great season and today was a pretty good run for him.”

There was healthy competition within the Hun squad as sophomore Liam Kelso placed 95th in 19:44.57 while sophomore Andy Deng was 117th in 20:56.51 and junior Paul Argiriou took 119th at 21:21.57.

“Liam was our second today, which is usually where he falls,” said Butler. “Andy was able to come in third for us with a pretty good time. Paul came in fourth for us today so there was a little shakeup in our top four. It was good to see.”

In Butler’s view, taking part in the county meet is a valuable experience for her runners no matter where they fall in the standings.

“It is good for our guys to see this level of competition,” said Butler, noting that the team’s younger runners showed potential by producing a slew of personal bests in the freshman race. “I think that this competitive field really pushes our guys to run faster.”

Hun will be looking to continue its progress as it faces another tough field when it competes in the state Prep A championship meet at Blair Academy on October 25.

“I think that our season has been a good one; we have been able to see our times come down which is what you really want to see as a coach,” said Butler.

“Our team feels like they are peaking right about now, which is a good time to peak. We ran at Blair a few weeks ago so the kids already know the course. I am pretty optimistic.”