The 5-foot-6 senior won the Division I state meet this past season with a time of 19:16.70, breaking the tape 15 seconds ahead of her next-closest competitor. Laird finished 10th at the 89th New England Cross Country Championships, clocking a personal-best 18:32.0 as the state’s top finisher at the event. She also took sixth in the prestigious Manhattan College Cross Country Invitational’s Eastern States championship race, again making her Vermont’s fastest finisher.
Laird has maintained an A average in the classroom. She will attend Williams College this fall, where she will run track and cross country.
A talented Nordic skier, Laird has donated her time locally as a member of her school’s Environmental Action Club and also as a member of her school’s Green Team focused on climate change issues.
