September 13, 2019
On a blustery day that felt like late October, you raced to ten personal best times, and eight top ten finishes!
Our large middle school contingent led things off. That is, after Peter retrieved them from their walk in the woods that almost caused them to miss their race! Liam finished in 4th place in his first cross country race. Leo finished in 9th place in his first cross country race. Eddie was just a few seconds behind him in 10th place. Zain, Henry, and Joey finished close together. Boyd, running his first cross country race, and Eilam, running more than a minute faster than last year, wrapped things up for our middle school boys. Teagan finished in 5th place among the middle school girls.
Our varsity girls were next. They were on time for their race. And very sparkly. The pixie dust apparently worked its magic, as our varsity girls earned two top ten finishes and three personal best times! Margo and Katie ran together the entire race, putting on a strong last 800 meters to finish 2nd and 3rd. Cara ran a personal best by about a minute to finish 29th. Skylar and Izzy ran together most of the race, finishing just a second apart. Izzy was well under her best time on this course. Mari, running her first varsity race, showed she belonged by improving her personal best time by almost two minutes!
Our varsity boys also got the pixie dust treatment, courtesy of Skylar and Izzy. And it seemed to do some good. Henry chased the 6th ranked runner in the state for much of the race, closing in the last 800 meters, but getting edged for 3rd place by inches. He ran his second best ever time, and over a minute faster than last year. Isak finished in 6th place with a personal best by almost a minute and moved into 14th place all time. Cullen improved his personal best time to earn 19th place. Peter eclipsed his personal best by a second. Evan shaved a few seconds off his personal best time. And Ben, running his first varsity race, improved his personal best time by over 20 seconds. These fine performances earned our boys team 2nd place to 5th ranked Nova Classical.
Wrapping things up for us were our boys junior varsity runners. Henry G. ran within a few seconds of his personal best. Noah edged his personal best by a second with a strong finish.
Earning this many personal best times on a muddy course that is not fast under the best of conditions is impressive. But beyond that, you competed very well. I saw many of you make strong moves in the last part of the race to separate from competitors and hold your places. This will only help as we run more important races later in our season.
Next up, after some hard training next week, is the Milaca Megameet, the largest high school cross country meet in the nation.
Results are available for Boys Middle School, Girls Middle School, Girls Varsity, Boys Varsity, and Boys Junior Varsity.
