Middlesex ended their regular season with a terrific race on the beautiful and fast Rivers course at Elm Bank Reservation. The Zebras were facing two ISL opponents having great seasons in Milton and Rivers, as well as Southfield School, who we have never raced against before.  Thirty-one runners from Middlesex finished the course, a new record for the 2014 season. The team lost a close battle with Milton, but won the contest against Rivers. They also defeated Southfield to end the regular season with an 8-6 record (7-5 in the ISL).

Senior captain Mahal Alvarez-Backus again set the pace for Middlesex, finishing 2nd in the field of 76 runners, ahead of the first runner from host Rivers and behind the first runner from Milton. Sonia Tremblay had a terrific race, finishing 5th, just behind the Milton 2nd runner. Working together through most of the race, juniors Phoebe Lindsay (10th) and Megan Seymour (7th) secured the win over Rivers by finishing ahead of the Rivers third runner, while sophomore Julia McClellan ran a gutsy race to finish in the 13th place. Also in the top seven for Middlesex were Raphaele Sevrain (16th) and Toni Mattessich (18th).

  
The JV teams did not fare as well against some very deep teams from our ISL opponents, although there were some great races in the zebra pack. The JV scoring was led by senior Jenni Welch and senior captain Madeleine Mullaney, both of whom finished ahead of the first Rivers JV finisher and behind the first two JV runners from Milton. Jenni was actually ahead of the first varsity runner from Southfield, illustrating the depth of these ISL XC teams. Sophomore Olivia Gish, junior Caroline Price, and sophomore Gabriella Resnick completed the JV team score. There was great pack running and teamwork at throughout the team, and on a cool day on a fast course, almost everyone on the Middlesex team posted a best time.  Particularly impressive improvement, however, was made by sophomore Amelia Danoff and junior Sarah Binda. Lexi Khoury ran her first race of the season.

The team is looking forward to traveling to The Governor's Academy for the ISL Championships next Saturday.