Middlesex runners faced host St. Mark's, BB&N, and a very strong Thayer squad on a crisp fall day this Friday.  24 Middlesex runners completed the challenging away course. Although Thayer's depth and speed outmatched both the Varsity and JV teams from Middlesex today, they were proud to take home wins against both St. Mark's and BB&N in both the Varsity and JV races.
 
The race of racing had a promising beginning when junior Raphaele Sevrain won the JV race, followed closely by her teammate, sophomore Olivia Gish. Both runners ran smart, tactical races and were not fazed by the infamous steep hill on the St. Mark's course. The team scoring came from junior Caroline Price (9th), freshman Valerie Chen (15th), and junior Lexi Stankard (19th), who posted a 3 minute improvement as she scored for the JV team for the first time.  Rounding out the Middlesex JV seven today were juniors Cally Queally and Sarah Binda.
 
In the varsity race, the team was again led by senior captain Mahal Alvarez-Backus, who shadowed last year's individual ISL runner-up around the course, finishing just four seconds behind the first runner from BB&N to finish 2nd in the field. The varsity pack was led today by junior Phoebe Lindsay (13th), who ran the best race of her career thus far to finish just behind the second runner from St. Mark's. She was followed closely by junior Sonia Tremblay (15th), senior Alex Schoen (18th), junior Megan Seymour (19th), sophomore Julia McClellan (21st), and senior Jenni Welch (23rd).  All 7 of the Middlesex varsity squad finished ahead of the BB&N 4th runner and the top 6 scored against St. Mark's fifth runner, thus securing the team wins.
 
On our first crisp day, many runners posted season best times. The improvement was particularly impressive for Phoebe, Megan, Lexi, Amelia Danoff, and Sarah Binda. Madeline Wight ran her first race of the season, returning from illness. The team looks forward to the traditional Groton dual meet next weekend.