Middlesex Girls' Cross Country had a terrific day of racing at St. Mark's, as they faced perennial ISL powers Nobles and St. Paul's along with host St. Mark's.  Racing in separate JV and Varsity races for the first time this season, the Middlesex runners had their best race of the season, both in terms of their team performance and their individual improvements.  As always, the incredible managing and mutlitasking of manager Valerie Chen made everything go smoothly. 

The JV race was first, and the team was led by sophomore Wani Pandey, who led the race for much of the last mile, but was passed near the line by a Nobles runner to finish second.  Freshman Maya Sidhu ran her best race of this season, and she, along with Wani and senior Laura Kaye, finished ahead of the first St. Paul's JV runner to score the team win.  Freshman Phoebe Martin and junior-in-charge Lucy Hirsch were the fourth and fifth scoring runners for Middlesex.  Freshman Iris Kim and sophomores Mary Odusami and Alejandra Chavez earned PRs and helped the JV team effort. 

The varsity race was exciting from start to finish, as freshman Gabby Walsh again bested all competitors for the win.  That was a great start for the team score, and the result was secured when sophomore Charlotte O'Toole passed two St. Paul's runners in the last 100 meters to finish 6th overall.  Senior captain Julia McClellan ran her best race ever to finish 9th, ahead of the third runner from Nobles. Junior Emily Li and sophomore Tess Kelley played their part, as well, finishing ahead of the St. Paul's fifth runner and holding their position through the final mile.  Sophomore Katie Fujimori and junior captain Alice Crow finished 6th and 7th for MX.  The varsity team is now 6-3 heading into a short week of training before facing the other Zebras of Groton next Friday.