Middlesex made the long journey to beautiful St. George's this weekend, registering the first wins of the 2016-2017 school year for Middlesex against our traditional rivals. Also competing in the quad meet were Governor's Academy and Tabor Academy, and though it made for a long day, the racing was competitive and exciting. After a strong start last week, the varsity runners were eager to face off against their opponents, especially last year's 3rd place team in the ISL, Governor's Academy. Although Governor's came up with the win, Middlesex scored decisive wins over Tabor and St. George's, and the race left the team confident that they are well-positioned at this early point in the season.
The team was led around the course again by freshman Gabby Walsh, who finished 2nd overall. Senior captain Julia McClellan ran a composed and strong race in windy and wet conditions, finishing in 6th place, ahead of the St. George's first runner. She was followed closely by teammates sophomore Charlotte O'Toole (8th), junior Emily Li (11th), and sophomore Maud McCole (12th). Sophomore Wani Pandey was next for the zebras, scoring a displacement point against the Tabor fifth runner. Sophomore Katie Fujimori finished strong as the 7th runner for MX.
In the JV team scores, Middlesex was competitive with all three opponents, but because all runners raced together, the team placement wasn't apparent until the results came out. Middlesex freshman and birthday girl Alene Fernandes was the second JV runner from all schools, and she and junior captain Alice Crow finished ahead of the first JV runner from St. George's and Tabor. However, the depth of the St. George's JV pack was too much for the Zebras this time, despite the big improvement of freshman Phoebe Martin, the smart racing of junior Imani Marcelo, and the impressive debut of sophomore Kricket Drewes. Sophomore Annika Stewart (running a much improved time) and junior Lucy Hirsch (running her best race of the season yet) were the 6th and 7th runners for the JV score, finishing ahead of the fourth Tabor JV runner.
Perhaps most impressive, however, was the focus and hard work of the entire team all day, from the course walk to the cool down. The slowest runners on the team were not slow at all, and it was the fastest the entire team finished a regular season race in at least 5 years. The team looks forward to hosting Rivers on Wednesday, then heading to St. Mark's next Saturday in our only two-race week of the season.
