Middlesex Girls' Cross Country had a terrific day of racing against Milton at Cunningham Park on a lovely early fall Friday: warm, bright, and still. The team had the best showing of the season thus far, with a great team performance and many individual improvements and harmonious pack running at all levels.
In the varsity effort, sophomore Gabby Walsh worked together with junior Maud McCole (with another impressive PR!) in a tactical race to earn 2nd and 3rd, followed not far behind by junior Charlotte O'Toole (4th) in a powerful sprint to the finish. Junior Katie Fujimori (6th) and senior captain Emily Li (7th) ran determined races to round out the team scoring and secure the win, while sophomore Maya Sidhu and junior Wani Pandey had poised finishes for the varsity.
In the JV race-within-a-race, the members of our enthusiastic JV squad pushed each other to ever greater heights (and speeds). Led by junior Soleil Kerfoot (3rd) and senior captain Alice Crow (4th), a pack also including freshman Calie Brady (6th), junior Tess Kelley (7th), and senior Katie Powers (8th) ran smart races and finished within 15 seconds of one another to narrowly triumph in the team scoring. After being on the other side of 28-29 JV score last week, it felt especially good to pull off the win this week. The one point win would not have been achieved without every JV place, including sophomores Alene Fernades (in a triumphant return to racing and a PR) and Averill Emery, both of whom finished ahead of the 5th Milton JV runner. Four-year runner Imani Marcelo not only ran a PR herself, she also helped pace both Alene and fellow senior Grace Hudson to their own records. Much positivity and perseverance resulted in a significant amount of fine racing as well as PRs for old and new runners alike; Amelia Stevens, Megan Ding, Shreya Jain, Nina Gong, Hayden Monahan, Alejandra Chavez, and Eliza Hirsch ran their fastest 5Ks yet. Valerie Chen had a managing PR of her own, as she, aided for the day by Lucy Hirsch, balanced splits, results, photos, and post-race analysis without missing a detail.
We look forward to October and the glory of autumn as the second month of our season approaches all too quickly, but immediately, we are excited for another week of training before heading to our first (real!) quad meet next Saturday at ISL-host Lawrence.
