The Middlesex Girls' Cross Country season got off to a great start with a race at home against Rivers, a team that we have traded wins with over the past few years.  While we came up with the win at the NEPSTA championships the last time we met, Rivers finished 3rd to our 5th at the ISL championships last November. Today, however, it was the Zebras who came up victorious, winning by a score of 19-42. The Middlesex pack was led by senior captain Maud McCole, who won the second race of her MX career.  She ran much of the way with junior teammate Gabby Walsh, who finished not far behind.  Junior Alene Fernandes nearly caught the Rivers first runner in the last 200 m to finish 4th, followed closely by sophomore teammate Meena Menon in 5th.  Both Alene and Meena had big improvements over their previous home course times-- a testament to their dedication to off-season training.  Maya Sidhu finished just behind the Rivers 2nd runner to finish 7th, rounding out the top five for the Zebras.  Junior Nina Douge, in her first-ever varsity finish, earned an elusive early-season PR as she finished 8th. Freshman Annabelle Rogers earned a varsity finish in 9th place in her first race in a MX uniform.  

The team's success didn't stop there, however, with the rest of the squad putting together many impressive performances.  Rivers didn't have a JV team today, but Middlesex still had some great runs to start the season.  Senior captain Tess Kelley won the JV race-within-a-race, and Josie Silk, Phoebe Lu, Grace Luettgen, Aubrey Romero, Maanasi Chintamani, Ruby Massengale, Neha Kommineni, Iris Wang, and Linda Qin ran their first races for MXGXC.  Isabella Luong had a PR despite the humid conditions and early point in the season.  All members of the team, from managers to injured athletes, contributed to the successful execution of the race.

The team looks forward to hosting three schools next week for another home meet.