A Great Start to the Season!

Due to illness and injury the boys had a very lean roster this week consisting of Jake Pike, Ryan Cahill, Hunter Conway, Gavin Black, Jack Connors, Ross Gerber, and Alex Knof. Gavin came across the line first for the Wildcats finishing 6^th in a time of 20:58. And did we mention, it was his first cross-country race ever? Yeah. Hunter, Ryan and Jake followed closely behind in 8^th, 11^th, and 12^th respectively, rounding out a 37 point finish in the team standings – only 3 points behind Holderness and 14 points ahead of third place.

 

It was a strong showing for the first race of the season. We’ve got a lot of work to do, but today’s performance by the boys leaves us hopeful for a very successful season.

 

The girls however, were the true heroes of the day. The mostly novice girls team of only five racers worked through some real challenges today, and earned far more praises than a fifth place finish usually receives. Gray Harrison, Dana Pan, Hana Caloras, Zulal Ozyer, and Kelly Do, all ran great races but the backstory is where the heroism lies. Gray finished in a respectable 17^th, close behind Hana’s blazing 13^th place finish, but she won’t tell you that she did it while nursing an injured foot that she ran on just so the team had the minimum 5 runners to participate in the team competition.  What a team player. “I had to take it easy for the last 2k, so it wouldn’t get worse,” she said hardly winded just after finishing. “Taking it easy,” and finishing 17^th… We’re looking forward to seeing where Gray finishes when her foot is healthy!

 

But the real story of the day was Kelly. Kelly was terrified to run in her first race today. In fact, she almost postponed or debut to a future race. But when she found out that the team needed her to run in order to remain in the team competition, she walked right up to the starting line. Just about every head on the surrounding playing fields was turned in her direction when she emerged from the woods to the startling screams and cheers of a dozen of her teammates running along side her down the finishing chute. “It wasn’t so bad,” she said with a wide smile across her face at the finish line. No Kelly, it was pretty great. Congratulations to you and the whole team!

 

Gavin Black – 6^th – 20:58

Hunter Conway – 8^th – 21:16

Ryan Cahill – 11^th – 21:39

Jake Pike – 12^th – 21:43

Ross Gerber – 35^th – 24:00

Alex Knof – 42^nd – 24:43

Jack Connors – 45^th – 25:18