Four of the five Paly cross-country teams finished first in the SCVAL championships Tuesday, Nov. 1.

Varsity girls and boys, junior varsity girls and frosh/soph boys all beat out strong competition on the rugged 3.1-mile dirt Crystal Springs course, while the junior varsity boys exerted solid effort but settled for third place.

The varsity girls team faced strong teams from Mountain View and cross-town rival Gunn, yet came out on top with a combined score of 34 – the best time on record for a Paly varsity girls cross-country team on the Crystal Springs course. Led by team co-captain junior Renata Cummins, who came in first in the race with a time of 18:36, all varsity girl racers had impressive times, including junior Alicia Ivanhoe and senior Emily Lundy, who placed fifth and seventh, respectively, with times of 19:27 and 19:29.

The frosh/soph boys ran an equally impressive race, scoring 20 points, which was the best team score of any team at the meet, and beat their closest competitor, Mountain View, by a huge margin of 49 points. All of Paly’s frosh/soph runners placed in the top 14 out of 56 runners. The Frosh/Soph boys took second, third, and fourth place with sophomores Rajan Narang, Willie Xiang and Sam Jones, with Narang and Xiang coming in a second apart from each other at 17:57 and 17:58 and Jones crossing the finish line at 18:09.

With a team score of 32 points, the junior varsity girls generally improved by at least a minute from their last encounter with the Crystal Springs course. Led by juniors Hannah Purkey and Joyce Lee, who came in first and third place, respectively, with times of 20:57 and 21:27, several members of the JV girls team would have easily blended in with the varsity girls race. The JV girls are a very accomplished team, and experienced many break-through runs on Tuesday, including a 6th place showing by freshman superstar Tamar Ben-Schahar.

Ben-Schachar was not the only freshman to prove her athleticism. Freshman Charlie Avis helped bring the varsity boys to victory by placing 12th with a time of 16:58. The varsity boys were led by team captain senior Scott Himmelberger, who placed first with a time of 15:40 and was closely followed by senior Francis Reynolds, who came in second place with a time of 15:56. Himmelberger beat a time set by Paly cross country alumnus and former MVP Herrell Siller Jr. Himmelberger’s breakthrough time helped the varsity boys earn a team score of 49, and come in first place.

After dominating the SCVAL League Championships, the Paly runners and their coaches, Paul Jones, Jeff Billing, and Jessica Lee, are only two steps away from qualifying for the state meet.

“It would be really neat to see the team go all the way this year,” said Jones, who coaches the girls teams.