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The Paly Voice

The Student News Site of Palo Alto High School

The Paly Voice

The Student News Site of Palo Alto High School

The Paly Voice

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Lady Vikes start strong at Gunn

The Palo Alto High Girl’s cross country team made an impressive start to the new season on Tuesday at a three-team meet at Gunn High School, as both Varsity and JV claimed 3rd place.

"Overall, we were pleased," assistant coach Heather Vickery said. "The times give us a great benchmark to go by and are a good way to see where people are at."

The varsity team saw production from old and new faces alike. Senior top-runner Danielle Miller finished 1st for Paly and 2nd overall with a time of 13:20 for the 2.18 mile course. Not far behind was freshman newcomer Renata Cummins who finished in 13:32, good for 3rd place overall. Behind her were seniors Amy Rogg, Jessica Brown, Nicole Bizarri, and Ashley Gadson, who placed 10th, 20th, 21st, and 22nd overall, respectively.

Despite the Lady Vikes’ strong effort, they were not able to find an answer to Gunn’s top runner Tori Tyler, who finished with a time of 13:01, claiming 1st place. During the pre-season, doubts arose over Gunn’s returning strength, as the team lost former top runner Ruth Graham to graduation. Tyler took no time filling in where Graham left off, but, according to Rogg, was not as impressive as her former teammate.

" I think that Tori Tyler is doing really well considering that she was injured last season, but I don’t think that she’ll be the next Ruth Graham," Rogg said. "She may be the equivalent for Gunn, but she isn’t Ruth level."

Given the relatively small size of the meet, its main purpose was to determine how teams stood and identify aspects to improve on. Rogg, a co-captain last year, had little trouble seeing where the Lady Vikes need to grow.

"I think that we were really spread out, and that we need to concentrate on running in a pack," Rogg said. "We need to start running together and coming within a few places from each other."

Rogg’s view was common, as Miller explained. "I think our team needs to work on working together," Miller said. "We will find it to be a lot easier to pass our competition once our team work improves."

Team unity will be essential to the team as the season progresses, as most meets determine the winning team by averaging the placement of the top five runners for a given team participating in the race.

On the JV side, Paly saw strong performances from sophomore Katie Gosling, and freshman Sarah Flamm, who finished in 12th and 16th overall, with times of 15:40 and 16:05, respectively.
"This race is a starting point, and I definitely aim to improve," said sophomore Megan Grant, who finished 19th overall in the JV race with a time of 16:11.

Although distinctions between the Varsity and JV were made for the meet, they are not necessarily permanent, and according to head coach Paul Jones, will be subject to change based on performance in upcoming meets.

The Vikes face a packed schedule in the upcoming week, with a meet at Golden Gate Park on Sept. 20, and one at Santa Clara on Sept. 23.

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