Paly’s girls’ cross country team unexpectedly finished in a disappointing seventh at Saturday’s Central Coast Selection Championship in Salinas.
The order of finishers from the team was mismatched. In previous races, senior Elizabeth Scott and sophomore Gracie Cain have both consistently led the team in their own faster pack, but on Saturday they both fell back, letting junior Kathleen Higgins take first place in the hilly, five-kilometer long course for Paly at 20 minutes, 31 seconds.
“The race didn’t go so well for anyone today,” senior Sarah Haydock said. “It was really hot out, and there wasn’t much time to think before we raced because it was in the morning.”
Going into CCS, the girls’ team had much higher expectations than those it held last year. In San Jose Mercury News’ ranking of all of the top teams in CCS, Paly was ranked ninth overall and fifth in Division II. To senior Jessie Kuo, fifth was the worst Paly could have finished.
“It was an off-day for all of us,” Kuo said. “Elizabeth was injured for a while before the race, and Gracie pushed too hard during her first mile.”
Higgins agrees. As the first to finish for Paly, Higgins was at the back of Paly’s pack in the first mile.
“I think we were too nervous and went out too fast,” Higgins said.
Following Higgins was Scott, who came in at 10:31. Senior Gillian Lui finished at 20:47, junior Regina Wang at 21:10, Cain at 21:14, sophomore Susan Heinselman at 21:19, and Haydock at 21:31. The times during Saturday’s race were unusually close compared to those of previous races.
“The race was really skewed for us,” Kuo said. “We did not expect everyone to finish so close to each other.”
By not placing in the top three teams, the season is over the team. However, most of the varsity runners will continue to train in the winter in preparation for the track season in spring.
“Every year, for winter training, we do runs on our own without [the girls’ head coach Paul] Jones,” Kuo said. “We will continue to do drills, workouts, and long runs in preparation for track.”