Paly’s cross country boys exceeded expectations with an eighth place finish at Saturday’s State Championships, just two weeks after making history by earning a spot in states for the first time in nearly two decades.
The championship meet, held at Woodward Park in Fresno, saw many personal records from the Paly runners. Junior Philip MacQuitty finished over half a minute faster than he did at last year’s state meet, coming in at 15 minutes, 14 seconds for sixth place overall. Second for Paly and 48th overall, senior Charlie Avis finished at 16:07, a 14-second improvement over his time from last season’s championships. Senior Skyler Cummins, who also set a personal record, finished at 16:09 in 51st place overall. Juniors Henry Jordan and Peter Wilson were the fourth and fifth Paly finishers, and ran personal bests of 16:38 and 17:08, respectively. Junior Alex Voet ran a personal record of 17:32, followed by junior Andrew Stober at 18:06 in his first time running at states.
Reflecting on what has been a surprising team season, the varsity group surpassed its initial expectations as a team.
“I was sixth when I wanted to place in the top five,” junior Philip MacQuitty said of his individual performance, “but as a team we did really well. We placed eighth overall, which was pretty unexpected.”
Taking second place at the CCS championships and winning the opportunity to compete at the state level was an accomplishment in itself, according to Wilson. However, the Vikings also set high standards for themselves going into the race. According to head coach Joe Ginanni, the team had trained continuously in order to “stay motivated to compete.”
“We were kind of excited just to be there,” Wilson said, “but Joe [Ginanni] and [assistant coach] John Welsh talked to us about staying focused and how the season wasn’t over yet just because we’d made it to states.”
The Paly runners put significant effort into preparing themselves psychologically to run a race that they could be proud of, as their coaches believed they had the potential for a top-10 finish.
“We ran this same course last month knowing that it was the state meet course, so I think that will help the boys feel more comfortable,” Ginanni said before the meet.
For most of the boys who competed on Saturday, the State Championship concludes the season and marks the great progress they have made since the beginning of their training. Some now look forward to the upcoming track season in the spring, while MacQuitty plans to compete in the Footlocker West Regionals on Dec. 6.
“I’m pretty exhausted,” Wilson said. “We’ve gotten better with every race, and this was definitely our best race. To be a top-ten program is really something to be proud of, and we will return an exceptionally strong team.”