The Palo Alto girls’ cross country team is hoping to kick off a successful season with its first meet next Thursday at Gunn High School.
After a solid season last year, which concluded with a disappointing seventh place at the Central Coast Section Championships, the team must deal with the loss of graduated seniors, chiefly Elizabeth Scott and Gillian Lui.
“We graduated three varsity members and a couple of very solid JVs from last year’s team,” girls’ head coach Paul Jones said. “But I think improvement of our experienced runners and the talent of our new ones will make this a much stronger team.”
“Now that we don’t have Elizabeth [Scott],” junior co-captain Susan Heinselman said, “it will be harder for the team. She was a strong component along with Gillian.”
Nevertheless, the team expects to retain its dominance because of the return of many juniors and seniors, who will help boost the morale and competitiveness of the team. According to Jones, fans should keep an eye out for junior Emily Benatar and last year’s standout junior Gracie Cain, along with sophomore Lydia Guo. Jones expects Benatar, Cain and Guo to be part of the core group of runners aiming to propel the team.
The team is also composed of senior members Kathleen Higgins and Regina Wang and juniors Heinselman and Erin Kiekhaefer, who were all elected captains of the squad. While Higgins and Kiekhaefer have been running on the team since their freshman years at Paly, all four captains are intent on leading the team to success.
Though the upperclassmen are all tested veteran runners, the new influx of freshmen and sophomores to the group raises new possibilities for the potential of the team. With the largest team roster in the last 10 years, there is definitely room for surprising new talent, according to Jones.
Hoping to build upon both last year’s experiences and the close bonds among the more experienced members, the team aims to qualify for the state meet and CCS again.
“Last year we came close to states, so it would be great to go again this year,” Higgins said. “I think we are a strong team. This will be a great year.”
In order to achieve that goal, the captains are aiming for all the girls to step up and aim for last year’s members to run faster this year.
“Most of the captains believe that if everyone really practices hard, we may be able to get five runners under twenty [minutes] in a 5k [run],” Heinselman said.
Girls’ cross country will begin its season at Gunn’s Bol Park course Thursday, Sept. 10.