The boys’ varsity cross country team finished second behind top-ranked Mountain View at Saturday’s Lowell Invitational in San Francisco’s Golden Gate Park, relying on solid performances from both seasoned veterans and newer varsity runners.
Senior Philip MacQuitty led the all-senior varsity squad, winning the race in 13 minutes, 42 seconds, closely followed by Mountain View junior Parker Schuh in 13:46. The third place runner was more than 40 seconds behind MacQuitty.
Although a revised course left runners unsure about how their times compared with those from previous years, MacQuitty felt that this race was very fast.
“I was happy with it,” MacQuitty said. “Parker Schuh ran really well, and he’s only in 11th grade. He was winning the whole time except the last bit. I don’t know how fast it was, but I’m sure Parker pushed me. I was happy to win on my birthday.” MacQuitty turned 18 on the day of the race.
Assistant coach John Welsh was especially proud that MacQuitty was able to capture the win after allowing Schuh to lead for the most of the race. Welsh also noted the efforts of other runners, including senior Henry Jordan.
“I think Phil making up a 5-second deficit from half way was huge,” Welsh said. “Henry was also struggling at two miles, but ended up passing three people at the end, which was huge for the team. All top seven had a good day.”
Head coach Joe Ginanni was proud of the entire team’s performance, from the varsity squad to the junior varsity team, which finished fifth, and the freshman and sophomore teams, which finished fourth and second, respectively. The only team to finish ahead of the varsity boys was Mountain View, whose team is currently ranked fifth in the nation and first in the state.
“They took out the race controlled and caught people in the last two thirds of the race,” Ginanni said. “Phil had an awesome race. Ben [Sklaroff] did great. People’s training is starting to show. The sophomores did awesome, beating Mountain View. It was a good meet all around and our first real meet.”
Finishing second from Paly’s varsity group was senior Josh Newby in 14:50, 10th overall. He was followed closely by seniors Ben Sklaroff (12th overall in 15:00), Peter Wilson (18th overall in 15:05), and Jordan (21st overall in 15:13).
“I’m glad everyone was within arm’s length,” Newby said. “We’ve been doing good workouts, we’re in good shape, and it was perfect weather. Brian Raftrey in his first race on varsity had huge time. He sprinted past Varun [Kohli], a seasoned veteran.”
Kohli, who agreed that Raftrey had an excellent race (58th overall in 16:39), also felt happy about his own performance (60th overall in 16:40).
“Lowell is the best race because it has the best conditions,” Kohli said. “I had a disappointing race at Gunn, but I had a good time today. Hopefully we will someday beat Mountain View.”
In his first cross country race on varsity and only his second cross country race ever, Raftrey was more than satisfied with his performance.
“It was definitely a breakout race for me,” Raftrey said. “The conditions were ideal. I felt better than I ever felt, and I was definitely really excited to race with varsity for the first time.”
Assistant coach David Coughlan feels that with such a good meet so early in the season and without any rest from training, the boys have set a good foundation for the rest of the season.
“I was very pleased,” Coughlan said. “They’ve been training quite hard, and they match up well against the other teams despite not fielding their whole strength. It was a good meet to build on.”
The top 14 boys will race at the Stanford Invitational next Saturday on the Stanford golf course.
Click here to see the slideshow!