Building on their experiences from last week’s meet, the girls’ cross country team placed moderately well at the Lowell Invite in San Francisco’s Golden Gate Park on Saturday.
With junior standout Gracie Cain leading a semi-depleted squad, the varsity team ran themselves into sixth place out of a field of fifteen teams. Three of their top runners could not run, two due to sickness, so only six out of a possible seven slots on the squad were filled.
“We did pretty well overall, with strong underclassmen filling in for those who weren’t here,” Cain said.
Cain came in eighteenth in a fast-paced heat and placed 24th overall with a time of 18 minutes, 7 seconds, in what is usually a 2.93 mile course (a park reservation issue changed a small section of the race). Senior team captain Kathleen Higgins followed closely behind in 18:14.
Though most considered the course slightly shorter this year, many felt they ran a faster race compared to last year’s. Higgins, fellow senior captain Regina Wang and sophomore pull-up Lydia Guo all set personal records in their races.
“I definitely did better than I thought I would. As for team placement, we stayed tight,” Guo, who ran the course in 19:28, said.
Rounding out Paly’s placement were junior captain Erin Kiekhaefer, Wang, sophomore Emy Kelty and Guo, who all came in within five places and ten seconds of each other.
Personal commitments and sickness have taken a toll on the team. Juniors Emily Benatar, Leigh Dairaghi and Susan Heinselman, all varsity runners, were unable to run at the meet, with Heinselman and Benatar out sick and Dairaghi unable to leave a previous commitment. Those absences coupled with strong times from Guo and Kelty have made the last couple of varsity spots on the seven person roster even more competitive.
“With those who did not run today, it is going to become very competitive for the top seven spots for the next meets,” head coach Paul Jones said. “It’s all up in the air.”
Even so, the varsity team is still very young with only two seniors, and each race adds experience for those competing at the team’s highest level.
“I’m very proud of how [the girls] ran today. If we keep rolling, we will get better,” Jones said.
The JV squad ran six girls, who placed ninth out of sixteen teams in their heat and sixteenth overall. Seniors Caroline Wang and Nadia Ahmed and junior Laurie Maemura all set personal records.
In the 2.13 mile frosh-soph event, the team placed fourth in their heat and sixth overall. Freshman Nora Rosati and sophomore Rachelle Holmgren led the Paly runners, placing eighth and ninth respectively in their heat.
The girls’ next meet will be the Stanford Invitational on the Stanford Golf Course next Saturday, where the team’s top 14 competitors will run. According to Jones, Cain will not run that race and Heinselman is still questionable for the event. The meet schedule can be found here.