With a new course record set by returning senior standout Philip MacQuitty and solid performances from his varsity teammates, the boys’ cross country team looks on track for another qualification to the state meet.
At the annual Alumni meet on Thursday at Gunn High School’s Bol Park, officially an unscored meet, the Paly boys finished second by two points behind host Gunn High School.
Overall, the team was pleased with its performance so early in the season.
“It was good to see where everybody’s fitness level was at, who was putting a lot of work in over the summer,” boys’ head coach Joe Ginanni said.
Senior Philip MacQuitty won the race in a new course record of 10 minutes, 25 seconds on the 2.18 mile course. Fellow seniors Peter Wilson, Josh Newby, Henry Jordan and Ben Sklaroff finished fifth (11:08), seventh (11:20), ninth (11:27) and eleventh (11:32), respectively, as the top five Paly runners to finish.
“It felt really good,” Newby said. “Not a PR [personal record] but it’s still early in the season. I’m super excited about the top guys. Philip won, and Peter Wilson had a huge race.”
Jordan also felt very comfortable about his performance.
“I thought I personally had a good race,” Jordan said. “I went out conservative, but it felt good picking people off the whole race. Maybe [next race I’ll] go out a little harder in the start, so I would not have to fight for a better starting position.”
While Sklaroff has improved greatly from last year, he felt disappointed about this race.
“I kind of lost it in the second mile,” Sklaroff said.
Nonetheless, Ginanni was happy with the boys’ races.
“The varsity squad looked good,” Ginanni said. “I’m not concerned about where the team finished at this point.”
In the girls’ race, junior Gracie Cain finished first among the varsity girls and eighth overall in 13:40, followed by senior co-captain Kathleen Higgins at 13:43 (ninth overall) and sophomores Emy Kelty at 14:16 and Lydia Guo at 14:26 (12th and 17th, respectively).
Although the varsity girls finished third out of the three competing teams, the team shows much promise for improvement, as this is only Cain and Guo’s second year doing cross country, and Kelty is completely new to the sport.
The cross country teams will race again next Saturday at the Lowell Invitational at Golden Gate Park.