October 25, 2018
On a cool, blustery day, you ran well enough to earn two 4th place finishes and qualify four runners for the state championship!
Our boys varsity took on the 2nd ranked runner in the state along with the 6th and 7th ranked teams. Henry and Matthew led the charge. Henry won and Matthew finished 4th. Both boys qualified for the state championship. Peter took a chance and started a little faster than usual. It paid off as he was our 3rd runner. Isak was returning from a long injury. He only returned to practice on Tuesday. But he gave it a shot and finished as our 4th runner. Henry P. ran his final cross country race and wrapped up the scoring for the boys team. Cullen, troubled by a stitch still managed his best time for this meet. Evan also ran his best time for this meet. The boys team finished in 4th place in a tough field of 19 complete teams.
Our girls varsity took on the top ranked runner in the state. Margo ran well to finish in 3rd place, only a few seconds from 2nd place, earning state qualification. Katie started fast but held on in the end to finish in 10th place and also qualify for the state championship. Emily B. ran well to finish in 22nd as our 3rd runner. Izzy Q., returning from a stress fracture, finished not far back from Emily. Ellie Q., running her last cross country race, finished as our 5th runner. Skylar and Izzy G. wrapped things up for the girls team, with Izzy running a personal best. The girls team finished in 4th place out of a field of 16 teams. This ties their best ever team finish in a section meet. The other 4th place finish was in 1997!
We had a large group of junior varsity runners. Louis ran his best on this course. Ben ran well in just his third 5000 meter cross country race. Dylan ran his last cross country race for MPA. Henry ran well in his first full 5000 meter cross country race. Henry G. was not far behind his namesake. Noah ran within a couple seconds of his personal best. Mari also ran within a few seconds of her personal best, but almost a minute faster than her best on this course. Salma improved her best ever time by a minute! And Anna ran her first 5000 meter cross country race.
With this race, we bid farewell to most of our seniors, Henry P., Dylan, Aneesh, Ellie, and Ana. Thanks to all of you for all your many contributions to this team. Matthew has one more race before we bid farewell to him!
Next up will be the state championship!
Complete results are available for the boys varsity and the girls varsity. MileSplit has post-race interviews with Henry and Margo.
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