We are three meets into the fall cross country season.  Despite the limitations of a small roster, and the inevitable rash of injuries any team must endure, the Friends Select cross country team has turned in some strong individual performances.  We have an energetic contingent of new and veteran runners who work hard every day in practice and are reaping the benefits of their hard work at meets.

 

The first meet of the year took place at Germantown Academy.  The twists and turns of the course meant that a couple of runners took wrong turns, but 9th grader Alex Ryley, in his first meet as a Friends Select runner, turned in a promising time of 25:17.  Second-year runner Michael Gomella began his sophomore season with a time of 29:28.

 

The team's second meet of the season was on the challenging Lemon Hill home course.   As the course's name indicates, the route is peppered with hills both long and gradual and short and steep.  For several of our runners, this was their first cross country race ever.  The runners refused to be daunted by the course's challenges and ran strong again.  Sarafina Kietzman-Nicklin raced to an impressive 27:57 (13th place out of 30 runners) for her first cross country race ever.  Jun-Yeon Cho and Michael Gomella ran times of 27:22 and 27:24, respectively.  Darien Headen hung tough on the brutal course, finishing in just under 33 minutes.  Seniors Grace Jackson and Claire Cocroft also had successful first outings on the race course, with times of 34:28 and 35:22.  Bryana Perea ran tough in her first race ever, crossing the line in 41:25.   Alex Ryley accidentally ran an extra loop (a common mistake on our twisty, turny figure-8 course), a shame, since he has been running very strong in practice.  The coaches are eager to see what he can do when he gets the course map down!

On September 29, Friends Select faced the mammoth army that is the Germantown Friends cross country team, on their home course at Belmont Plateau.  The course is classic cross country, with two loops of playing fields and one hill loop with a steep climb in the middle.  Unfortunately, due to injuries and doctors' appointments, our team was down to only four runners.  Sarafina Kietzman-Nicklin had another great race, finishing 10th overall with a time of 28:04 in a 22-runner race.  Grace Jackson chopped two minutes off her time from the previous week (despite a wrong turn on the course!), finishing 15th in 32:42.  On the boys' side, although battling painful shinsplints, Jun Yeon Cho crossed the line in 30:42, and Darien Headen ran strong to finish in 32:43. 

 

The harriers will attack the Westtown School home course on October 6th, hopefully with a full contingent of healthy runners.