Cross country returned from their latest five-kilometer invitational meet with mixed results last weekend, but established themselves as a legitimate contender for North Coast Sectional title race and beyond.
At the 39th annual Stanford XC Invitational, the girls’ team finished third out of 29 teams with an average time of 20:29, while the boys finished eighth out of 19 with an average time of 17:11. In last year’s competition, the girls’ team finished seventh, while the boys’ team finished fifth.
According to captain Megan Bordes, this race helped move the girls team atop the NCS rankings, after coming into the season ranked sixth.
Bordes said she credits all of her team for the performance, but gives an additional shout out to junior Julia Hansen and senior Sophie Epstein.
The girls’ success comes after replacing four of their varsity seven from the year before, three of the spots filled by freshmen. Bordes said she is proud of these freshmen, one of whom is her sister, who are handling the season well so far.
“Freshmen girls come in, and depending on the training they do during the season, they can have immediate impact,” Schmitt said. “And typically they do.”
In regards to the boys’ team, Schmitt said she feels the race was a good learning experience for the rest of the season.
“We have a very solid team, with tons of potential and rankings and great athleticism, and we needed to come together in races,” Schmitt said. “I feel that we learned what each of us has to do individually to improve, and each of us is going to have to make a few modifications within the season.”
Junior Fred Huxham finished fourth in the boys’ race after leading most of it, according to Schmitt.
In terms of rankings, the boys came into the preseason ranked first in NCS, but after their performance at Stanford, their ranking is sure to drop, according to Schmitt.
According to Schmitt, her runners know not to get caught up in the rankings.
“Rankings have no bearing on North Coast Sections, nor state meet results,” Schmitt said. “What happens in those three miles, that’s the result. Rankings are irrelevant.”
The team races next in an MCAL matchup against Terra Linda and Marin Catholic tonight, Oct. 4, looking to extend their 5-0 inter-league record for both the boys and girls.
