On a pretty rainy and muddy day down in Cary, NC, the Albemarle girls' and boys' team raced their last XC race of 2019. The JV girls (Rising Stars) raced first and the varsity (Race of Champions) definitely had the worst conditions of the day as they were dead last in all the mud!
In the Rising Stars race Savannah Meriwether ran a lifetime PR of 20:19 to place 7th overall. As just an eigth grader this is super impressive and we can't wait to see her
progress throughout high school! Our other eighth grader, Eva Weaver ran 21:09 for a PR and looks just as promising! She has been very consistant in workouts and races and has a big career ahead of her. Lillian Peskova finished out a strong, injury-free season, with 21:46 and was followed closely by Laura Buddington in 22:00, a PR. Bella Popovsky, another freshman, ran 22:13 - though not a PR it was a 2:19 drop from her first race of the season! Anya Rothman PR'd by 8 seconds in 22:38 (3:14 seconds faster from her first race!). Lily Willams, also a freshman, ran 23:21 to get all of the JV girls in the top 60.
In the Girl's varsity race, Arianna DeBoer finished out a great season with a 19:05, faster than her Great American race this season on the same course! Sarah Leach had the one of
the most impressive races of the day for both her time drop and her unbelievably positive attitude. Sarah has struggled with anemia all season and did not get a chance to race at regionals or states in her senior year. She was really strong for the beginning of the season, but then struggled through districts where she ran a 23:40. Despite all this she has been so supportive of everybody else and she came out at Nike and ran over a minute faster than her previous PR (20:39) to run 19:29 and spend most of the race with Arianna! What a stellar way to end her XC career! Meme Zarzyski set a season's best of 19:51 and as a senior, has signed to run for Queen's college next year! Olivia St Amand set a PR of 20:10 as only a freshman and has had an incredible season, dropping loads of time and coming ever closer to that 20 minute barrier. Abby Murphy ran 20:48, just 17 seconds off of her PR. Abby has also improved a ton this season to make top 7 and has lowered her PR by 40 seconds from last year. Beth Shifflett finished her high school XC career with a 21:26, an incredible bounce back from having three stress fractures last year, and Cassidy Guyton ran a 21:37.
Congratulations to all of the amazing girls on this team! We will miss our seniors a ton but are super excited for more time drops and a fun season next year. Keep an eye out for more details on the 2020 season in your inbox and around the website near June and July.
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