Girls' Cross Country vs Suffield Academy

Score/Result: 21-36 W

It was a perfect day to run and a perfect day to inaugurate our new course.  Because we are hosting the Founders’ League Meet this year, we felt a more traditional 3 mile length was in order.  Boys’ coach Steve Palmer designed the new course, adding a few modifications to the old course to achieve the desired length.  The response of the runners on Saturday was positive; they especially like the fact that the first significant hill is now broken up visually, making it seem easier to get up.  A big thanks to Coach Palmer and the Taft grounds department for getting the course in such great shape for our first home meet!

The Taft girls took full advantage of their familiarity with the course on Saturday.  Sara Iannone (captain), Dana Biddle and newcomer Maggie Swomley swept the top three spots, ensuring a Taft win.  These three led for the majority of the race, and all three made running our tough course look effortless for them.  Susanna Davies of Porters ran a gutsy race, challenging Maggie for third place, ultimately coming in 4^th overall by just a few seconds.  Suffield runners demonstrated great teamwork by then sweeping places 5 through 7 in an impenetrable pack.  Rounding out the Taft varsity squad was our own pack of Colleen Iannone in 9^th, Caroline Manly in 10^th,  and Courtney Jones in 11^th, with newcomer Charlotte Masucci just a 20 seconds behind Courtney in 15^th place overall.  Newcomers Amanda Roberts, Bella Ordway and Paige Whittemore all had great first races as Taft XC runners, and all finished the race smiling.  Veterans Maddie Olmstead, Naomi Muniz, Josie Danziger, Becky Frank and Nicole Lu all stood up to the challenge of the longer course and finished strong.

Unofficially, Taft won the JV race as well.  Taft had a perfect JV race against Suffield, coming in 1 through 5.  The jv squad was led by Rashi Narayan, with captains Megan TeeKing and Elizabeth Shea not far behind.  It should be noted that Elizabeth finished despite a bee sting (to which she is allergic) during the race.  Newcomers Rebecca Bendheim and Livvy Barnett rounded out the JV team with excellent first races as part of Taft XC.  Porters had a small team this year and did not have enough runners for JV.

It was certainly a good day for girls’ XC.  Veteran runners and first time racers alike distinguished themselves in this first meet of the year.  Taft is home next week against Choate Rosemary Hall.