Girls' Cross Country vs Berkshire School

Score/Result: 19-42 W

[Click here to see race results]

On a picture perfect fall day, the Taft girls took on Berkshire and Suffield at Suffield.  Berkshire’s team was small but determined, and their lead runner moved to the front early on in the race.  Suffield, meanwhile, took full advantage of the home course advantage with a formidable group of five runners in the lead pack early on.  Taft’s Sarah Iannone and Dana Biddle settled in with that lead pack, with Maggie Swomley not far back.  Colleen Iannone, Caroline Manly, Rashi Narayan, Elizabeth Shea, Livvy Barnett and Courtney Jones set up their own pack just behind the lead group.

For much of the race, it was impossible to tell if Suffield or Taft had the advantage.  Suffield clearly worked hard in the weeks since they last ran against Taft, with many of their runners shaving one or even two minutes off their times from just four weeks ago.  However, the Taft girls managed to win a few key battles earning the narrow win.  Some notable finishes included Sarah Iannone edging out Berkshire’s Tara Blundell to win the race outright and Maggie Swomley passing two Suffield runners late in the race, which enabled a Taft win.  Rashi Narayan had a fantastic race and placed for varsity for the first time this season.  Caroline Manly also had one of her best finishes of the season.  Colleen Iannone and Elizabeth Shea rounded out the varsity squad for this meet.  All seven of those young women should be commended for a gutsy performance against a tough opponent.

In unofficial scoring, the JV girls racked up another impressive win with a score of 18 to 37.  Livvy Barnett, taking a full 2 minutes off of her time from four weeks ago, came in first for JV, followed closely by Courtney Jones and Megan TeeKing.  It should be noted that Megan had her best race of the season.  Bella Ordway, Rebecca Bendheim, Maddie Olmstead and Samantha Duoek rounded out Taft’s JV squad.

Many Taft runners shaved time off their splits since last week.  Notably, Naomi Muniz, Josie Danziger, Becky Frank, Nicole Lu and Eugene Lee all had mile splits that were at least 15 seconds faster than last week.

Next week, the girls are home against Williston Northampton.