9/29 Taft XC hosted its season opener against Trinity Pawling and Choate Rosemary Hall on Saturday. Under beautiful weather conditions, but sloppy course conditions, Big Red split both the Varsity and JV meets, losing to Choate, but nabbing the first win of the season over Trinity Pawling. While Mustafe Dahir of Choate put on an impressive performance to win the race, running 16:05 on the 3-mile course (the second fastest time in course history), Ollie Spencer, PG, and Ian Staines, Upper Mid, took care of business for Big Red, going 2-3 in the tri-meet with times of 17:18 and 17:29, respectively. Joey Nihill, who was celebrating his birthday with a PR on the home course of 17:42, came in 6th overall, third for the Rhinos. While he was bested by Choate’s Mody and Connell in the final mile of the course, Nihill, a Mid, is competing at the highest level in the league, and will look for retaliation when Taft hosts Founder’s Championships in November. Robbie Accomando’s performance was a highlight of the race. The Lower Mid debuted in his first ever cross country race, placing 11th with a time of 18:32 and scoring points for the varsity team. Additionally, Accomando ran the last 1,200 meters of the race down a shoe, which got stuck in the mud. With all considered, it was a heck of a debut for the rookie. Sanjeev Jeyabalan, also had a good day, finishing a few seconds behind Accomando for 12th overall. The senior is poised to have a major impact on the team this year, as he continues to run well, and cut down his times each race. Yuk Sum Chan, Mid, and Steftan Kim, Upper Mid captain, rounded out the scoring for the varsity program with times of 19:29 and 20:00. It was Chan’s fastest time on the home course, improving upon his 2017 PR by 28 seconds. In the JV program, Joe Zarif, who has been emerging as a leader in the program, led the charge for the Rhinos with a time of 20:00. Newcomer and Lower Mid, Nate Dexter was second for Big Red with an impressive debut and time of 20:30. Just behind Dexter was Upper Mid, Beckett Fine, who has been toughing out injuries in recent weeks, and still running PR’s, with a time of 20:35, shaving minutes off his New Haven 5K performance. Tiger Peng and Alex Peng finished a second apart, with times of 22:20 and 22:21 respectively. Both boys are new to the sport, and have bright futures ahead of them as Lower Mids. Also making debuts, Lance Zhang and Gavin Pintro rounded out the scoring for the JV with times of 22:41 and 22:43. Both varsity and JV stand at 1-1 and look to improve upon their records and times in the coming week, where Taft will travel to Loomis to compete against Loomis, Hotchkiss, and Northfield Mount Hermon.