The Taft girls' cross country team hosted a strong Williston Northampton team today and ultimately came away with a loss of 21-38. Despite the loss, many of the Taft runners had strong individual performances. The top runner for the Taft varsity today was Lucy Gretsky, finishing 2nd overall with her season-best time of 21:09. Co-captain Michelle Lian was second for Taft, fifth overall, in a speedy time of 21:59, and her co-captain Katie Bootsma dropped nine seconds from the last time she ran on this course to finish in 22:34 for 9th overall and third for Taft. Mare Gandarela was 4th for Taft, 10th overall in 22:45, only her second time ever breaking 23 minutes, and Kaitlyn MacDonald had her highest finish on the team yet with a time of 24:01 for 12th overall, fifth for Taft. Kaitlyn dropped nearly a full minute off of her last race on Taft's course! Caroline Shea (15th overall in 24:19, a lifetime PR) and Kate Sharpe (18th overall in 25:03, also a lifetime PR) finished out the varsity roster as Taft's sixth and seventh runners. In the JV race, Maggie Robertshaw and Lilly Izmirlian led the way, finishing nearly simultaneously with season PRs of 25:11. Bojana Drca was Taft's third JV runner in 26:16, a new PR of over one minute! Catherine Zhao (32:38) and Coco Zhang (36:05) finished out the JV scoring, with Coco setting a new lifetime PR by over a minute as well. The Taft girls will travel to Kent next Saturday for our last dual meet of the season before hosting the Founders League Championships at home on November 3rd.