The Taft girls’ cross country team traveled to Kent on a wet and cold afternoon to race on Kent’s challenging home course. Despite the brutal weather conditions, the girls had a great race and came away with a win against Kent, avenging their 2017 loss! Coincidentally, last year the Taft varsity girls lost 32-25 to Kent, and this year they won 25-32. Kent’s lead runner, the defending Founders League champion, led the race from the gun and earned a commanding first place finish. Following her, Taft’s Lucy Gretsky finished second overall in 22:48, the best time any Taft runner has notched on the Kent course since 2013! Co-captains Katie Bootsma (3rd overall, 2nd for Taft) and Michelle Lian (5th overall, 3rd for Taft) worked together throughout the course to earn key spots for the team. While one Kent runner made it between Katie and Michelle, and another just after Michelle for 6th, Taft earned crucial points from Mare Gandarela (7th overall, 4th for Taft), Annabel Pick (8th overall, 5th for Taft), and Caroline Shea (9th overall, 6th for Taft). Not far behind these girls were Lilly Izmirlian (13th overall, 7th for Taft) and Maggie Robertshaw (14th overall, 8th for Taft). Lilly and Maggie have run nearly every practice and every race stride for stride, and their hard work led Lilly to her first varsity finish (top 7) with Maggie just a few seconds behind. Maggie’s placement technically was the first for the Taft JV, and her spot also made her the first JV finisher overall. Maggie’s great race, along with strong finishes from Bojana Drca (17th overall, 9th for Taft), Sinead Connolly (18th overall, 10th for Taft), Kunchok Palmo (21st overall, 11th for Taft), and Tania Tsunik (27th overall, 12th for Taft) combined for 27 points in the JV race, against Kent’s 30 JV points, earning the JV team a victory as well! Catherine Zhao and Coco Zhang, 28th and 29th overall, served as the displacement runners for the JV team and turned in gritty performances over Kent’s tough and muddy course. The girls will be back in action next Saturday as we host the Founders League Championships. The JV race will start at 3:35 with the varsity at 4:40. Gretsky 22:48 Bootsma 23:49 Lian 24:19 Gandarela 24:58 Pick 25:38 Shea 25:52 Izmirlian 26:56 Robertshaw 27:06 Drca 28:27 Connolly 29:13 Palmo 31:52 Tsunik 33:07 Zhao 35:10 Zhang 39:48