The Deerfield girls took on defending New England Champions Phillips Academy in Andover on Saturday and came away with a loss, but only after an honorable battle. Losing 32 to 23, the girls took to the Andover course with an aggressive approach that lead to season’s bests by Erin Hudson 11 sec, Nora Markey 15 sec, Victoria Patterson 19 sec, and two season’s bests by 34 seconds, by Carolyn Melvin and Sofi Sintes, our dual runners of the week. Indeed, the Deerfield girls, despite missing one of their top five runners, performed marvelously. Following an Andover PG who earlier this season placed first at a college XC meet with 17 teams was Deerfield 9th grader Victoria Patterson 3rd 19:08, 11th grader Erin Hudson 4th 20:03, 9th grader Jane Mallach 6th 20:54, 11th grader Carolyn Melvin 9th 21:21, 11th grader Nora Markey 10th 21:28, 11th grader Sofi Sintes 11th 21:29, 11th grader Helen Downes 15th 21:53, 11th grader Sara Jane O’Connor 16th 21:57, 10th grader Ely Burke 19th 22:18, 12th grader Penelope Hough 33rd 24:36, 12th grader Katie Morse 34th 24:39, 9th grader Nafi Sall 36th, 9th grader Niki Pelletier 38th 25:30, 10th grader Gemma Bishop 39th 25:48, and 10th grader Jerilyn Zheng 42nd 26:45. The JV girls (after the top seven) placed second as well, scoring 40-21. Next week the girls in green take on local rivals NMH at home and the following week return to Exeter for the New England Championships. Please consider joining us, where great things are happening!