Today the Deerfield Girls’ Cross Country program took their show on the road once again, and the results were stupendous. The girls raced to victory in both the varsity and junior varsity races at the Miller Invitational at the Westminster School in Simsbury, CT. Indeed, both squads dominated the competition with stellar performances across the board, with the varsity girls scoring only 26 points in a field of eight teams. In that race, Deerfield was led once again by All-New England runner Victoria Patterson who finished second overall on the beastly hilly 5k course with a time of 19:17. Following the 10th grader from South Carolina was Vermont native and 9th grader Noelle Abeyta in 3rd with a time of 19:36, 12th grader and Mass native and All-New England runner Erin Hudson in 6th place (20:30), 12th grader Helen Downes from the Big Apple (21:09), 12th grader Sarah Jane O’Connor from the Nutmeg State in 8th (21:24), 10th grader Jane Mallach from the Garden State finished in 19th (23:05), and senior Nora Markey, a native of Western Mass, rounded out the top seven on this day with a time of 23:16.
In the JV race Deerfield similarly dominated, finishing with seven girls in the top ten runners out of eight teams fielded, scoring an unimaginably low 18 points among eight teams. Led by 9th grader Grace Russell of Cambridge, MA who won the race in 22:31, and followed closely by Esme Benjamin from the Big Easy in 22:40 (2nd), west coaster Ali Thomas in 23:23 (4th), home grown Ely Burke in 23:28.1 (5th), local legend Erin Howe in 23:28.8 (6th), Mississippian Sami Dulam in 24:05 (8th), Argentinian Sofi Sintes in 24:15 (9th), New Jersey’s own Anna Fu in 26:40 (23rd), Jamaican Acy (DC) Cai 26th (27:04), the Wolverine State’s Nafi Sail 35th (27:55), Greenfield’s own Piper Day 39th (28:04), New Yorker Jasmine Ramos in 42nd (28:06), and rounded out by AP Biology standout Jerilyn Zheng 54th (29:09).
Kudos to the girls, who all ran superbly, demonstrating their base fitness levels are right where they need to be and that they are ready to mix it up to get the job done. Next Saturday they move into the meat of the season, as the dual meets begin in earnest with a match against northern rival St. Paul’s, in Concord, NH. Come watch the girls each weekend as they march their way to the championship meet on November 11th in Wallingford, CT. No matter the outcome, history will be made as this collection of wonderfully dedicated and mutually supportive student-athletes chalk up the fall of 2017 wearing the Big Green!