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| Cross Country Girls take 7th Straight League Title, 2nd at States
October 27, 2008 |
| The final week of the season saw the Tigers garner top honors at both the Friends Schools' League Meet (FSL) and the Independent Schools State Meet, concluding a very successful '08 campaign. After finishing the regular season with a dual meet win at George School to finish with a 10-1 record, the squad was confident as they took the line at Westtown to defend their FSL crown and compete for a 7th consecutive win over the league. The Lady Tigers placed all 7 scorers in the top 10, lead by 1-2-3 finish from Jasia Kaulbach, Madeline Hawes, and Brooke Palus. It was Kaulbach's 3rd title in as many years, and she made the 20:29 effort over the tough Westtown course look easy. Also in the top 10 were Katharine Celata (7th), Kendra Mayberry (8th), Camilla Warren (9th), and Jess Love (10th). Showing their impressive depth GFS runners also took 6 of the next 10 places: Taya Friedan (10th), Kristen Kelly (13th), Ava Samuel (14th), Ashleigh Frank (15th), Avery Stern (19th) and Ally Daniels (20th). In fact, if this next group could have entered as a separate team they would have placed 3rd in the meet!
The last meet of the season started much as the first, with heavy rain falling over the course at lovely Mercersburg Academy. The girls entered the race as defending champions but new they had their work cut out for them if they were to top a talented Notre Dame Academy (NDA) squad. The race plan was for Kaulbach and Hawes to split up the top 4 of NDA with Palus, Frank and Celata following behind with a close eye on NDA girls ahead of them. Through 2 miles the strategy appeared to have a chance of success with Kaulbach on the heels of NDA's Seykora and Fitzpatrick, Hawes in front of their number 3 and 4, and Palus and Frank poised in good position. Then disaster struck as Frank was forced to abandon the race with severe cramps. The remaining 6 stayed strong but it was too big of a task. Though she was not able to break Seykora and Fitzpatrick, Kaulbach's 3rd place finish, in a time of 19:34, was the 5th fastest ever run at States, with the ND duo claming the 2nd and 4th spots. Hawes hung on for 6th place and Palus raced strong over the last 1/2 mile to capture 10th. Celata followed in 33rd and fellow seniors Freidan and Warren were 37th and 40th. After some nervous minutes, the final scores were announced: NDA 29, GFS 85 – the strength of 3 in the top 10 carried the team to 2nd place, their 3rd top 2 finish in as many years!
In the JV race GFS once again was able to show off it's considerable depth, as the Tigers placed 6 girls in the top 10. Freshman Kristen Kelly took over a minute off her PR with a 22:11, good for 2nd place, with Ava Samuel not far behind in 4th. Ally Daniels also had a big PR in 5th place, showing a ferocious kick over the last 50 meters to overtake teammate Jess Love who finished a second back in 6th. Lexi Brown and Addy Hoffman recorded identical times of 24:12 for 9th and 10th respectively. Avery Stern was not far behind in 14th. The JV squad performance transposed on the varsity race would have seen them finish 9th - ahead of 5 other schools!
The teams showed great courage and perseverance on a rainy day against the best independent schools in the state and are already looking ahead to next year and another chance at the State title.
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