GXC Makes Strong Season Debut at Manchester Invitational
The Phillips Academy girls' cross country team (GXC) traveled to Derryfield Park to compete in the Manchester Invitational, one of the best cross country invitationals in New England, and ran to some outstanding performances.
Starting off the day with a stellar team showing, the girls freshmen took the win in the first race of the day behind incredible running up front. Three GXC runners finished inside the top ten: Sophia Stetson ('29) took the win in impressive fashion; Maddie Marshall ('29) pushed the pace up front and took 4th; and Michelle Oh ('29) ran to a killer finish for 8th place in her first ever XC race. Fatima Bah ('29) had a great cross country debut with an 18th-place finish and Claire Donovan ('29) ran as a strong fifth for Andover to come in 27th. Vera Pape ('29), Mari Uchino-Garcia ('29), and Kareena Kapoor ('29) also represented Big Blue well in their first GXC races.
Also making their GXC debuts with excellent running were four runners in the JV "C" race: Eloise Malle ('27), Lola Meinecke ('28), Julia Xu ('28), and Allysa Katana ('28). That great group was joined by veteran Claire Bancroft ('28) whose great summer training is paying off.
Next up, the JV "B" race featured some tough running from exciting returners Yara Handschin ('27) and Tasha Bohorad ('26), who paced the group. Emily Ney ('28), Tayla Stempson ('27), and Evelyn Marshall ('28) formed a strong set to round out the top five for Andover. Nafi Diagne ('26) and Lucy Nichols ('26) worked together in the challenging final stretch of the race to finish well for Andover.
In the final girls' race of the day, the GXC Varsity squared off against more than 25 teams in the Large School Varsity race. Amelia Alvazzi ('26) and Anya Budzinski ('26) led the way for Andover with promising early-season running. Hannah Jung ('28) was next in for GXC with an outstanding season debut race. Corinne Spade ('27) and Anya Casey ('28) finished right near each other, showing off their consistent summer work, and co-captain Chloe Song ('26) rounded out the PA runners with a good start to the racing season.
You can find full results here.
GXC will be back in action at home on Saturday, October 4th, when they will welcome Choate Rosemary Hall to Andover.