News: Great performances at Great American
2014
The Falcons ran in the Great American Cross Country Festival at Wake Med Park on October 4th. It was almost ideal conditions for racing and the boys varsity stepped to the line for the first race of the day, the Red Race, at 8:00am. Henry Pehr went out with the lead pack and stayed there for the whole race, finishing in 3rd place with a PR of 16:19.43. Four of the boys ran a PR as the team edged Parkview High School by 4 points to pull out the team victory. Contributing to the team score were Brian Huitt (16:49), Michael Dudash (16:57), Nick Veilleux (17:04), and Michael Kolor (17:20).
After a 2.5 hour break the girls varsity ran in the prestigious New Balance Race of Champions. The field included some of the top teams in the United States, including perennial powers Saratoga Springs, Assumption, Blacksburg, LaSalle, James Madison, and others. The girls had an excellent showing and, similarly to last year, they edged Saratoga to finish 3rd behind Blacksburg and LaSalle. Elly Henes ran with the leaders most of the race and ran a new PR of 17:35.74. She was joined in the top 5 by Katie Tomasi (18:44), Morgan Adams (18:45), Elisa Sargent (18:56), and Theresa Enright (19:01).
The Girls Seeded Invitational was the next race involving GH runners. It matched the Falcons second seven runners against other teams’ top 7 runners. In a great show of team depth, the girls pulled out the win in the high level race, even beating regional power Tatnall 88-106. Sarah Taylor was the first Falcon to cross the line in 19:50. She was followed by Emily Jordan (19:53), Martina Savage (19:59), Samantha Kolor (20:06), and Sheridan Wood (20:06).
Five JV races with Green Hope runners followed the three varsity races. The first of these races was the Boys JV race. The team finished 3rd out of 23 squads and was led by Owen Dreikosen (17:22), Matthew Kehn (17:28), Bryce Korabik (17:35), Stevie Winiecki (17:41), Daniel Vo (17:55), and Peyton Barish (17:56).
The JV girls finished 6th out of 24 teams in their race and freshman Lindsey Eastwood (21:17) was the first Falcons harrier to cross the line. She was followed by Natsumi Koyama (21:35), Julia Zwierzynski (21:52), Elizabeth Surratt (21:54), and Shannon Kelly (22:03).
Four of the first 5 GH finishers in the Boys JV II Race were juniors and there were several PRs. The boys finished 4th out of 19 teams and was led by Matthew Spivey (18:07), Sam Gallant (18:10), Ryan Wagner (18:12), Kenny Derek (18:16), and Daimon Raper (18:23).
The JV Girls II squad finished 5th out of 12 teams. The girls were led by Madalyn Hunt (23:04), Allie Haddon (23:04), Ellie Kremer (23:36), Alicia Brunetti (23:58), and Allison Williams (24:36).
The final race of the day was the JV Boys III Race. GH entered five teams of 7 boys and the all-9th grader team pulled out the team victory by 25 points (55-80) over Bishop Hendricksen (R.I.) and 12 other teams. Leading the Falcons to the win were Finn McBride (18:30), Luke Bakley (18:38), Sean Petersen (18:56), Alex Tomasi (18:57), Srikar Chedalavada (19:16), Trevon Miller (19:28), and Ryan Kemper (19:34).
The last invitational of the year will be October 11th in Kernersville, NC, and includes the unofficial Freshmen/Sophomore state championship.