VARSITY

The Stratford Cross Country team didn’t have far to travel this week, as they competed in the Strake Jesuit Invitational at Bear Creek Park on Saturday morning.  After months of training and racing in the not-so-pleasant summer weather in Houston, the Spartans took advantage of better conditions on Saturday and posted impressive times on the flat, fast, course. 

It was a dominating performance by the Varsity Girls as they as they took 1st place in the team competition and had seven girls earn top-25 medals.  St. Agnes finished well back in 2nd place, followed by the Friendswood girls in 3rd.  Sophomore Niamh Collins led the Spartans by finishing 2nd place overall with a time of 19:00 in the 5k race.  Other top-25 medalists were Allison Goodwin in 3rd place (19:27), Anastasia Sciretti 4th (19:29), Siena Yoder 7th (19:53),  Megan Broom 9th (19:56), Maggie Pearce 16th (20:21), and Ola Jalal 20th (20:24).  There were 54 runners and 6 teams in the girls competition. 

The Varsity Boys were without their #1 runner this weekend, Emanuel Galdino, while he was in North Carolina for a college recruiting visit. Even so, the boys went head- to-head with the host team, Strake Jesuit, and narrowly missed taking the championship from them. The Spartans finished 2nd place in the team competition, only 4 points behind Strake, and 3 points ahead of the 3rd place team, Katy Tompkins.  Sophomore David Kalwahali led the Spartans by finishing 4th place overall with a time of 15:50 in the 5K.  Also earning medals were Jackson Potter 6th place (15:55),  Maddox Durnell 9th (16:03),  William Wylie 12th (16:10), Zach Tobin 18th (16:31), Daylan Rushing 19th (16:31), Nathan Hirst 20th (16:36), and Ben Pearce 22nd (16:47).   There were 67 runners and 8 teams in the boys race. 

SUB VARSITY

In the JV Girls 2 mile race, Stratford finished 3rd place in the team competition and had three top-25 medalists. Amelia Bommer finished in 4th place (13:06), Mary Mitchell 9th (13:34), and Emily Hopkins 20th (14:05).  Paige Dial and Bella Rexer also earned team points.  

The JV Boys took 2nd place as a team in the 5k race and three Spartans earned medals.  Justin Kaimann took 3rd place (17:47), Jacob Smith 4th (17:54), and Jean Choi (18:27).  Also earning points for the Spartans were Ben Barrett and Fred Kunick. 

It was a 4th place win for the Freshman Boys in the 2 mile race, and medalists were Brody James 11th place (11:38), Samuel Jordan 16th (12:01), and Andrew Hopkins 22nd (12:19).   Ethan Shuck and Nate Yoder were the other runners earning points for the Freshman Boys. 

Next Saturday is the first home meet of the season for the Spartans, as they will host the SBISD Invitational at Nottingham Park at 7:30 am.  Please come out to support both of our state-ranked teams and enjoy a great day of racing at all levels.