The Jamesville-DeWitt Girls Cross Country team won the Sophomore A race at the Manhattan College Cross Country Invite on Saturday. The team won with a score of 99 points, beating out ten other schools from areas throughout the northeast.
Freshman Megan O’Malley led the pack for J-D, finishing the 2.5 mile course at Van Cortlandt Park in the Bronx with a time of 17:46.6, which was good for 8th place in the race. This race is another positive addition to her season resume, which already includes a top-15 placement in the syracuse.com Section III Class B rankings.
The next finishers for the Red Rams were sophomores Miriam Zoghby and Cora Sicherman-Gilbert, finishing 15th and 16th, respectively. They finished less than two seconds apart. Being near each other throughout the race helped them stay on pace and work to pass runners on opposing teams. Senior Janna VanVranken, a captain of the team, emphasized how they worked well together with each other during the race: “The trail was really narrow, but Miriam and Cora did a good job of staying together and finding a way to pass people.”
Not far behind was sophomore Rebecca Kassis, who crossed the finish line only 30 seconds slower than Sicherman-Gilbert. She finished in 18:54.7. Closing out the race for J-D were freshmen Cielo Martinez and Meghana Thota, followed by sophomore Sarah Kornfeld.
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The average finishing time of the team was 18:36.62, the lowest in the race by over seven seconds. Each runner from Jamesville-DeWitt earned a medal for the individual performance, as well as a medal for their team victory. The team also won a trophy that is being displayed in the trophy cases in the main gym foyer.
Five other teams from Jamesville-DeWitt raced at the invitational. To see the full results, go to http://cfpitiming.com/2019_Cross_Country_Season/Manhattan_2019/Manhattan_ _2019.html
- Boys Sophomore: Race C
- Boys Junior Varsity: Race D
- Boys Varsity: Race C
- Girls Sophomore: Race A
- Girls Junior Varsity: Race B
- Girls Varsity: Race B