Scott O’Brien
Staff Writer
The Varsity Girls Cross Country team’s amazing season is not something to be overlooked.The team has a 6-1 record as the season comes to its finish line, having one win and no losses in their league. The Lady Rams have a dominating roster of runners that are racing right toward gold.
Sectionals was the team goal for the girls. Due to the wide variety of strong runners on the team, the whole team has high expectations for what their performances in sectionals, and even states, will be. “The team goal every season is always to win sectionals,” says junior Abbie Leavitt, “and then after that it’s to be successful in states.”
Many runners from the girls team, with the boys team, represented J-DHS in Manhattan, NYC on Saturday, Oct. 8 against other high ranked teams around the state. The Lady Rams’ performance proves that the caliber of the runners on the team puts them in the top tier. The runners who went include seniors Isabela Budelmann, Hannah Butler, Sarah Hildreth, and Kaillee Philieo; juniors Megan Brown, Ayla Erwin, Danielle Jaffe, Abbie Leavitt, and Alisa Salbert; sophomores Samantha Aitken, Olivia Budelmann, Amelia Gilbert, Ariella Kornfield, Abby Palin, and Sophia Vinciguerra; and freshman Sophie Clinton, Lily Dougherty, Kathleen McPeak, and Emma Sullivan. Veteran Head Coach Jim Lawton brought them down to compete in the Big Apple.
The girls’ performance in Manhattan further propelled the overall belief the team has in their good chances of success in the postseason. “New York City was a big success. A lot of girls came out on top and it proved how strong of runners we have,” says Leavitt. Butler in particular had a very strong performance among others, finishing in seventh place out of 134, with a time of 15:28.7 minutes. “Manhattan was great. It was so much fun and we ran very well too,” says junior Ayla Erwin.
Butler, who has been a lethal runner since her freshman year, has high praise from many of her teammates in respect and expectations. Throughout her senior season she has established her position as being one of the top female runners in Central New York. Butler is expected to run at a top level in sectionals and hopefully states as well.
The Girls Varsity Cross Country team is hoping to turn their high hopes into high awards in playoffs. Do not be surprised to see them on headlines around the city.
