Great Glen Invitational, 9/11/2021

Results Link Coming Soon

Boys Team Post-Race

Sophia Soaring To The Win!

It’s Saturday morning, so why are the XC kids getting up even earlier than on a school day? It must mean it’s time for Great Glen, easily the most beautiful course and scenery we run. A 2+ hour bus ride brings us to the foot of Mt. Washington’s Auto Road and the Great Glen trail system - built for cross country skiing, used in the summer mostly for mountain biking and for one day…the Mt. Washington Invitational!

Despite being a different weekend than normal, the reenactment camp (I always assumed it was a Civil War reenactment, but a run through seemed to show that it was earlier…revolutionary? Settlers? Or maybe because they are always there it’s…a trip back in time???). was set up, although sadly the cannon was STILL not being used for the starting gun. Now that would be epic.

After a little confusion about who was running in which race, the girls JV squad was off with the first pistol shot. We had a full contingent of 7 runners in each girls race, which is a great thing to see! After traversing the rolling 5k and emerging back onto the finishing field, MV had 3 runners in t-shirt (top 10) scoring positions. Earning the first shirt and placing 6th was Violet, followed by Alyssa in 8th, and a hard-charging Anna in 10th. Just missing out on a shirt, and running her best race in two years was Emmaleigh. A shout-out to Lydia, who ran a PR in her second-ever race - that’s what we like to see! Sofia and Taylor also ran very well over the tough mountain trails. Anna was awarded the “Awesome Award” by her teammates for her gutsy running - now we just need to track down the Dora chair!

With no boys JV, the girls were again called to the line for the varsity race. Sophia wasted no time in going to the front and storming to a 28-second victory, bookending her Great Glen career with wins and earning the 4th shirt on the day. Samantha was MV’s second finisher in 16th, while Maddy fought off the nerves to move up throughout the race and place 28th in a PR of 25:00. Also running a PR and breaking into the 26’s was Jessi as our 4th runner, 4 seconds ahead of Victoria. Liz ran one of the best races of her career and set a new PR, while Kendra rounded out the varsity girls while running yet another PR. While it was unclear exactly how many teams participated (results were handwritten without team places), the girls did finish very well as a team, coming in third place! It was a great day for racing!

The long bus ride to Mount Washington immediately paid off as the weather was perfect and the views were beautiful. With a shortage of boys this season, every competing member of the team was eligible to run in the varsity race against some very strong competition. Unfortunately, Coach Walker’s poor navigational skills did not hold up well on the labyrinth of trails, so the middle of the boy’s race will remain a mystery. However, what I did witness was very exciting to watch. Oliver got out to another fast start, courageously positioning himself in a pack towards the front of the race. Ryan, Marshall and Mychal chose a more tactical approach and conserved their energy for the first mile. Trevor stayed right on Mychal’s heels, patiently waiting for his moment to make a move. Behind him was Silas running the most aggressively he has so far this season, and freshman Elijah running his first high school cross country race ever. 

At Coach Walker’s next checkpoint (the last half mile of the race), Ryan had the top spot secured. He would go on to run a 20:30, which is about a 5 minute (!!!) improvement on his time at this meet from two years ago. This was a great example of what happens when you commit to something and run over the summer! Only about 20 seconds behind Ryan was the dynamic duo of Marshall and Oliver, running side-by-side all the way to the finish where Marshall would inch ahead, creating a 3-second gap over Oliver. Closing out the top 5 were Trevor and Mychal, both running in the low 22’s. Surprisingly Trevor still had enough energy to secure the 4th spot over Mychal even though he was spewing Trevorisms to me everytime he ran by. Mychal ran another solid time on what was arguably the most difficult course so far this season, maintaining his position in the top 5. Finishing it off for the pride was Elijah in a great first race, and Silas who improved by 11 seconds from last meet. Before we headed home, the boys got to witness Coach Walker relive his glory days in the coaches race.