Do you want to know the recipe for success at a cross country meet? Well, we learned on Saturday that the key ingredients are:
*A cool cloudy day
*A flat 3 mile course
*A bunch of highly energized ACA runners
*Great coaches
Mix that together in Petaluma on a foggy September morning and you get the wafting scent of victory as our runners crossed the finish line!
Harry Zimmerman, Acalanes senior, brought in a spectacular performance with an incredible 15:28 time earning him the tittle of Eyer Opener Overall Winner. For those of you not keen to do the math, that is a staggeringly fast 5.09 mile! Acalanes also grabbed a brilliant overall second place when Nevis Murphy who was the first to cross the finish line in the Senior Girls race clocking in at 18:40. In total, Acalanes lit up the meet scoreboard with three ACA girls and four ACA boys finishing in the top ten!
But that isn’t the whole story. As spectators watched and cheered, the Acalanes team delivered top performance across each individual race. The Frosh Boys took second place, led by the dynamic duo, Dane Darby and Jason Rosssetter who sped past competitors. Dane crossed the line with a 16:38 (a 5.32 mile), and Jason was just 5 seconds behind him. That left a gap of about 45 seconds before the next competitor came in. Dylan Kubiatowicz and Greyson Blair demonstrated strong teamwork as they worked together to finish back to back. The impressive results continued throughout the race with many accelerating over the finish line, such as Logan Lewis, Francis Koskinen, Liam Huselid, and Dominic He. Shortly after, Charlotte Keyser and Alexandra Hall fired up the trail with strength, endurance, and speed as they flew past competitors to earn top 10 spots in the Frosh Girls race.
You couldn’t go wrong cheering for Olivia in the Sophomore Girls race. Olivia Kemp pounded out those 3 miles in what felt like a blink. She took second place in the Sophomore Girls race, with a 20:41 finish. Olivia Jensen was the second Acalanes runner followed by Faye Pang and Ruby Peters. Soph girls made us proud as they pushed to deliver a shining performance. Right after the girls race, the sophomore boys did not disappoint, we saw the white and blue track top of David Ellerbrock break through the fog. With a 5:39 pace, he brought in the heat as the sun broke through the cloudy skies. Not far behind a breeze of blue and white sophomores littered that path with strong finishes by Sebastian Springfield, Jasper Hoffman, Emmett Fretwell, Milo Anderson, Elliot Brush, Shayne Abolins, Oscar You and more!
Representing the Blue and White, Junior Anja Sekhon blew by onlookers to take third place in the Junior Girls race with a 20:22 finish, and Natalie Pecci impressed us with her final push over the finish line.
Alexander Hagen dusted the field as he sprinted to a 5th place finish with yet another sub 6 minute mile time, followed not far behind by Ollie Penn, Dylan Adams, Graham Maroney, Nael Benmeziane, Cal Kragezillas and Marshall Stirling.
Senior Boys showed stunning performances by finishers Dashiell Tinianow who held a strong 5:38 pace, taking 6th (just 5 places behind Harry ,the overall winner), Casey Metzger and Makoto Kuniyoshi picked up the pace and picked off opponents one at a time to deliver a first place finish for the Acalanes senior boys.