What a great day SCJN had at the Archdiocesan Cross Country Championships! Three of our runners earned Archdiocesan medals and two of our teams brought home team trophies! More importantly, 30 out of 31 runners ran their personal best times! This was incredible. Coach Rufo had everyone ready to run and it showed. The conditions were less than ideal with mud and puddles throughout the course but it didn't slow down our runners.
Vivi Tornatela capped off a stellar season by finishing in second place in the Novice Girls division with a spectacular time of 12:07!! To put her performance in perspective, her time would have finished in 8th place in the division above her against girls two years older than her.
Sean McCarthy finished in 4th place in the 2017 Subnovice Boys division! He broke the 10 minute barrier and shaved 35 seconds off his personal best to earn a medal. Sean proved that Gaelic football players are also distance runners.
Lindsay Lythgoe finished in 12th place in the Minor Girls division in a time of 12:18! Lindsay ran her personal best time by 46 seconds and ran a tough race against some girls that are two grades older than her.
We also had three runners just miss a medal finishing in 16th place! Only the top 15 receive medals and Ella Robertson (2016 Subnovice Girls), Jace Robertson (2017 Subnovice Boys), and Claire Sheaffer (Novice Girls) finished one spot from bringing home a medal. They all ran their personal best times and deserved a medal.
Not only did we bring home medals but we brought home two team trophies to decorate the halls of SCJN. Our Novice Girls finished in second place behind the powerhouse Our Lady of Mt. Carmel team. The Novice Girls team of Vivi Tornatela, Claire Sheaffer, Ella Turner, Margaret Gorman, and Ashley Lythgoe ran a great race. If the team scoring had been four runners instead of three, we would have won. We had four girls in the top 25! OLMC is a large parish that has dominated track and XC for years and we gave them a big scare.
Our Minor Girls finished in 3rd Place only thirteen points from 1st place. Lindsay Lythgoe, Josie Stauffer, Lexi Tornatela, Caroline Lythgoe, and Bonnie Kleiner gave it their best to bring home a 3rd Place team trophy. Third place in the entire Archdiocese is quite an accomplishment. The girls have a lot to be proud of. Congrats SCJN!