Varsity Cross Country

St. David’s Cross Country team took part in their final race before states. The event took part at Fred G. Bond park and was against Heritage Academy and Fletcher Academy. The run consisted of a shorter, 2.9 Mile loop, with lots of shade and small hills. The sudden chillier fall weather made the run easier and helped the runners stay cool. 

The boys and girls all ran at the same time and junior Laura Martin Placed first among the girls. For the boys team, Senior Luke Fuller took the lead for St. David’s, followed by Senior Will Patrick, Junior Jack Wells, Junior Jackson Rouser, and Junior Navin Deol. 

The runners that participated in the race for St. David’s are all qualified for states, and they await to see their final roster for the meet in Wilmington on October 29^th. The warriors will push hard with the week and a half until then, and are excited to be able to take part in it.

St. David’s had a rematch against Ravenscroft at their home course for their final meet of the season with St. Mary’s also competing in the girls race. The weather was a refreshing and cool 73 degrees, perfect for running.  The course was 3 miles long, consisting of 2, 1.5 mile loops. It was in the woods, covered in shade through the whole course with a flat and down hill path leading the way. The team overall was able to produce the best times yet, with many of the runners getting season and personal best times. Coach Grosh said she "challenged everyone to improve upon their time by 30 seconds, which breaks down to less than 10 seconds per mile". "Most did exactly that and some by 2 minutes or more!" she added. 

The girls ran before the guys and junior Laura Martin finished first for the girls race! She was followed by junior Kailyn Woodall who was close behind to give St. David’s a strong end. 

The boys ran next, and senior Will Patrick placed first for St. David’s again, followed by senior Luke Fuller, sophomore Dhru Govindji, junior Jack Wells, and junior Burn Smith for the top 5 to score for St. David’s.

The runners look to stay in condition through fall break, and are looking forward to participate on October 14^th at Wake Med for the conference meet.

St. David’s Varsity Cross Country had their first home meet at Wendell Park with Grace Christian and Arendell-Parrot Academy. The course was a hilly, two lap, one-and-a-half-mile long run. The weather outside was at a scorching 90 degrees but most of the course was in shade throughout the woods. The Warriors pushed on through the heat and were able to produce solid results, only a little slower than their last meet, doing their best to work in the rough environment. 

The guys race was first and the top 5 placing for St. David’s were Senior Will Patrick, then Senior Luke Fuller, Junior Jackson Rouser, Sophomore Dhru Govindji, and Sophomore Akash Govindji.

The girls running second continued the improvement with solid finishes from a few. Junior Laura Martin lead St. David’s girls, followed by Junior Kailyn Woodall, and Sophomore Ainsley McCoy. St. David’s is still looking to improve their overall scores, but they are continuing to make progress as they run each meet. The varsity team runs again on September 23^rd against Ravenscroft. 

St. David’s Varsity Cross Country traveled to Kinston for our second full 5K race of the season, this time an EPIC Conference meet including Arendell-Parrott, Cary Christian, Grace, and ourselves. APA’s home course is a flat, one-mile loop run three times with start and finish yardage added on. Last year at just about the same time, a number of our athletes posted their best times of the season on this course. With the slower start to the season this year, the team’s times are still sluggish, but every one who competed on Tuesday improved significantly from the previous week’s race at Trinity.

The boys raced first. St. David’s harriers continue to be led on and off the course by senior captain, Will Patrick, who ran a courageous 22:01, a full three minutes off his time of the previous week. This week there were some new names scoring for the Warriors in the top five places behind Will’s overall 13^th place, including Jack Wells in 20^th (24:24), newcomer Dhru Govindji in 22^nd (26:06), George Barutis in 23^rd (26:29) and Jackson Rouser in 24^th (27:30). Burn Smith and Akash Govindji finished in the 6^th and 7^th spots for the team, two non-scoring places but with the potential to displace another team’s top five.

For the girls team, like for the boys, each athlete improved her time over the previous week’s race by as much time as 2:30 – 4:30! Led by Laura Martin, followed by Kailyn Woodall, and Ainsley McCoy. A special shout-out to Ainsley, another newcomer to the sport, who ran her best race so far, running step and step with an opponent all the way and showing a competitive edge by outrunning her to the finish.

Varsity Cross Country may be off to a slower start than in previous seasons with the boys team score still trailing the opponents’ scores. Anybody know the fable of the tortoise and the hare? Warriors run again on September 14th at "home" at Wendell Parks and Rec - come support out athletes!  

Like all outdoor fall sports in recent days, the extreme heat and humidity has taken its toll on cross country athletes and their efforts to train well in the early days of the season. Trinity Academy of Raleigh wisely moved Tuesday’s meet to 6:00 PM by which time the temps had dropped from a high of 94 degrees. Under some cloud cover and a slight breeze, the boys race took off at 6:00 PM, followed five minutes later by the girls.

Trinity’s course is a challenging route around their athletic fields, track, and through the adjacent woods, including hills. It is not a typical PR (personal record)-setting course and Tuesday’s race proved to be no different for any of the athletes from the three competing teams. In fact, in the end while announcing the results, Trinity’s coach, Denise Myers, referred to the race as a “tempo run,” that is, a workout where the athletes run at just a bit slower than race pace. 

St. David’s athletes were satisfied to complete the course, if not in record time, in record heat!

This week’s results included some shifting in the boy’s top five scorers, including Will Patrick (Senior team captain) finishing in 9^th overall and 1st for the Warriors, followed by Judson Thompson, Jack Wells, Jackson Rouser, and Akash Govindji. The girls’ team, although not able to score, were led by team leaders Laura Martin, finishing 3^rd overall, followed by Kailyn Woodall and a courageous run by newcomer Ainsley McCoy.

Student writer Kaishun Sato-Choi adds, “we ran strong at the meet and, even with the sweltering temperatures lately, we did not give up. All of us runners were able to finish the race, even with the rough practice conditions we had in the previous week. Our runners placed third and improved their score by double since our last meet. We are looking to improve our progress even more on September 7^th.” 

The team anticipates the much-needed break in the weather and a chance to build quickly on its tough start to the season at their next meet - a trip to Kinston to take on Parrott Academy!