Girls' Cross Country Impresses in Choate Invitational

WALLINGFORD, CT - Exeter girls’ cross country traveled to Choate Rosemary Hall to participate in their first invitational of the season last Saturday.Even though the invitational was scored on an individual basis rather than as a team performance, the girls pushed hard to maintain their high standards. Of the seven participating schools, Big Red was the only team to have five runners place in the top fifteen, both in the novice and veteran races.Many on the team saw the invitational as an opportunity for runners to acclimate to racing conditions without the pressure of succeeding for the team. “We considered this as a scrimmage to get the team ready to participate in races later in the season,” assistant coach Dale Braile said.“The girls participated in two different races – the novice’s race, which was for girls who hadn’t competed in a race before, and the veterans’ race, for our more experienced runners,” she continued. “It’s especially nice because early in the season it doesn’t put pressure on novices to win for the team.”Nonetheless, the girls still impressed across the board with improved times and endurance since last season.Senior co-captain Anika Ayyar praised the team for their hard work both during the race and over the summer break. “I think the girls did amazingly well. The results really were so much better than we had expected, and compared to last season the team is looking incredibly strong,” she said.“We have returners who trained a lot over the summer and are running almost a minute faster than last year," she continued, "and the new girls are very strong runners.”Among many that posted admirable times, prep Christine Hu took the race by storm, placing second overall in the veterans’ race despite being new to the team this year. Hu was only seven seconds behind the runner from MPS that took first place, with a time of 20:32.0.“She did extremely well in the race and placed first out of all the PEA runners. She ran an amazing first race,” Ayyar said.Senior co-captain Valerie Bright agreed. “Christine really stood out during the race. She competed in the veterans’ race even though this technically was her first one at Exeter, because she had a lot of running experience before this. The time she posted was really impressive.”Upper Elsa Chinburg and lower Anna Barnes also came out on top, placing sixth and seventh, respectively, in the veterans’ race. Lower Audra Smires, one of Big Red’s top runners, was unable to compete due to an ankle injury.Many accredit an encouraging team dynamic for one of the factors in Exeter’s early success this season.“I think the team spirit is really good this year, and we have definitely done really well in practices,” Bright said. “It is a very motivating community of girls, which always helps push people to do their best.”Upper Victoria Dissmore shared similar sentiments. “Everyone is encouraging and the captains are great with promoting team spirit with things like theme days and team dinners,” she said. “The little things definitely add up.”Despite the good times posted during the first invitational, the team is still intent on continuous improvement throughout the season. “We are hoping to see individual improvements across the board and to place better in Interschols than we did last year,” Braile said.