Westfield, Massachusetts- The Ephs earned first place at the James Earley Invite, coming in with a team score of just 44 points, over 50 points ahead of rival Wesleyan. The team average time for the 5k race was just under 19 minutes, a result made all the more impressive given that only half of the team raced today.
Senior and team captain Grace Kaercher led the team posting a time of 18:19 and becoming the meet's individual champion. She was followed by sophomore Julia Brennan in 5th place (18:53) and first year Hannah Prokup in 8th place (18:59). First years Clara Gahm (19:04) and Mirembe Mubanda (19:33) rounded out William's top five for the meet.Â
"Personally, I've been sick for the past month and was looking for a 'redemption' race to show off my fitness," Kaercher said when asked about her win today. "I had a lot of fun with the fast start and really enjoyed having the chance to push myself through the trails in the back half of the course. It's rare to have a chance to be competitive at the front of the pack, so I was really grateful and excited to have the chance to compete for the win and was really glad to have executed the race in the way I did."
Maybe it was the lingering spirit of Mountain Day or simply the culmination of a lot of hard work, but either way this race marked a high point in the season. The invite was the last race before going into the more intensive regional races.Â
"As a team, we were excited to have another chance to show off all the hard work we had put in over the course of the season," Kaercher reflected. With true team captain wisdom, she added - "For many people, it was their last race of cross country, and they wanted to make it something they were proud of. It was awesome to see how many people walked away from today happy with the effort they put in, and I'm really proud of the positive attitude and tenacious racing energy everyone brought to the meet today."
The Ephs will race next on October 19th at the Connecticut College Invite.Â
