Challenged at McQuaid

A change of plans for Centerville Girls Cross Country this past weekend as flooding rains wreaked havoc on the Carolinas, canceling the 2015 Great American Cross Country Festival in Raleigh, North Carolina.  Still itching to compete on the national stage, the girls turned their sights to Rochester, New York and confidently took the field to wreak their own havoc at the 51^st Annual McQuaid Invitational.  The meet is one of the icon meets of high school cross country and on a beautiful, hilly course with chilly temperatures clearly letting everyone know that fall has arrived, the Centerville Girls showed this McQuaid field that they came to compete.  The top seven Centerville Girls came blazing across the finish line, with each runner finishing below the magic 19 minutes (converted 3 Mile times to 5K), securing a 2nd place finish for Centerville!  Lainey Studebaker continued her valiant lead of this team with an outstanding 8^th place finish.  The finishing time for these top seven runners were as follows:

Lainey Studebaker – 8^th place – 17:29
Savannah Lowe – 17^th place – 17:58
Allison Fick – 18^th place – 17:58
Taylor Malchow – 19^th place – 18:01
Grace Kilroy – 24^thplace – 18:14
Rachel Whitehead – 25^th place – 18:17
Kelli Walsh – 28^thplace -18:20

The Varsity B runners also had something to prove at McQuaid, as these talented group of runners grabbed an exciting 2nd place finish as well for Centerville in the unseeded girls II race.  Laura Drew sailed across the finish line in 5^th place overall, with a season best finishing time of 18:32.  She was followed by Sophie Hippenmeyer (19:23), Madi Kondritz (19:45), Megan Knauer (19:53), Drea Scofield (20:00), Emily Fortman (20:18), and Caitlyn Cunningham (21:20).  Six of these seven runners ran either a season best or personal record time for this race, so an outstanding performance for the ladies!

Back in Ohio, the JV Centerville Girls dominated in the Neal Charske Firebird Invitational in Kettering, OH.  The girls commanded 6 of the top 10 finishing spots, sweeping a 1st place overall finish for Centerville.  In fact, Centerville girls finished one, two and three, led by Victoria Angelopoulos (20:57), Maddie Fowler (21:30), and Katie Lynch (21:43)!  Rounding out the top ten were Abby Hoying in 6^th place (21:59), Jessica Kimbrell in 8^th (22:09), and Molly Hoying in 10^th (22:12).

So an incredible Saturday in Rochester and Kettering for Centerville Girls Cross Country!  Up this weekend, a trip to Columbus for the Les Eisenhart Invitational.  Roll On, Centerville Girls Cross Country!