On Wednesday, Oct. 18, the Green Hope cross country team competed in the SWAC conference meet, being the first meet of the season that everyone competed in and many of those athletes running personal best times.
Starting the meet was the boys championship, the varsity boys having a strong showing. Many runners ran career bests, with athletes Seamus O’Driscoll (‘25), Gabriel Cardenas (‘26), Sebastian Percival-Shim (‘24), Ian House (‘26), and Matt Dubrule (‘24) all setting personal records and scoring for the team, leading to a close second place finish in the SWAC with 70 points, only eight points away from first place.
The girls championship ran next, with many of the varsity girls running personal records. Runners Kaitlin Elliot (‘24), Amruta Mayadeo (‘27), Lily Slaughter (‘24), Charis Choy (‘26), and Sarah Smith (‘25) led the team in scoring.
Finishing the meet were the boys and girls junior varsity races. The boys dominated, placing first overall while acheiving a perfect score of 15 points and having the first six finishers be from Green Hope. The girls also had a fast finish, ending third overall and the majority of runners earning a season best or an all-time best.
For some athletes, this marked an end to their cross country season, while for others this was a trial run for the upcoming regional and state championships.
Theo Zalc (‘24) was one of the seniors who competed in the boys championship. While competing during the meet, he says, “I felt like all the hard work had finally paid off. After seeing the team win conference the past three years it felt great to finally get a chance to run it myself.” Zalc is one of the alternates for the upcoming regionals meet. He plans to continue his running career in the indoor and outdoor track & field teams to further drop his times in the next few months.
Kaitlin Elliott (‘24) led the team in the girls championship race and when asked how it felt to run in the championship, Elliott states, “During the race it was exciting to see all my teammates and coaches spread around the course encouraging me and my teammates.” She is also competing in regionals along with Zalc and plans to continue running on Green Hope’s track team, eventually wanting to compete in half-marathons.
Many runners will continue running in indoor track & field, with some preparing to race at the Nike Southeast Regional for one last chance at breaking their 5k personal records and others preparing for their first 3200 meter of the season at the New Balance Dash for Doobie.
