From the moment the gun was fired, to the second the finish line was crossed, the Westfield girls ran with energy and excitement, and showed Union County that they are not a team that will go down without a fight. With hard fought efforts from all runners, Westfield was able to capture second place in the Union County Championship meet at Warinanco Park on Oct. 24.
Going into the race, the girls knew that capturing first place would be near impossible with the top seven team in the nation, Union Catholic, posing as their rivals. However, that did not stop the girls from running to the best of their abilities and leaving it all out on the course.
The Blue Devils were led by seniors Anna Kylish and Emma Pranke, who were able to run times of 19:41 and 20:12 on a 5150 meter course. Not only were their times exceptional, but they were able to score just 9 and 13 points, which would allow Westfield to have a low enough point total to podium. After the race, Kylish said, “We were really excited coming into this race. We really wanted to work together and I am happy with the outcome we got in the end.”
Both Kylish and Pranke were closely followed by sophomore Anna Yossef, who although was just coming off an injury, ran a time of 20:33. To wrap up the scoring, junior Vanessa Larkin and sophomore Jessica Zhou were both able to place in the top 25, with times of 20:45 and 20:54 respectively. Altogether, the girls put up a point total of 80, placing them 11 points ahead of Oak Knoll’s 91 points.
Not only did the varsity squad perform well, but the freshmen and JV girls who ran earlier in the day were able to set the tone for what was to come. In the freshmen’s 3540 meter race, Evangeline Van Brunt captured gold in a time of 15:23, an astonishing 39 seconds ahead of the second place finisher. With Audrey Sewald and Laetitia Horn placing second and third amongst Westfield, the girls were able to place second in a tiebreaker with Summit High School.
The JV squad would additionally not only put up some blistering times, but also showed great consistency within their racing, as their top five scorers finished within 42 seconds of each other. After Union Catholic captured the first five spots, freshmen Abigail Drennan and Oriana Soloway ran times of 22:16 and 22:21, which was enough to grant them sixth and seventh place in a competitive field. Sophomores Kayla Yip, Eevie Charles and freshmen Natalie Salzano were the last three on Westfield to score, and helped contribute to Westfield’s second place finish.
Although the times and performances of the day made the meet a success, the senior day celebrations gave the girls extra motivation and made the meet extra special. “Track has never really had an official senior day before,” said senior Anna Jemison. “So I think it was nice that we finally got a senior day and we felt really appreciated.”
Not only were the girls proud of their own personal efforts and the team scores, but head coach Joseph Berardi also applauded the girls’ efforts, as he added, “It was a good meet for a tough course, because we don’t really race this course much.”
However, the team is still looking ahead to one of their biggest meets of the year, the North 2 Group 4 Sectional meet on Saturday, Nov. 2. According to Berardi, this race was a step in the right direction towards capturing gold, and although, “I thought [the girls] went out aggressively, I think it will serve them really well next week for Sectionals”
Even though the girls got second place in Counties, they hope that that will not be the case next Saturday, as they look to capture gold for the third year in a row.
