Out of the 12 races that took place on Nov. 10 for the Group 4 championship, the girls race was one of the most highly anticipated. With an extremely competitive field of opponents, like Princeton and Ridgewood High School, the Westfield girls would need a near-perfect performance in order to qualify for the Meet of Champions next Saturday.
Although it would be a difficult battle, the girls were ready for the challenge. The plan was simple, put themselves in a good position early on and try to pass two or three girls every kilometer. Knowing this, seniors Anna Kylish and Emma Pranke, and sophomore Anna Youssef took off towards the front of the pack and battled for every spot. Going through “The Bowl,” a large hill about halfway through the course, and the backwoods, the girls continued to sit at the top of the pack.
Kylish ended up leading the way for Westfield, as she has for the past few races, in a time of 19:46, which was enough to get her 12th place in a highly competitive field. Youssef would come in just three places behind her in 15th, with a time of 19:54. Pranke would also closely follow them, running a blazing time of 20:37. In order to run her amazing race, Youssef said, “My strategy was to not go out too fast so I could conserve energy for the last mile.”
However, the girls would need more than just their top three runners to punch their ticket to MOC’s. Sophomore Jessica Zhou trailed just behind Westfield’s top three and ran a time of 21:19, despite battling a hamstring injury for the past few weeks. In order to round out the top five, junior Vanessa Larkin clocked a time of 22:35. Westfield’s top seven was rounded out by senior Emily Drennan in a time of 22:43, and sophomore Violet Hughes in a time of 24:08.
After the race, the girls waited anxiously for the results, but what they had feared became a reality. The Blue Devils placed seventh with a total of 189 points, an impressive result nonetheless, but would not be enough to secure them a wildcard spot in the MOC.
However, the day was not all a failure. As a result of their high placement, Kylish and Youssef qualified for MOC’s, securing 2 of 30 individual wildcard spots specifically granted to athletes who placed high in their races. “They get to be a little selfish on Saturday,” said head coach Joseph Berardi regarding MOC’s next Saturday. “They don’t have to worry about a team score, they’re just going out and running for time.”
Despite coming up short in the North 2, Group 4 Sectional finals and now groups, the girls still have an optimistic and positive outlook on how the season went. After the race, Hughes said, “I am proud of the season and I was happy to be here with my teammates.”
Next weekend, Kylish and Yossef will race at MOC’s on Nov. 16 at Holmdel Park.
