Cross country beats Blake and Paint Branch

Both the boys and girls cross country teams defeated Blake and Paint Branch at today's meet at Blake. The girls' team also beat Sherwood, but the boys lost by ten points.

The girls swept Paint Branch with a score of 16-43 (low score wins in cross country), taking the top five finishes against them. The boys also won with a wide margin of 17-46, in both teams' third victory over Paint Branch this season. The girls and boys beat Blake with scores 15-48 and 22-37 respectively. The girls won over Sherwood 23-33, but the boys lost 47-17.

These victories mark an improvement for both teams over last week's meet at Lake Needwood, when much of the team was worn out from an invitational meet the weekend before. "They've recovered well from the long two weeks of meets and invitationals," Coach Carl Lewin said, noting the wins of both the girls and boys teams in today's meet.

According to assistant coach Angelique Bosse, the weather and the good condition of the course were also contributing factors to their wins. The competition from having three other schools at the meet also spurred Blair runners on. More people running together, she said, encourages each to go faster than they would on their own. "It seemed like many got their best time, so it was a good day," Bosse noted.

This was the last regular season meet for the cross country team, but the season is not over yet; the county championships take place on October 22. According to Lewin, the team will be training hard over the next two weeks to defeat their division rivals, Magruder, the only team the girls lost to this season.