Girls start season out strong, boys succeed individually

SEPT. 13, LAKE NEEDWOOD-

The girls' cross-country team outran both Magruder and Wootton at Lake Needwood this afternoon to start the season off with a record of 2-0. The boys did not fare as well and lost to both teams.

The double dual meet scored the Blazers separately against Magruder and Wootton, different from a tri-meet in which all three teams are scored together. The team with the lowest overall score wins.

In an ironic turn of events, the girls narrowly beat out Magruder, 28-29. Last season, 28-29 was the score Magruder beat the lady Blazers by in their only loss. The girls beat Wootton with a wider margin of 25-30, while the boys lost 25-31. The boys lost 16-47 to Magruder.

The fifth fastest girl runner, junior Christina Mullen, struggled midway through the race after experiencing extreme back pain. The Blazers' sixth fastest runner, senior Lois Bangiolo, stepped up to bring the Blazers to victory, along with superlative performances from senior twins Halsey and Ashlyn Sinclair, who finished first and second overall, in times of 20:00 and 20:12.

Senior captain Anna Coughlan was at first dismayed with Mullen's condition, but was soon satisfied with the race results. "I was a little concerned because Christina wasn't feeling well, but Lois was able to pull it off and do really well," Anna said.

Coaches Carl Lewin and Angelique Bosse agreed that Lake Needwood was a positive experience for the Blazers because most of the runners dropped time from last year. "There were a lot of individual records broken for this course," Lewin said. "People dropped everywhere from a few seconds to a few minutes."

Senior captain Emanuel Waktola agreed that the race was successful because many runners improved, even though the boys' team lost to both Magruder and Wootton. "The guys had a close race with Wooton. While a couple of runners faltered on the tough course, everyone broke last year's personal records," Waktola said.