The Palo Alto High School girls’ cross-country team battled through the high temperatures and blazing sunlight on the Stanford golf course to finish 13th at the Stanford Invitational this weekend.
Susan Heinselman (’11) captured the lead spot for the Lady Vikes at 38th overall, completing the five kilometer course in 20:23, running the race for the first time since her sophomore year.
“I definitely felt the heat,” Heinselman said, commenting on the typically hot weather at the Stanford Invitational. “It was burning out there.”
Despite the harsh conditions, Heinselman was not particularly disappointed with her race.
“I felt like I would have gone faster,” Heinselman said. “I remember sophomore year I ran JV [junior varsity] and really enjoyed this race, but it’s hard to see why after this year. Overall though, I think it went alright.”
Gracie Cain (’11), who placed second for the Vikings at 69th overall with a time of 21:05, also remarked upon the extreme conditions, and commended her team’s effort.
“As a team we did really well,” Cain said. “It’s a really long course, it’s really hot out, and last year we had two girls [who did not] finish. Just the fact that we all made it across the finish line is huge.”
The next three Paly runners, Chika Kasahara (’13), Leigh Dairaghi (’11) and Lydia Guo (’12) all finished in close succession, with times of 21:27, 21:33 and 21:38 respectively, placing 86th, 89th and 93rd.
For Kasahara, it was her first varsity race for Paly and her first five kilometer race ever, after moving from Texas this past summer.
As the girls’ first Division I race at the Stanford Invitational, and only their second D1 race since moving up this season, they were racing against some of the best schools and athletes in the state, on a course that only hours before hosted some of the best runners in the nation for a collegiate race.
“It really makes the race a lot more trying when you have such a high level of athletes out here,” Heinselman said. “All the teams that come out here to race are top quality. I know the whole team was really nervous on Friday, worrying about its intensity.”
The girls’ next race is the Central Park Invitational in Santa Clara on Tuesday.