Paly boys’ cross-country lost 35-18 to Gunn High School at the Palo Alto City Championship Meet on Oct. 25.
Nikolai Solgaard (’12) led the team, placing first for Paly and third overall with a time of 11:11 for the 2.18 mile long course. Rounding out the Paly team were Sam Carilli (’12) with a time of 11:26, Ben Hawthorne (’13) with 11:37, Ben May (’13) with 11:40, Justin Zhang (’13) with 11:54, Matan Geller (’13) with 12:00 and William Hall (’12) with 12:01.
“There were a hand full of PR’s (personal records) if not a majority of PR’s, so that’s a good sign,” coach Joe Ginnani said. “As usual, the guys were competing hard and that’s what I want to see, especially at the end of the season with our biggest race coming up next week.”
Although many runners beat their previous times, the team thinks that they could have done better. For all of the seniors on the team, this could be one of their last races.
“I do not like this race … never been good with it,” Hall said. “But it’s my last race here, … I’m very happy because I’ve come from, I think my first time here was 15:30 as a sophomore and to get down to (12:01) as a senior. I’m really happy about that.”
“I could have PR’d by more,” Hawthorne said. “I think that many of our team could have. Leagues is going to go well, I have a feeling that we are going to get into CCS (Central Coast Sectionals) no matter what because of team times. … The average pace is much lower than it needs to be. We’re going to do well.”
The team has high hopes for their next meet on Tuesday, Nov 1 at 3 p.m. at Crystal Springs.
“I’m really looking forward to leagues,” Hall said. “I love racing at Crystal. … The fact that its long and it’s hilly tends to even things out.”
“I feel good,” Carilli said. “I think as a team we will do well. I think we will definetly place for CCS.”