The Palo Alto High School boys’ cross-country team placed eleventh out of 14 teams at the North Salinas High School Monterey Bay Invitational this Friday.

Placing first for the Vikings was William Kershner (‘13), who completed the 3.0 mile course in a time of 17:44.00 minutes.  Captain Ben May (‘13) followed Kershner in 56th place in a time of 18:19.1 minutes.  Justin Zhang (‘13) trailed closely behind May, finishing the race in a time of 18:36.00 minutes.  Simon Fox (‘13), Kevin Lavelle (‘13), Oliver Tucher (‘15), and Matan Geller (‘13) rounded out the score for Paly.

The team was without top runners Nate Cook (‘15), Samuel Mignot (‘14) and Sean Keegan (‘14).  Captain Zhang notes the impact of this loss.

“Our top three runners were unable to attend, [which] definitely hurt our team performance,” Zhang said.  “We had some good individual performances, especially from [Kershner].”

With only two meets left of the season, the boys’ will continue training in hopes to qualify for the Central Coast Sections (CCS) race on this same course, Toro Park, on Nov. 10.

“Hopefully all of our guys will be at their peak on Oct. 30 so that we can perform well in leagues,” Zhang said. “I’m pretty confident that we can run faster than [Wilcox] and make CCS.”

The Vikings will race next in the City Championships at Gunn High School this Tuesday, Oct. 23.