The Palo Alto High School boys’ cross country team placed ninth out of 14 teams at the Santa Clara Valley Athletic League (SCVAL) Baylands Meet yesterday.

Nate Cook (‘15) finished first for the Vikings (17.33.8), completing the 3.1 mile course with a mile pace of 5:39, placing 20th overall. Samuel Mignot (‘14) was the second-faster runner for Paly, making a time of 17.49.5. Ben May (‘13), Justin Zhang (‘13), and Sean Keegan (‘14) were the next Vikings to follow Cook and Mignot across the finish line. Zhang, one of the team’s captains,  expressed some disappointment with the outcome of the meet, as the Vikings were missing key runners.

“We didn’t do too well today, seeing as two of our top guys, Ben Hawthorne and Will Kershner, were not in attendance,” Zhang said.

However, Zhang feels the freshmen-sophomore team performed well and is looking to the next race at Toro park to improve the varsity team’s position.

“In majority, I’m pretty satisfied with how everyone did,” Zhang said. “I’m hoping for Toro we can [move our place up] up to fifth or sixth.”

The team will race again at the Monterey Invitational at Toro Park in Salinas this Friday.