Photo by Dan Beck
Before leagues and states, before Foot Locker Northeast, and before (hopefully) Foot Locker Nationals, there are those necessary early season invites. They're a chance to prove to yourself that, yes, those summer miles paid off, and yes, those goals you set for XC after crossing the line of your last race in spring track race are still in sight.
For Abbe Goldstein and Nick Dahl that was Saturday's George School Invitational. Both runners passed that first test with flying colors.
Goldstein, who was the winner of a pair of dual meets already, used Saturday as her first chance to really let it rip. Goldstein went out hard and was a bit surprised to not see anyone with her. At this meet last year, Goldstein was third in a race that included her independent schools rival Jerrica Bauer of the host team and the legendary Pennsbury team.
The Germantown Academy senior was alone from about the quarter mile mark on. She powered on and took the win in 18:33, a bit slower than last year, but in a much different race environment.
"I felt really good. I thought I'd be more pushed throughout," she said. "I was nervous because it's been a while. My last race at nationals was kind of awful, so I was just coming out here to build up confidence and hopefully come out with a win."
Holy Cross's Lexi Walsh (PA#25) ran a strong race to take second in a nice finish. She ran 19:13, folloiwng up her opening win at Northampton well. Third was Jessie Brewer of the Lawrenceville School and fourth was Gabrielle Wilkinson in her XC season debut.
Dahl was pressed a little more than Goldstein early on in the boys' race. Germantown Academy's much-improved Owen Ritz hung on Dahl through about the mile, but Dahl made a conscious decision to get going and he was rolling from there.
"I just wanted to make sure to keep opening that gap, so they couldn't try stick it back on in the last mile," Dahl, who went through the mile in 4:45 and the two mile in 9:45, said.
He crossed in 15:23, a state-leading time and a tremendous start to his senior campaign. It was also a great deal faster than a year ago at this race. Part of that improvement was a different race plan, but Dahl say he's much fitter this year, too.
"Last year we came into this race with a little different strategy. We wanted to stick with the field and then push through," he said. "This year was a little more open-ended, so that accounts for a little of it. But I had a great summer of training and it's really great to see it all come to fruition here in the first race of the season."
Both Goldstein and Dahl's teams walked away with team titles as well. The Germantown Academy girls' scored 63 points to stave off challenges from Holy Cross (87 points) and Friends' Central (97 points). Gianna Murgia was 12th and Jackie DeRusso was 13th for GA.
It was a runaway for Germantown Friends, which looked very strong after Dahl. They won with 35 points, 71 points better than the next team. Colin Riley (sixth), Zach Goldberg (seventh) Daniel Stassen (ninth), and Jonnie Plass (12th) were all packed in tightly.
Next up for both winning teams will be Paul Short in a pair of weeks. Fast times and good compeititon await them on the fields of Lehigh University. Just another test to pass for some of Pennsylvania's best.
More coverage from the George School Invitational
- COMPELTE RESULTS
- Photo Album (349 in total)
- Race Videos
- Post-race Interviews