Girls' Independent Schools Preview
Last year, Abbe Goldstein settled for second to George School's Jerrica Bauer, so now Goldstein, a senior, will be looking to grab her first state title on Saturday. Goldstein won this year at George School, had a rough day at Paul Short, but looked to get back on track early last week, winning the Inter-Ac title.
She will look to keep it rolling into Saturday. Her low stick should go a long way in helping her team, the favorites for the state title. The freshman duo of Gianna Murgia and Isabelle Goldstein, along with junior Kelsey O'Hara, all took top ten spots last week when they won Inter-Acs.
But GA will get a great race from Friends' Central. Friends' Central was only 30 points off GA at Paul Short when the two squads clashed. FCS is coming off a romping win for the Friends Schools League title. Senior Emily Burd took the win and Gabrielle Wilkinson was third in that meet. Wilkinson has run the fastest 5K of anyone in the field, when she dropped an 18:24 to place 13th at Paul Short.
GA may have slightly better depth, but anything can happen on championship day.
Others to watch for are Agnes Irwin's Sanaiya Watts (second to A. Goldstein at Inter-Acs), Episcopal's Caitlin Jorgensen (third at Inter-Acs), and Germantown Friends' Griffin Kaulbach. All three could find themselves among the top five at the end of the day on Saturday.