(Graphic by Jackson Crawford)
Junior Olivia Chilelli broke the Country Day cross-country record for the girls 5,000 meters with a time of 22 minutes, 13.97 seconds in the Capital Cross Challenger at the Arcade Creek XC Course on Sept. 28.
The old record was held by Sarah Mancina, ’11, with a time of 22:18.
“This was Olivia’s breakout race,” coach Joe Hartman said. “She greatly improved since her previous meet, and I think that she will only get better.”
Chilelli, who placed 136th of 298 runners, cut almost seven minutes off her time from the meet on Sept. 14 (29:03.87).
“I used my previous time as motivation to perform better during this meet,” she said.
Due to severe heat on Sept. 25, the meet was rescheduled to Sept. 28. Chilelli said the conditions for racing were ideal.
“The last course had lots of hills, and it was really hot,” Chilelli said. “But this time, the weather was great, and the course was simple.”
Chilelli said she prepared well, leading to a better performance.
“I was much more hydrated for this meet,” she said. “I’m also getting adjusted to running without a team. At my old school (Highlands High School), the varsity girls team was huge, and I had a bunch of teammates who I would do a warmup ritual with. But now that I’m the only person running varsity, I have started to learn to prepare by myself.”
This, however, wasn’t Chilelli’s personal record. At Highlands, Olivia ran the 5K in about 21 minutes.
“I plan to try and break my own record later this year,” she said.
The Cavs’ next meet is the Del Oro Invite on Saturday, Oct. 12, at 8 a.m. at Johnson-Springview Park, 5480 5th St., Rocklin.
—By Miles Morrow
