(Graphic by Jackson Crawford)
On Oct. 21, all five Country Day cross-country athletes ran the 5,000 meters in the Sacramento Metropolitan Athletic League Championships at Sacramento Adventist Academy. Junior team captain Olivia Chilelli finished sixth among 21 girls with a time of 25 minutes, 8.8 seconds.
Country Day did not place among the four girls and four boys teams.
Chilelli said she was disappointed with her finish.
“The meet didn’t go as well as planned,” she said. “I was in second place for the first mile, but the heat got to me, and I let myself walk.”
All of the other Country Day runners raced in their first 5K.
Coach Joe Hartman praised his runners for “managing the extra mile well.” He specifically mentioned sophomore Tina Huang, who placed ninth with a time of 25:38.1.
“My expectations weren’t that high,” Huang said. “But I think it went pretty well.”
Huang adjusted her pace to the longer course.
“I knew that some of the girls were going to go really fast at the beginning and not have as much energy on the last lap,” she said. “I started the race at a decent pace, and as the race went on, I started passing them easily.”
The Cavaliers’ next competition is the Sac-Joaquin Subsection Meet on Nov. 9 at the Calaveras County Fairgrounds in Angels Camp.
—By Miles Morrow
