Germantown Academy head coach Judy Krouse (in sunglasses) celebrates with her tired but happy Patriots immediately after their PIAS cross country victory. (Photo by Tom Utescher)

by Tom Utescher

At the Pennsylvania Independent Schools Cross Country Championships last Saturday, Germantown Academy jammed all five of its official scorers into the top nine places, led by senior Abbe Goldstein in 19:18.10.

Goldstein had just captured her fourth Inter-Ac League title the previous week, but hadn't won the PAIS event before. The Patriots scored 31 points last weekend as it became apparent very quickly that they were going to knock off 2016 Friends League champion Friends Central, which took second with 79 points.

The Patriots' marquee performer, Goldstein, will be joining two other elite female runners from the Philadelphia area at Harvard University next fall.

In last Saturday's PAIS race at Belmont Plateau, three Main Line schools followed GA in the team standings. Friends Central, Academy of Notre Dame (90 points) and Episcopal Academy (106) secured spots two through four before Penn Charter claimed fifth place in the 12-team field with 133 points. Defending champ Germantown Friends was ninth this time around with 231 points, and Springside Chestnut Hill Academy was 11th with 284.

The race followed a pattern seen in some other large meets this fall that involved GA. After the first mile or so a group of top runners from other schools were trotting alongside Goldstein, but they had faded from view by the time the Patriots' standout was launching into the final mile of the course.

More than 40 seconds after GA's leader crossed the line, there was a fairly close duel for second place, with Episcopal Academy sophomore Caitlin Jorgenson (20:02.50) winning out over Friends Schools League champion Emily Burd (20:06.80), a senior.

Agnes Irwin 10th-grader Sanaiya Watts was fourth in 20:14.90, then Episcopal became the first team with two finishers as senior Ariana Feliziani came in fifth (20:19.30).

After that, though, hopes of a team title vanished for everyone except the Patriots as four red singlets crossed the line in places six through nine to complete GA's team total. Two freshmen, Gianna Murgia (20:21.90) and Goldstein's sister Isabelle (20:40.00) were followed by a pair of juniors, Jackie DeRusso (20:58.10) and Kelsey O'Hara (21:01.50).

Nadia Taranta, a Friends Central sophomore who is a Chestnut Hill resident, rounded out the top 10 in a time of 21:02.70.

Like GA, Penn Charter showed promise for the future, with four freshmen and sophomores helping fashion a fifth-place team finish. In the top 20 were freshman Sophia Solomon (14th; 21:46.80) and sophomore Mary McDavid (20th; 22:18.20). Third for the Quakers and 22nd overall was freshman Alicia Newman (22:23.30), then came senior Rosemary Kaufman in 39th place (23:45.60), and sophomore Hadley Ball in 40th (23:46.90).

Germantown Friends' first finisher, junior Helen Ruger, shared 30th place with Baldwin School freshman Acey Pratt as they crossed the line together in 22:54.10. Next to arrive for GFS were seniors Sophie Quaglia (36th; 23:23.30) and Sophie Smith (48th; 24:02.30). Filling out the Tigers' official team total were senior Ellie Zack (57th; 24:40.10) and junior Caroline MacRae (67th; 25:34.70).

For Springside Chestnut Hill, track sprinter Haley Unthank was able to crack the top 30 and lead her team, as the junior placed 28th with a time of 22:46.70. The next two Blue Devils were sophomore Lilly Forrest, 56th in 24:36.90, and senior Lisa Zhao, 61st in 25:15.90. The other scorers for SCH were seniors Vince Qian (74th; 26:37.90) and Paige Aloise (75th; 26:42.60).

Back in 2015, Germantown Academy finished second by one point at the Inter-Ac League championships, and was the third team in a close three-way battle for the laurels at the PAIS meet. One thing that helped put the Patriots over the top this season was the addition of a talented freshman class consisting of Murgia, Izzy Goldstein, Lauren Purcell, and Katie Sands.

"I don't think they knew we would do this well, but people knew we had some good runners in the freshman class," said Murgia. "I shocked myself, honestly; I didn't know I could get this far as a freshman. I started running sort of late as something to help me with soccer, then I found that I liked it and was pretty good at it."

"We all had pretty successful middle school careers," said Goldstein, who ran with Murgia for the Ambler Olympic Club.

Goldstein started running at age seven and always was inspired by her older sister, Abbe.

"She's a huge influence and a really big role model for me," the freshman said. "It's been an awesome experience running with my sister this year, especially on this incredible team. Everyone respects each other, and just wants everybody to do well."

Murgia noted, "The older girls didn't mind that we were good as freshmen. They all just said this is what the team needs, and encouraged us."

Goldstein revealed a little bit of pre-race prep that she performs along with her older sister.

"We do this eye contact thing before every meet," she said. "We just kind of look at each other and think 'Okay, focus!'"

Like the other Patriots last Friday, they concentrated on winning the previously elusive PAIS title, and this time brought it home.