August 31, 2006 Issue                                       

©2006 The Chestnut Hill Local

Mount cross country squad returns intact
by TOM UTESCHER

2006 Mount St. Joseph cross country captains (left to right) Tara McElroy, Genevieve O’Mara, Chelsea Clark, and Erica Braun (Photo by Tom Utescher)

Mount St. Joseph Academy has finished fourth at the Bicentennial League cross country championships in each of the last two seasons, but this fall the Magic seemed poised to step up into one of the top positions in the league. The Mounties were a young bunch in 2005, and every runner who scored in last year’s championship meet is back in action this year.

At the ’05 championships, the first three teams were St. Basil’s (32 points), Gwynedd Mercy (44) and Christopher Dock (75), while the Mount (99) rounded out the top half of the eight-team field.

This season, the Magic will have to use their team depth effectively to move up in the final rankings. Individual league champ Beth Lambright is back as a junior for Dock, and St. Basil’s still has the two Morelli sisters, Christina (’07) and Rachel (’08), both top-eight finishers last fall. However, Gwynedd Mercy lost a major player in Liz Kearins, who placed second at the 2005 Bicentennials as a junior, but then transferred to Central Bucks West later in the school year.

The Mount’s best individual outcome last year was an 11th-place finish by Chelsea Clark, who’s now entering her senior year. Current juniors Sarah Collier and Becky Tate came in 19th and 22nd, respectively. Right behind Tate came two other MSJ harriers, sophomore Emma Pacheco (23rd) and senior Genevieve O’Mara (24th). Also scoring for the Magic were junior Liz Welsh (39th) and Erica Braun (40th).

Braun, Clark, and O’Mara are the captains for the MSJ varsity this fall. The JV will have an experienced leader in senior captain Tara McElroy, and another upperclassman, Heather Draganescu, is the team manager. The other seniors who are returning for the Mount are Gigi Ferrier, Steph Grimes, Jen Havard, Kristin McFadden, Ava Selya, and Meri Taylor. Two new seniors on the roster are Casey Lumpkin, who runs track in the spring and has now switched to cross country from field hockey, and Brianna Luskin, who plays softball for the Magic in the spring season.

In addition to the underclassmen who were scorers last year, there are a number of other juniors and sophomores who could be a factor in the Mount’s meets this season. Until team competition actually begins, Mount coach Karen Orr is keeping her freshman talent under wraps, but the indication is that the Magic has a very promising group of newcomers.