November 2, 2006 Issue                                       

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©2006 The Chestnut Hill Local

GFS dominates independent schools in state cross-county championships

On Saturday at Mercersburg Academy, the conditions were perfect for Germantown Friends School to come up with huge performances in the Pennsylvania Independent Schools cross-country championships.

The boys’ race featured two of Pennsylvania’s top-10 ranked teams: LaSalle College High School and Germantown Friends. Three GFS Tigers recorded historic performances: Max Kaulbach (1st, 16:16),

Jake McKenzie (2nd, 16:27) and Isaac Ortiz (3rd, 16:30) posted three of the top 10 all-time performances ever run at the PA Independent Championships while earning 1st team All-State honors.

Jasper Sneff-Nanni (15th, 17:01) and Brad Thompson (16th, 17:04) closed out the scoring for GFS bringing the total to 37 points. Gus McKenzie (17th, 17:04) and Eddie Einbender-Luks (41st, 18:01) added much-needed depth to outpace the boys from LaSalle College High School, who finished with 54 points.

The GFS girls team featured freshman Jasia Kaulbach as the overall race winner in the varsity competition. Jasia, sister of boys individual winner Max, notched a time of 20:32 on her way to beating last year’s champ Devon Kane of Notre Dame Academy. GFS sophomore Madeline Hawes, in her first year of cross-country running, relentlessly worked her way through the pack that included all five of rival Notre Dame’s top runners, and powered home to a 9th place finish, good for All-State honors. The Tigers took home second place overall, with 66 points to Notre Dame’s 55. GFS easily out-distanced 3rd place Mercersburg Academy and 4th place Agnes Irwin.

In the girls’ JV competition, GFS won the overall title, with sophomore Cheyenne Morgan coming in first with a time of 23:26.