GA sophomore Juli Gonzalez pulled ahead of Notre Dame's Michaela McCloskey near the end of Tuesday's race. (Photo by Tom Utescher)

by Tom Utescher

In last Tuesday's Inter-Ac League cross country tri-meet, senior Issy Goldstein of host Germantown Academy won easily in a time of 18 minutes and 43 seconds, and the Patriots wound up with all of their scorers in the top 11 for a team total of 28 points. While visiting Baldwin School was unable to challenge the other two teams, the Academy of Notre Dame boasted five scores in the top nine.

The Irish matched GA's total of 28 points, and they won the meet through a tiebreaker based on the performance of each team's sixth finisher; Notre Dame's placed 10th, and Germantown's was 12th. Still, it was a solid showing for the Patriots, who'd finished 28 points behind second-place Notre Dame at the 2018 Inter-Ac League championships.

Penn Charter dominated the Inter-Ac's last fall and also won the Pennsylvania Independent Schools meet, where GA placed fourth behind Notre Dame and Friends Central. The Quakers graduated two of their five scorers from 2018, but will likely still be a formidable franchise this fall.

Germantown has all five of its scorers back from the 2018 league meet, and the Pats started out the 2019 campaign with a 15-48 non-league victory at Plymouth Whitemarsh High School.

Last Tuesday, one of the Patriots' scorers from the 2018 season experienced some problems in the league tri-meet, and did not finish the race.

It was quite a warm afternoon for distance running, but Goldstein, the defending PAIS champion, won by one minute and 12 seconds over the second finisher, Notre Dame's Therese Trainer.

One of the Patriots' captains, senior Katie Sands, crosses the finish line. (Photo by Tom Utescher)

Goldstein is a team captain for GA this fall along with three senior classmates: Gabby Manosis, Gianna Murgia and Katie Sands.

Notre Dame took third place thanks to Lindsey Smith (20:05), then two young GA runners crossed the line in fourth and fifth: freshman Olivia Jappe (20:27) and sophomore Livi Merrill (21:08). When Cara Stevenson of the Irish claimed sixth place in 21:55, each of the top two teams had its first three runners across the line. Baldwin would not be a factor, as its first finisher came in 16th overall.

Farther ahead, there was a duel for seventh place. The GA finish line is on the track in Carey Stadium, and Germantown 10th grader Juli Gonzalez made a move on the final turn before the home straight. She passed AND's Michaela McCloskey and held her place to come in seventh in 22 minutes flat, while the visiting runner was eighth in 22:02.

Notre Dame, however, picked up the next two places as well, locking in its final score of 28. It also meant the that the sixth-place runner on the Notre Dame team had come in ahead of GA's number five, giving the Irish the tiebreaker in the team result.

After the visitors claimed ninth and 10th thanks to Kyleigh Calvert (22:10) and Paige Riley (22:15), GA's Murgia completed the scoring for the home team, arriving 11th in 22:39. Sands was one place behind, in 23:02.

The Patriots later secured 14th and 15th place thanks to freshman Carolyn Connolly (24:47) and junior Jade Dohner (25:09). Runners from Baldwin and Notre Dame rounded out the top 20.