Senior Day for the Mount St. Joseph Academy cross country team on Oct. 7 was a relatively relaxed event. The runners for the Magic weren’t operating at full throttle, as they sought to conserve energy for the big invitational meet three days later at William Tennent High School in Bucks County.

The Oct. 7 race was an Athletic Association of Catholic Academies (AACA) tri-meet involving Merion Mercy Academy and Villa Maria Academy. Head-to-Head, Merion edged out the Mount 29-30, while Villa only came with three runners, not enough to register a team score.

The Mount has a large roster of 59 athletes this fall, including an infusion of 20 freshmen. The team captains for 2026 are seniors Caroline Dougherty, Lila Gregorio, Charli Schoen and Annie Seminack.

Because the Magic were not encouraged to go all-out in the league meet, the finishing order was somewhat random. Longtime head coach Kitty McClernand noted that the regular varsity seven for the team are Seminack, Schoen, junior Emily Reichert, sophomore Maggie Toner, freshman Grace Sprandio, and seniors Maura Kirsch and Gianna Howe.

In other AACA meets back in September, Mount St. Joe had defeated Gwynedd Mercy Academy, Sacred Heart and Villa Joseph Marie. At the big Paul Short Invitational at Lehigh University on Oct. 1, the Magic placed third in the “Brown” race, despite the absence of an ailing Schoen.

In last week’s Senior Day meet at the Mount, the first three finishers came from Merion Mercy, with Payton Connelly winning in 22 minutes and 15 seconds.

McClernand pointed out that the course was a little longer than regulation, measuring 3.18 miles as opposed to the standard 3.1. The Mount is using a revised course this fall, due to construction on campus. There’s a bit of a traffic control problem, since end of the circuit crosses the Mount St. Joseph driveway just a few yards from Wissahickon Avenue. Coaches and officials were able to have everyone navigate the course safely.

Howe was the first Mount runner to finish and fourth overall, clocking in at 23:09. After her, a pack of six Magic runners crossed the line in a nine-second span. Heading them was Seminack, fifth overall in 23:17, and Sprandio, Kirsch and Reichert shared a time of 23:22. Toner was a step behind at 23:23, and another 12th grader, Kaitlyn Quinn, rounded out the top 10 as she arrived in 23:26.

The 11th spot was secured by the first finisher from Villa Maria (Rose Lynch) with a time of 23:35. Three seconds later came Charli Schoen’s 11th-grade sister, Lexi (both siblings are graduates of Norwood-Fontbonne Academy). The last finisher in the 23-minute bracket was another Mountie, sophomore Sophia Tunison (13th; 23:44). Freshmen Katie Sock (24:10) and Maggie Westmoreland (24:24) placed 14th and 15th, respectively, a little ahead of sophomore Reagan Brown (16th; 24:27).

The other Magic runners in the top 20 were Charli Schoen (18th; 24:34), sophomore Annie Pavlik (19th; 24:37) and senior Evie Lauinger (20th; 24:41).