Monday, September 30, 2013

Warriors Have Strong Showing at Stanford Invitational


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Ashley Lara runs past half way at the Stanford Invite.
Stanford, CA - The Valley Christian girls cross country team had high expectations heading into the Stanford Invitational Saturday and their effort did not disappoint.  Held on the Stanford Golf Course in Palo Alto, the meet featured over 2,500 athletes from over 300 of the best teams in California and the West Coast.   The Lady Warriors placed 12th in the team competition that featured six teams ranked in the top 10 in the State for Division III. 

With temperatures well into the 80’s, combined with soaring humidity, the conditions were not ideal but still many Warriors thrived in the challenging conditions.  Top finishers included Kailey Eddy and Jessica Xu.  Challenging the lead pack throughout the race, Eddy finished 13th in the Division 3 race that saw many of the top runners in the state and the section.  Eddy paced the 5k in 19:37, the third fastest all-time mark for the Warriors. Not far behind was Jessica Xu in 20:15 in 35th place.  Xu chopped nearly 45 seconds from last year’s time and moves to #6 all-time for the Warriors!   

Ashley Lara continues to improve finishing 3rd for the Warriors in 21:40. Karen Mac finished 4th for the Warriors in 22:01. Morgan Starkey rounded out the scoring five in 23:48.

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Nedu Ndili in his Stanford debut
A young Valley Christian boys’ team got some valuable experience running against the top teams in the state.  Leading the way for the team was sophomore Jeremy Dong who finished the 5k course in 18:18, a personal best time.  Just seconds behind was Jason Li who also ran a personal best 18:23.  Freshman Nedu Ndili ran 19:02, a stellar time for the freshman that is only in his first month running.  Peter Enfantino rounded out the scoring team in 19:43 in his debut for the course.

“It was a tough day out there for some of our runners,” Coach Small said.  “For some it was their first big meet so it was like jumping into the deep and learning to swim.  Others it was learning to keep pushing even though you don’t feel good.  All said and done the effort was there, they are training hard and we are on track with where we need to be right now.”

The Warriors look to carry their momentum into October as the racing season heats up. The Valley Christian cross country team opens league completion Thursday, October 3 at the Baylands in Sunnyvale.  

Full Results: CLICK HERE  

GIRLS:
19:37  Kailey Eddy
20:15  Jessica Xu
21:40  Ashley Lara
22:01  Karen Mac
23:48  Morgan Starkey
24:14  Vanessa Giacalone
24:28  Megan Gillespie


BOYS:
18:18  Jeremy Dong
18:23  Jason Li
19:02  Nedu Ndili
19:19  Tejas Reddy
19:43  Peter Enfantino
20:07  Sam Han

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