by Brenna Henderson ’21

On Saturday, October 5, the Sherwood girls and boys varsity cross country team both placed tenth in the Great American Cross Country Festival in Cary, North Carolina. In the 250-plus field, four Sherwood runners placed in the top 25. 

Sophomore Katie Kaneko led the girls team with a time of 18:55, placing second. Junior Emily Gravell finished with a time of 19:51, placing fifteenth. On the boys side, senior Sean Enright placed tenth with a time of 15:59. Junior Jack Anderson followed closely behind, placing fourteenth with a time of 16:05. 

“It was a perfect day to run,” commented Anderson. “And the people in the race were super fast so you had a lot of people to pull you along.” 

Along with the varsity team, the boys’ JV team placed nineteenth and the girl’s JV team placed twenty-second. Most impressively, ten girls, as well as 24 boys, each achieved a personal record in the varsity and JV races. 

The team has two more meets before they finish their season, the Montgomery County Championships and the 4A North Regional Championship. Depending on how they perform in the regional meet, the team has a chance of competing in the 4A State XC Championships. 

“I think Sherwood is going to place [in the] top five at Counties, and I think that we’re going to be [in the] top 3 at Regionals,” Anderson predicted. If Anderson is correct, the team will compete in the State Championships.