Junior Regan Cornelius and senior Annalise Grammel end race strong. (Andrew Barren’22/Media editor)

Opening up the week, the Academy cross country team took some time to celebrate its seniors on Wednesday, October 2, with a two-mile home meet against Newark Catholic and Liberty Christian.

Junior Luke Nester sped to victory for the boys, with senior Charlie Sabgir earning third. Senior Alex O’Connor was not far behind, sprinting past junior Jake Huddleston to earn fourth.

Senior Annalise Grammel claimed victory on her senior night, with Regan Cornelius’21 just behind her. Fellow seniors Rachel Raque and Whitney Hannallah also had phenomenal races, before lining up to be honored at their ceremony along with Luis Blanco, Mark Carroll, Grammel, Grace Harrison, Andrew Leaventon, Alex O’Connor, Charlie Sabgir, Alex Wang, and Max Walter.

On Saturday, October 5, CA took on top Division 1 competition at the Les Eisenhart Invitational hosted by Thomas Worthington High School. After weeks of inching closer to the school record, junior phenom Nester ran a 15:45, shattering the previous school record of 16:07 held by Nick Robie, and placing tenth overall. Sabgir and Jake Huddleston placed second and third respectively, with times of 16:41 and 17:22. Calvin Wade’21 and O’Connor rounded out our boys top five, and despite the record times posted individually, the boys placed 11th out of 12 teams with a score of 251.

Grammel ran a 19:05 and earned 10th, followed by Cornelius with a 19:38, placing 20th. Unfortunately, due to only two girls running in the varsity race, the Vikes were unable to score as a team.

The Vikings are entering the postseason with confidence, as they take on rivals at the MSL race at Buckeye Valley on Saturday, October 12.