Annalise Grammel sets a new school record of 18:31 in the 5k! Photo by Chris Heerman’18

After two weeks of intense practice, the cross country team lined up on Hondros Field on Tuesday October 4, ready to run Academy’s scenic, 2 mile course and celebrate its 14 seniors on Senior Night.

Academy had an especially strong showing for the girls. Seniors Audrey Grammel, Jessica Griffin, Madeline Owen, Lily Kaufman, and Suzie Frankovitch, along with freshman Annalise Grammel and sophomore Ryan Milbourne all had top-10 finishes.

The boys also had key performances, as Nick Watson’18, Charlie Sabgir’20, Chris Heermann’18, and Liam McCann’19 all completed their runs in under 11 minutes.

The evening ended with a senior-night ceremony and photos, with seniors gathered with family and friends to celebrate their hard work and success.

The team continued its strong performance on Saturday despite the stiff competition at the Eisenhart Invitational. The boys placed 12th out of 24 teams with a total of 339 points, and the girls placed 16th out of 24 teams with a total of 413 points. Along with the solid team performance, Grammel’20 set an impressive new school 5k record, with a time of 18:31,averaging less than six minutes per mile.

Star runner Grammel said, “My goal was to break 19 minutes this season, and achieving that was amazing. I’m looking forward to excelling this postseason with my team.”

Although this week’s meets concluded the team’s regular season, the runners are ready to carry their momentum into MSL next weekend.