Junior Charlie Sabgir pulls ahead of the competition. (Courtesy of Kristin Sabgir)

After a victory in the previous week, the Columbus Academy cross country team hoped for another strong finish at the Bobcat Invitational on Saturday, September 15. Because this Chillicothe course is the venue for the MSL postseason, the team took the race as more of a practice run to familiarize themselves with the area.

In an interesting turn of events, Coach Denny Hammond turned to junior Alex O’Connor to set the pace for the Viking runners, with fellow runners Liam McCann’19 and Charlie Sabgir’20 staying with him throughout the race in an attempt to treat the meet as a tempo run and help the Vikes in future invitationals.

Despite this different approach, our Vikes pulled out a third-place finish and a top ranking for Division Three teams, only falling behind Division 1 Chillicothe and Westerville South. Senior Abhi Ramesh still managed to place fourth for the team, despite losing a shoe at the mile one mark, running through hills and cornfields without it.

Even in the intense heat and crowded course, junior Annalise Grammel grabbed her fourth straight top-five finish, snatching fourth among many Division One talents. Sophomore Regan Cornelius followed close behind, rounding out the top 5 with a 5th place overall. The girls placed fourth out of seven teams, only losing to powerhouses Lancaster, Chillicothe, and Westerville South.

The team looks to keep its momentum going next week at the Tiger Invitational hosted by Pickerington Central on Saturday, September 22.