WILLIAMSBURG – As she walked toward the starting line, new Montezuma High School runner Molly Jones was there without teammates, but with 40 other girls runners, all from other teams.
It was the frosh-soph race at the Williamsburg Invitational, on Tuesday, Sept. 8.
The starter’s gun sounded, and Molly took off.
And she kept going . . .all the way to a seventh-place finish, in 25.29,2. That earned her a medal and it was the only one won by a Montezuma runner all day!
“I’m proud of Luke Benson, Aly Daniels , and Molly, for finishing their first 5Ks at the high school level, and for Molly doing so as a solo in the JV race,” MHS Coach Kevin Gartman said.
“It’s hard to the line by yourself as a freshman in a first-ever cross country competition – and she medaled.” her coach said. “There’s a 90-day transfer window that applies so she’ll only be able to run split varsity and JV events; she can’t can’t run in any HS girls combined races,” Gartman said.
For now, Montezuma doesn’t have another JV girl.
“Dayton, Cade Lowry and Vivian Cook all enter our Montezuma top ten record board for that course, one which is challenging course due to the start of the season and typical warmth,” said the coach.
The rest of the day for Montezuma’s runners:
Varsity girls
Teams – The Bravettes placed 10th of 12 full teams.
Montezuma runners: 44, Vivian Cook, 25:21.0; 52, Sophia Semprini 26:28.7. 57, Claire Erselius 26.52.3. 58, Alexa Rose 26.58.7. 65, Haileah Eichenberger, 28:27.4. 75, Aly Daniels, 30:19.7.
Varsity boys – Montezuma 12th of 14 full teams.
Braves: 46, Dayton Reif, 20:41.4. 52, Cade Lowry 20:52.5. 73, Linkyn Bru. 22:52.01. 77, Luke Benson 23:34.5. 93, Nicholas Damon, 27:49.7. There were 97 runners.