Early Season Girls Report
Early Season Girls Report
Recaps of the Cherokee Challenge and RVA Relays
This year’s squad now has two meets under their belts. Following one of the best summers in recent memory, we kicked off the season on the 7th with our very own Cherokee Challenge. Our team has many newcomers to cross country, yet we finished 4th overall, led by standout performances from Erin Healy (6th in the freshman race), Genisa John (24th in the sophomore race), Maddie Meder (8th in the junior race), and Megan Niglio (10th in the senior race). Megan clocked the fastest time of the day with a 12:07. We had four girls finish under 13 minutes and nine under 14 minutes, making it an exciting meet, especially for those racing cross country for the first time.
We followed the Challenge with a trip to the RVA Relays in Mechanicsville, Virginia. This marked our first combined trip with the boys’ program since 2019, which coincidentally was also at this same meet. The girls' team had a great showing, with the B and C relays both finishing 7th in their respective races.
In the B race, first-year runner Sofia Recinto kicked things off with a 9:34 over the 2500m course, handing off in 6th place. Next, Genisa John, also a first-year runner, ran an impressive 10:15, moving the team up to 5th. Emily Butler took the third leg and aggressively pushed the team to 4th. Gabby Urban followed with a 10:01 split but dropped the team back to 5th, and Veronica Ashcraft, racing for the first time this season, clocked a 10:27 to secure a 7th-place finish out of 41 teams with a combined time of 49:30.
Our C team was led by Grace Gorsline, who posted a 10:25 on the first leg. She passed the baton to freshman Kyla Petragnani, who split 11:27, followed by Alexa Butler with a solid 11:05. First-year runner Sonal Patel ran the fourth leg with an 11:09, and freshman Chloe Burdette anchored with a 10:15, for a total team time of 54:38, finishing 7th out of 20 C teams.
The A race saw our girls place 4th, running the 5th fastest time in meet history. Megan Niglio set the tone with an 8:27, handing off in 6th place, close to 5th. Maya Kumar followed with a 9:01, moving us into 4th. Grace Wojciechowski ran the third leg with a 9:11, pushing the team to 3rd, and freshman Erin Healy delivered a 9:00 split, setting up first-year XC runner Maddie Meder to close with an 8:37 split. The team clocked 44:19, finishing 4th overall. While it may be too soon to create all-time lists with just two appearances, both Megan and Maddie outpaced former standout Kate Rathman’s 8:39. We also had five girls run faster than our 3rd runner from 2019 and seven faster than our 5th.
In the open race, Haley Emenheiser led the way with an 11:25, placing 87th out of 232 competitors. First-year runners Joelle Barcenas and Karien Mansour also had strong performances, running 12:12 (149th place) and 13:29 (215th place), respectively.
We can’t forget the coaches who raced in the open race! Jack Shea dominated, clocking 7:04 over the rolling course. Meanwhile, the battle for bragging rights between Coach Thompson and Coach Viscidy was on. Viscidy, a long sprinter stepping up to 2500m, started off hard, but Coach Thompson relied on his wisdom, staying patient. With 600m to go, Thompson made his move to pass Viscidy. However, youth prevailed, as Viscidy surged past in the final 100m to finish 32nd, with Thompson right behind in 33rd, running 9:04 and 9:11, respectively.
A special thank you to the school, the Cherokee XC and Track Alumni Association (@4xAlumni), and the Cross Country Parents Booster Club for making this trip possible.
Fundraising Goals
It is the mission of 4xAlumni to support the current crop of track and field and cross country athletes.
We are focusing on 5 major areas that we feel, with the support of the coaches, are important for this generation of student-athletes:
Offset or completely cover the cost of post-season events not sponsored by the school. This includes National Meets (cross country, indoor and outdoor track) and invitationals (Oregon, etc).
Award scholarships for deserving seniors.
Provide State Champions and School Record holders with gifts.
Support families with athletes who would like to attend a cross country camp but cannot afford it.
Provide funding for athletes needing physiotherapy who cannot afford it.
We currently only have the availability to collect funds via Venmo, but we are actively seeking ways to collect via credit card, Zelle, PayPal, and other forms to accommodate the ecosystem in 2024.
During the months of September, October and November, we will be collecting funds that will directly contribute to funding for cross country post-season meets. Please consider donating to help fund our scholarship money.
Venmo: @ Cherokee4xalumni
About 4xAlumni
We are a non-profit organization with volunteer board members that seek to help provide funds that go directly to the current team. Our mission is:
to provide funding for travel and lodging to championship meets not covered by the school.
to provide scholarships to graduating seniors.
to provide recognition and awards to State Champion winners and new School Record holders.
to provide funding for current athletes who need assistance attending cross country camp.
to provide funding for current athletes who need assistance seeking treatment from injuries related to track/cross country.
Our Board
President: Jeff Storch ‘99
Vice President: Michelle (Bilicki) Wolosky ‘00
Secretary and Treasurer: Caitlin (O’Malley) Bertheaud ‘05
Social Media & Communication: Lisa Burkholder ‘06
Marketing & Fundraising: Marc Pelerin ‘02
Event Coordinator: Tim Haggerty ‘96
Team Liaison: Dave Sitzer ‘00
Voting Members: Joe Halin ‘00 & Sunny Patel ‘96
Venmo: @ Cherokee4xalumni