Mount runs past Pandas, 18-40

by TOM UTESCHER

Paced by senior co-captains Katie McLernand and Megan Badolato, the host Magic of Mount St. Joseph Academy posted a comfortable 22-point victory over visiting Nazareth in last Tuesday’s Bicentennial League dual meet opener.

McLernand won the race, covering the hilly three-mile course in 20 minutes, 14 seconds, while Badolato finished second in 20:41. Sophomore Chelsea Clark and freshman Sarah Collier completed a Mount St. Joe sweep of the top four places in the event before the first competitor for the Pandas, junior Betsy Kenney, crossed the line in fifth place overall.

Neither squad was at full strength for the encounter. Nazareth was missing three of its better runners, and for the Mount junior Siobhan O’Connor was injured and sophomore Rose Wilson was sidelined by illness. The victory raised the Magic’s record to 3-0 this season; the Mount had won a non-league tri-meet with Germantown Academy and Plymouth Whitemarsh Senior High School back on September 2.

In last Tuesday’s league debut, McLernand and Badolato were running together and were already far ahead of the field as they came alongside the Mount tennis courts a little over one mile into the race. Clark and Collier appeared next, followed by a trio of Nazareth competitors.

All seven of these runners crossed the finish line in the same order, although McLernand opened up a greater lead to win by 27 seconds, and the other athletes were also more spread out. Clark clocked in at 21:42 and Collier at 23 minutes flat, trailed closely by Nazareth’s Kenney in 23:04.

The Pandas took sixth and seventh place, thanks to senior Kate Brewster (23:54) and sophomore Nicole Roselli (24:10).

Rounding out the top ten were Mount junior Jess Munro (24:27), Panda junior Amy Haviland (25:33), and MSJ freshman Elizabeth Welsh (25:53). The other seven official finishers for the Mount were Tara McElroy (11^th; 26:16), Jen Havard (12^th; 26:38), Christina Zborzek (14^th; 28:32), Becky Lederer (15^th; 29:09), Mery Taylor (16^th; 29:18), Elena Johnston (17^th; 29:51), and Ava Selya (18^th; 29:52). Nazareth had Steph Dempsey come in 13^th in 26:56.