by Tom Utescher

For the second year in a row, Penn Charter sophomore Emma Zwall won the Inter-Ac League cross country championship meet, and this year she had a lot of company from her teammates in the top scoring positions. In an impressive show of depth, the Quakers placed all of their seven participants in the varsity race among the top dozen finishers.

The team runner-up a year ago, PC rolled to the 2018 title with a score of 29, while the Academy of Notre Dame was almost 30 points behind in second place, with 58. Germantown Academy, the Inter-Ac and Pa. Independent Schools champion last fall, was third with 80 points, while Episcopal Academy landed in fourth place, with 86.

Father back, Agnes Irwin secured fifth place with 118 points and Baldwin School scored 165 for sixth. Springside Chestnut Hill Academy did not enter a full team, but had four athletes compete as individuals.

The Quakers’ Zwall won in 19 minutes and five and nine-tenths seconds, and while GA junior Issy Goldstein repeated as overall runner-up in 19:22.2, the next Patriot didn’t cross the line until all five PC scorers and the Quakers’ other two participants had completed the race. Notre Dame wasn’t very close, either, having had two runners finish at the point when Charter already had locked in its final team score.

Episcopal senior Caitlin Jorgensen (20:16.2) was third, as in 2017, and the number one for Notre Dame, junior Lindsey Smith, was fourth in 20:33.3.

After that, six of the next eight place belonged to Penn Charter. Fifth-place Mary McDavid, a senior who was timed in 20:48.1, showed the way for a pair of Quakers freshmen, Julia Dolce (sixth; 20:49.8) and Lane Murray (seventh; 20:55.8).

Episcopal’s Jill McEntee and Notre Dame number two Kyleigh Calvert took eighth and ninth, and then the other three PC competitors crossed the line consecutively. Abby Zwall, Emma’s senior sister, finalized the Quakers’ final score by coming in 10th with a time if 21:07.4. In 11th and 12th were Alicia Newman (21:20.8) and Sophia Solomon (21:26.1), both juniors.

Notre Dame had runners in the next two places and then saw its fifth score placer 18th. Episcopal had gotten off to a decent start, with two athletes in the top eight and a third landing 15th place, but the Churchwomen had no one else in the top 30.

After Goldstein’s strong second-place run, GA’s other four scorers all finished in a span of seven places, but those places weren’t high enough. Junior Gabby Manosis was 17th in 21:53.9, and after the Notre Dame number five picked up 18th place for the Irish, GA’s Gianna Murgia, also an 11th grader, was 19th in 22:08.1.

About to leave the wooded section of the Belmont Plateau course, Penn Charter sophomore Emma Zwall has built up a lead over Germantown Academy junior Issy Goldstein (background). (Photo by Tom Utescher)

Just after Murgia, in 20th place, was freshman Juliana Gonzalez (22:17.5). the number four for GA. The first of SCH’s entries to appear, senior Lilly Forest secured the 21st spot in 22:22.0, and following the number two for Agnes Irwin came the fifth scorer for the Patriots, junior Katie Sands (23rd; 22:39.5).

The top two teams in the league a year ago, Germantown Academy and Penn Charter, had not gone head-to-head during the 2018 dual-meet season; a race scheduled for late September was one of the many sporting events to be rained out this fall.

Emma Zwall was very familiar with Belmont Plateau, which Penn Charter uses as its home course, and she knew that GA’s Goldstein would be a formidable challenger.

She didn’t have a detailed race plan for the Inter-Ac championships, noting, “My goals aren’t really specific, I just want to do my best at all times.”

Before a big race she’ll often dine on pasta or other familiar fuels for runners, although last week she was a little more adventurous.

“I don’t know why, but I ate won-tons yesterday,” she reported. “I didn’t feel good, so I don’t recommend that to any other runners.”

She also felt what seemed to be a bit of a cold coming on, so while aiming to stay ahead of Goldstein, she didn’t push herself as hard as usual on the hilly second mile of the course.

“Issy has a great kick, so I sort of wanted to have something in reserve to respond to that,” she said.

She had a lead of about 40 meters on her Patriot rival when she emerged from the woods with a bit under a mile to go.

“The GA fan base was there going wild for Issy, so I thought to myself, just kick it!”

She increased her lead to win her second Inter-Ac meet, and it’s just as well that none of her competitors were close enough to hear her remark, “I don’t feel tired enough.”

In addition to Lilly Forest, the participants for SCH were junior Elizabeth Moore (26th; 23:21.1), sophomore Jane Thistle (37th; 24:53.3) and freshman Kaylie Akins (40th; 25:52.9).