By: Kristy Booher Angelo, Associate Athletic Director
For More Info: booherk@gilmour.org
On Thursday, September 17, the Gilmour Academy cross country program headed to Boardman High School's Spartan Invitational, which is one of the state's premier events. Being the first big meet for the Lancers this season, both excitement and expectations were high for the boys and girls squads. It was a beautiful evening for racing and the teams toed the socially distanced start lines ready to compete.
The boys ran first and came away with a strong showing, placing 17th out of 33 squads. Four of the top five boys all had either season- or career-best times, led by Scott Vergilii '23, who finished 53rd in 19:18. Michael Piccirillo '24 (pictured on the left) placed 59th, followed closely by Tim Papczun '24 in 61st. Andrew Lewis '23 (104th) and Ben Lindley '24 (105th) rounded out the scoring with career-best times.
Head Coach Matt Lindley '89 was pleased with the team's performance, "The boys have shown great resolve for a young team and their continuing improvement is impressive."
The girls ran next and they came away with a close second-place finish out of 30 schools, edged by the No.7 state-ranked Maplewood. In a meet that was really a battle between two heavyweights, the Lancers were in it right to the end. The third-place team was 53 points behind GA, and the fourth-place squad more than 100 points. Gilmour was paced by Amy Weybrecht '24 (second place, pictured on the right) and Caitrina Barton '21 (third place). The rest of the team all ran excellent races with Mary Lombardo '22 (10th), Gia Rosko '24 (12th) and Mia Polisena '22 (23rd) all placing toward the front of a field that included 164 runners.
In other cross country news, Weybrect added another accomplishment to her only weeks-long high school career as she was named News-Herald Player of the Week. The honor was based on her performance at Boardman. Additionally, she was recently recognized for her record-setting efforts that place her at No. 7 on the Lancer leader board with a time of 19:19. She achieved this time in just the second high school meet in her career.
Weybrect is joined this week by fellow Lancer and varsity girls soccer player Emma Adams '21, who was also selected as a News-Herald Player of the Week.
#GoGA #WeAreGilmour