The Heathwood Hall girls’ cross country team turned in an outstanding performance today at the Speedway Five K hosted by AC Flora High School. In their best meet so far this year, the team earned the 1st place trophy by taking the top 3 places and 4 of the top 8 spots in the girls’ varsity race.

Madelyn Gomez ran a strong, relaxed race and led the Highlander charge. Her time of 18:22 is a personal record, the second fastest time in the state of S.C. this year (among private & public schools), and places her 3rd on the Heathwood Hall All-Time Top 20 Record Board! Moreover, her time also meets the U.S. Milesplit National Elite Gold Standard!

In addition to Madelyn’s performance, team captain Cat Barron ran a great race and finished in 2nd place. Catherine maintained a steady pace and moved up from the third position early in the race to take the second spot and earn a medal. Another outstanding performance was turned in by Madeline Hurst who had a season breakout time of 20:39 and a PR by 31 seconds! Hurst also earned a medal for her 3rd place performance. Laela Caplinger, returned to action after a week off and looked strong. She finished in 8th place with a season best time of 21:30. The team scoring was rounded out by Reston Wood, who finished in 14th place and established a new PR of 21:55. Lydia Smith, who ran a very impressive 5K (22:02) in her first varsity race and Mela Gisewhite (22:59) were the 6th and 7th Highlanders to cross the finish line. While Logan Wells (23:09) and Grayson Elliott (24:39) also ran very strong races and finished in the team’s 8th and 9th spots.

Team Scores:

1. Heathwood Hall – 28 pts.
2. Spring Valley – 61 pts.
3. AC Flora – 81 pts.
4. Dreher – 100 pts.
5. South Aiken – 111 pts.
6. White Knoll – 155 pts.
7. Fairfield Central – 201 pts.
8. Colleton County – No Score