For the first time in recent memory, the Menlo boys and girls cross country teams both won a WBAL meet. The Knights placed first, led by Kyra Pretre and Calvin Katz who took gold, Thursday at Baylands Park in Sunnyvale.
Kyra Pretre won her second race in as many weeks and led the Knights to a sixth victory.On a hot, dry day, Katz won the boys race, covering the 3.1-mile course in 16:31.1 while Kamran Murray, also a junior who won the Rough Rider 5K last week, took second in 16:32.4. Freshman Justin Pretre was fifth in 17:05.3 while senior Jackson Aldrich beat his PR by 2:27 for 10th in 17:55.4. Senior Luke Virsik crossed the finish line in 18:26.1 for 15th, moving up 12 places from the first league meet, to boost the Knights scoring. They set a school course record of 1:26:31, topping the previous-best of 1:27:05 set in 2015
In the varsity boys race, sophomore Nishan Rajavasireddy was 23rd in 18:47.2 and freshman Aidan Deffner finished in 19:59.4
“The boys, like the girls, really came together today,” Menlo coach Jorge Chen said. “These boys won today by winning their small battles for the team.”
Kyra Pretre, who won the Rough Rider Invitational last weekend, was first among 72 runners in 18:05.3. Fellow senior Amanda Foster was fourth in 19:41.5 topping her PR by 2:05 and junior Marisa Castagna fifth in 19:50.5. Senior Katie Aufricht was eighth in 20:23.7. Juniors Alexandra McCusker, in her first meet back from injury, was 11th in 20:47.5 and Ashley Scafetta was 18th in 21:56.2.
“These girls are warriors they push through anything for the team,” Chen added. “They race with team in their hearts and their results become very evident.
“These runners fought the heat with everyone else. so I’m very proud of all the schools who raced today.”
The Knights JV girls -paced by Grace Tang, Pia Gallo and Sidney Peña who took the top three finishes, won and the JV boys - with Ned Eyre as the top Knights finisher - took fifth.
Menlo next competes in the WBAL Championships on Nov. 9