In a competitive cross country race between Drake, Redwood, and San Rafael last Thursday, Redwood girls took home the gold. Redwood’s girls beat Drake 17 to 43 and San Rafael 15 to 50. Drake girls achieved second, placing ahead of San Rafael 17 to 15.

On Drake’s home course, Redwood ran a successful race; four of their runners placed in the top five. 

Last year’s “fast freshman from Redwood,” Helena Janku, now a sophomore, placed second with a time of 18:52.25 in the three mile race. Four of her teammates ran times of 18:41.85, 19:09.28, 19:43.11, and 19:43.67. 

On the Drake side, Kyla Seeley snuck in at fourth place at 19:33.38, blocking Redwood from dominating the top five finishers. 

None of the Redwood times were faster by a large margin, but Drake girls’ head coach Rich Miller said, “It will take consistent summer running matched with athletic Drake legs to beat this team, but it’s possible.” 

Against San Rafael, nine Drake runners finished ahead of the first SR runner. 

“SR has a new coach that is infusing new energy into his team and will hopefully get more competitive over time,” Miller said.