After a 51 week COVID-19-induced hiatus, the High School 1327 (HS 1327) Boys’ and Girls’ Cross Country teams cruised into their first dual meet on Thursday, Mar. 4 against Redwood High School at Indian Valley Campus at College of Marin, and their second meet against Marin Catholic (MC) on Saturday, Mar. 6 at the HS 1327 campus. For both meets, the boys’ team came out on top and the girls’ team sprinted into second.  

The race on Thursday was 3 miles off-road around the Indian Valley Campus at College of Marin. The boys’ team ran a close race, with Redwood senior Hudson Grace and sophomore Deagan Cutter finishing first and second. HS 1327’s senior Nick Parr followed in third place after senior Calvin McCarthy rolled his ankle halfway through the race. 

The HS 1327 girls’ team placed outside the top 11 individual runners. The top three finishers were freshman Alexandra Greenwald, sophomore Phife MacGabhann and freshman Jane Adams.

“I’m proud of our girls’ team because it’s mostly freshman and sophomores, so it’s pretty hard to beat the amazing varsity teams with older girls from other schools. I’m really happy with both the boys’ and girls’ performance, though, I can tell we are all having fun and working hard,” Adams said.

HS 1327’s second race was a home meet and the first cross country race to take place on campus. The course started on the track and weaved 2.1 miles through the school’s corridors. In the boys’ first heat, HS 1327’s junior Nate Wolford finished first, followed by Parr’s second place finish.   

“We had two different runners lead the team in our races this week – senior Nick Parr and junior Nate Wolford,” Boys’ Cross Country Coach Robyn Berry said. “They’ve put in a lot of work and it was great to see them shine. The team brought the energy to our first on-campus cross country meet, there’s nothing like race day. It’s where everything starts to make sense.” 

The girls’ first heat was dominated by MC’s top runners, giving them the win over the HS 1327 girls. Freshman Alexandra Greenwald, sophomore Isabel Waite, and sophomore Alyssa Connelly were the top three HS 1327 finishers.  

“I think 1327 has done really well overall, the boys have won both meets so far and are doing awesome. It’s really nice hearing them cheer for the girls and it’s really fun to cheer for them,” Adams said. 

Typically, races are separated by one week, but due to the late start to the sports season, runners were only given a day of rest between races. 

“I thought our team’s performance was very strong, two meets in three days is tough but we got the win in both and it feels good for us to start the season out with two wins,” Wolford said.

“We definitely left a statement by taking the win against Redwood and MC, even with some injuries on our end. It’s good to get these wins early on – [it] really sets the tone that we’re the team to beat. We were short staffed in both races, even against Redwood, where Emerson Grace and another Redwood runner got top two, but the depth of our team gave us some big points. Overall [it] was a great few days,” Parr said.  

For the HS 1327 Cross Country team, the long awaited season has finally kicked off. With two months left in the season and an upcoming meet on Mar. 13 against San Rafael High School, the HS 1327 Boys’ and Girls’ teams await an exciting season following their strong start.