Cross Country - Girls - Varsity | Mercersburg Academy

A nationally renowned school. A culture of academic success. A rich competitive running tradition. A place to define yourself as a person and as an athlete.

A history of excellence:

Mercersburg runners have competed since 1907 for one of the oldest high-school cross country teams in the country. The girls’ team began competition in 1981. Of the school’s 54 Olympians, 17 have been runners.
The 2017 team won the Mid-Atlantic Prep League championship, becoming the first Blue Storm girls’ squad since Mercersburg joined the league in 2000 to win a MAPL team title.

Contemporary success:

Programs that have produced multiple individual Mid-Atlantic Prep League champions, state team champions and top team finishes, and the 2017 MAPL team championship.

A successful foundation:

A belief that success comes with hard work, teamwork, trust, and commitment-all of which foster a valuable experience.
Customized training programs based on level of ability.

Over the last several years, Mercersburg running athletes have gone on to compete on the collegiate level at a wide variety of schools, including Bucknell, Emory, Dickinson, Penn, Marist, Rhodes, Richmond, Swarthmore, and all three Division I military academies: Army, Air Force, and Navy.

Mercersburg’s runners train primarily on the Academy’s 300-acre campus, but also journey to the C&O Canal Trail and to area state parks. The competition schedule features premier high-school and college venues, including the Paul Short Invitational at Lehigh University.

Betsy Cunningham

Peer Group Leadership Program and Head Girls’ Cross Country Coach

Bio

Betsy Cunningham has been head coach of the girls’ cross country team since 2005, and also works as the head of Mercersburg’s Peer Group and Mentor Leadership programs. She teaches human development, and previously taught mathematics and chemistry and spent eight years as a dormitory dean in South Cottage and Culbertson House on campus. As a student, Betsy ran for 12 consecutive seasons at Colgate University and was the first female cross country and track & field inductee into Colgate’s Hall of Honor in 2003. She went on to run professionally for the Mountain West Track Club while earning a master’s degree in geology from the University of Montana. Before coming to Mercersburg, Betsy coached both a middle school cross country team and a junior club team in Missoula, MT. In 2007, she was named the Pennsylvania State Independent School Cross Country Coach of the Year. Her spouse, fellow faculty member Will Willis, teaches science; the couple has two daughters, Molly ’22 and Leah ’24.

Rachel Mallory

Associate Director of College Counseling

Bio

Rachel Mallory arrived at Mercersburg Academy from Vanderbilt University, where she was a graduate assistant for the Peabody Office of Graduate Admissions and Vanderbilt Programs for Talented Youth. She was also a member of the residential leadership team for the Vanderbilt Summer Academy, a residential summer-learning program for students age 13-17. Rachel previously worked as an admission officer at Allegheny College in Meadville, PA. She serves as an officer with the Pennsylvania Association for College Admissions Counseling, and coordinates workshops for secondary-school counselors. Rachel captained the cross country and track & field teams at Mount Holyoke College (her undergraduate alma mater) before earning a master’s of education degree in human development counseling with an emphasis in school counseling from Vanderbilt. Rachel is an assistant cross country and track & field coach at Mercersburg; her sister, Megan, works in the school’s Office of Marketing and Communications. Rachel lives in Fowle Hall with her husband, Steve Milletics.

Leela Woody

Interim Director of DEI and English Faculty

Bio

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