Led by the 6th place finish of Ella Blanco '26, the Blue Storm girls' cross country team took third place in the Mid-Atlantic Prep League Cross Country Championship race October 26. The meet was held at the Peddie School in Hightstown, NJ.

Lawrenceville literally ran away with the team title while the host Peddie Falcons finished second. The Blue Storm edged Hill School by one point to take third. Blanco completed the course in a time of 20:49, and her 6th place showing earned her All-MAPL recognition. Mercersburg had a slew of outstanding results, including Greta Lawler '23, whose time of 21:48 was a season PR. Leah Willis '24 (23:02) and Erika Sowah '24 (23:04) finished together, and both of them ran lifetime PR's. Clare Ip '23 (24:20) also had a lifetime PR while Linley Hill '23 (25:48, season PR) and Gigi Devlin '24 (26:13) also ran very well. 

In the JV race, the top four runners all pulled off lifetime PR's. Bauhinia Chen '26 was first across the line in a time of 25:27, followed by Hongyu (Jasmine) Zhu '23 (25:37), An Yan '26 (25:59), Marli Elshazly '26 (27:27) and Linden Wallace '25 (27:30). Jaidee Promphan '25 was next across the line with a lifetime best of 28:27 and Paula Luruena '23 ran a season best 29:41.

"I am so proud of these young people!" said head coach Betsy Cunninghmam. "They have worked very hard this season and today was a wonderful celebration of their effort all season.  We have a relatively young team and I am really excited about next year, however, we are going to desperately miss our seniors (Greta, Linley, Paula, Clare, Jasmine).  A special thank you to Erika and Greta who served as captains this season.  They did a wonderful job of supporting their teammates and creating a fantastic team culture."

For complete meet results click here.

This concludes the girls' cross country season.