By: Radhika Munshani | Staff Writer

Last Wednesday, September 30, Irvington cross country runners stood ready to run at the starting line at Coyote Hills, signalling the beginning of a grueling 3-mile course over rocky terrain.Athletes competed against Newark Memorial in 5 divisions: boys frosh/soph, jv, and varsity, and girls jv and varsity. Though Irvington won in 2 of the divisions, boys JV and girls Varsity, and lost the overall meet to Newark, several athletes ran PRs (personal records). The overcast skies and slight drizzle further influenced the athletes’ performance, softening the course and keeping runners cool.

In the divisions that Irvington won, the athletes dominated. IHS Var girls placed in the first five spots, and JV boys won the first four places. Aside from those divisions, notable PRs include freshman Myrthe Bellers who ran the 3-mile course in 20 min and 45 sec., a time which places her as the second fastest runner in the league, and junior Mitchell Hogle, who dropped from 19 min 36 sec to 18 min flat.

Several athletes noted that the cloudy weather positively impacted their results. Coach David explained, “I’m not going to take away anything from my kids and say the weather is why they ran the way they did. Having said that, it is much easier to run after it rains with it being overcast as a distance runner.”

These notable individual improvements, coupled with increasing practice as the season continues, set high expectations for Irvington’s cross country team to excel.