Menlo boys cross country finish 10th in Artichoke Invitational. Photo courtesy of Menlo Flickr.

By Silas Stewart

The Menlo Cross Country team’s momentum has yet to falter as they traveled up to Half Moon Bay to compete in the Artichoke Invitational on Saturday, October 7. Both teams placed very high in the final rankings. The girls team finished first and the boys team finished 10th on the 2.3 mile course.

The boys team benefited from yet another outstanding performance from senior Yale commit Robert Miranda, who placed first out of all runners. This is his fourth time placing first this season, adding to what has been a historic career. Miranda’s phenomenal run was followed by freshmen Kamran Murray, junior Josh Eichbaum, junior Alejandro Ross, senior Drew Wadsworth, and junior Zac Scacco whose times were 12:46, 13:58, 15:02, 15:22, and 16:02, respectively.

Miranda loved the experience, because not only was it a testament to their power of the program but the course was very fun. “There was a huge hill and you could run over hay bales, so nobody was really going for a fast time but primarily just running to have fun with it,” Miranda said.

The girls team, who won the entire meet, was lead by Sophomore phenom Kyra Pretre who finished second with a time of 14:27. The rest of the team ran well too as Charlotte Tomkinson, Katie Aufricht, Cameron Boom, Amanda Foster, Chloe Lai, and Abby Wolfenden finished with times of 14:53, 16:21, 16:39, 16:57, 18:08, and 18:28, respectively.

The fun race further highlighted the dominance of this year’s cross country team, and the consistency of the boys squad. The Knights will look to continue displaying excellence on the course with the Monterey Invitational this Saturday and the WBAL.