DVHS cross country showed out in their inaugural Wildcat Invitational on October 4th. Dougherty got top six finishes in four of the events, dominating the three mile course.
The Wildcat Forward Motion Invitational was the first ever cross country meet on home soil. The meet featured over 12 different schools from all over the Bay Area including hundreds of athletes. The energy was high among spectators and players alike, and DV put on a show in their home grounds.
The meet started with the mens and womens frosh-soph runners. The men’s frosh-soph team ended up getting fourth place in the meet. Cross country freshmen Drew Pham and Anvay Nigam placed individually 14th and 15th. The girls team followed, placed second as a team just behind Head-Royce High School. The team was led by Shansey Harris and Andrew Carbonella who placed fifth and sixth respectively.
Junior varsity cross country also had similar success. The men’s JV finished fifth, led by junior Toby Fong. Fong emphasized the importance of mental focus in battling the tough terrain and long running time. Fong finished 16th in the race helping his team secure a top finish.
“The race was definitely a grind, physically and mentally,” Fong stated. “Through the end, I tried to keep up my mental game, stay strong and just finish hard.
As for varsity, the men’s team earned second place with a score of 69 points. Seniors Peter Dasovich, Jamyr Arora, and led Aayann Al-Quirisda with the addition of sophomore Sayuj Balakrishnan and freshman Sebastian Sam, all who had top 25 finishes for their team and received medals.
In order to achieve team success, Dasovich noted the value of planning before a race to have the most optimal chance of team triumph.
“My strategy was to do the first two easier and then speed up the last mile to try to pass people,” Dasovich said. “It was definitely fun running at home since we have never run here before.”
Women’s varsity also achieved a top six finish, with freshmen Aditi Naveen and Ritka Bath who finished sixth and 18th respectively. They battled adversity as many of their team members were not able to compete in the meet. However, everyone was able to motivate each other to perform at their highest despite the conditions.
“I think our team did well given the circumstances that many people didn’t show up today, so I was proud of us for showing up and giving it our best effort.”
Being the first inaugural Wildcat Invitational, it meant something for the athletes to be competing on home territory to represent their school. Overall contributing to a better performance.
“It led to a better performance because I knew how long each section was,” Dosvich explained. “And it was definitely fun because we never raced at home before.”
The meet represents DV cross country’s growing trend of dominating meets. All season, they have been achieving similar results, fostering many top five team finishes and top 25 player performances.
“We did great,” Coach Miller stated. “We had a lot of standout performances on our team as well as a lot of personal records.”
