It’s off to the races for Penn cross country.
At the Main Line Invitational on Sept. 19, both the men’s and women’s cross country teams saw impressive results. The invitational, which was hosted by Haverford, featured two events: the men’s 6.44-kilometer and the women’s 5-kilometer races.
The men’s team had a strong collective performance, capturing first place overall at the invitational with a total of 24 points. Senior Sahil Dodda had an outstanding performance, leading the race with a time of 19:19.6 and placing first overall.
“It’s been a while since I’ve ran well and been confident racing, so Friday meant a lot for me,” Dodda wrote in a statement to The Daily Pennsylvanian regarding his individual win. “Overall though, it’s a good stepping stone for myself and the team as we approach the tradition[al] 8k distance and get ready for the real season.”
Dodda’s teammates also had standout performances. Junior Kofi Fordjour scored a time of 19:37.6, securing him third overall. Following closely behind, sophomore Shane Murphy placed fourth with a time of 19:38.7. Sophomore Esfan Daya captured seventh with a time of 19:45.9, followed by freshman Vinay Raman with a time of 19:55.3. Sophomore Chris Larnard with a 19:55.5, senior Liam Going with a 19:58.7, and sophomore Joseph Ruiz with a 19:59.5 all helped bolster Penn in the rankings. Penn’s men’s team had eight runners place in the top 15, securing the team a first-place win.
In the days leading up to the event, the team adjusted its training — and it paid off. Dodda wrote that the men’s team has “been doing a lot of longer efforts and running high mileage. It [was] all about just stacking weeks and days of training and feeling strong on race day.”
The women’s team also built on its exceptional performance from last week at Princeton, notching second place overall at the invitational. Senior Lily Murphy had an impressive showing in her first race back, running 16:48.6 — a dominant first-place finish overall in the women’s 5K race.
“I think the win for me really represents the start of a new season,” Murphy wrote in a statement. “I was injured for much of last year and have[n’t] truly raced in a long time, so I wanted to go into this race with the intention of ripping the Band-Aid off and practicing the racing mindset before we get into the thick of the season.”
Senior Kyra Compton finished with a time of 17:34.4, netting her third place overall. She was followed by sophomore Courtney Kaiser with a time of 18:01.2 and senior Anna Weirich with a time of 18:35.8, who placed seventh and 13th, respectively.
“[The] team has been training really hard and putting a lot of effort into racing execution going into the meet,” Murphy wrote. “Many of my teammates had great races at our previous meet in Princeton but had things they wanted to work on in terms of race execution. A big goal for our team was to focus on being our best through the second half of the race and moving up in placement over the last mile.”
The Quakers hope to extend this success in their next competition at the Paul Short Run on Oct. 3.
“It’s definitely a huge stage, which is an exciting opportunity to compete against some of the best teams in the NCAA,” Murphy wrote. “I was unfortunately injured the last time I raced Paul Short, so I personally am working on keeping a confident mindset going into the race, and I’m super excited to get a race in such a competitive field.”
She added that “the team overall couldn’t be more pumped about the race as well as the opportunity to compete against few other teams in the Ivy League ahead of Heps and really allow the work we’ve been putting in to shine on the big stage.”
Dodda echoed the same sentiments, emphasizing the importance of the Paul Short competition.
“Paul Short is the first big race that we’ll be a part of, and a lot of other Ivy League teams are going to be there. So it’ll be good to see how we stack up against the rest of the conference,” he wrote. “We’re going into that race with the same mentality we’ve had, focusing on running as a pack and working together through the middle miles and staying tough [in] the last part of the race.”
