Two of the local girls’ cross country teams started the season on the right foot at the 37th annual Early Bird Open at Huron Meadows Metropark in Brighton on Thursday. Both Skyline and Huron crossed the finish line in the top four against a field of 15 teams from all over the area.
Romeo ran away with the meet, landing four runners in the top five and finishing with 22 points. Skyline crossed second with 92 points, followed by Fraser (109) and Huron (117 points). Whitmore Lake was fifth with 143 points.
Two speedy freshman and sophomores led the Eagles in the season opener as the youth movement is in full swing. Ninth graders Lucia Llanes (8th, 20:02.0) and Lila Edison (12th, 21:03.4) got their high school careers off to a brilliant start. Sophomores Irie Scrase (15th, 21:16.5) and Isla Tharp (18th, 21:22.3) gave Skyline four runners in the top 20.
The Eagles showed off plenty of depth during the opening meet with 10 runners cracking the top 60. Skyline senior Ayla Balazer was 39th (23:10.2), sophomore Mara Mocanu was 40th (23:13.9), sophomore Alison Kauffman was 43rd (23:20.0), junior Tia Cocciolone was 47th (23:42.10), sophomore Gwen Stotts-Walshe was 53rd (24:07.2) and freshman Elin Tenbrink was 55th (24:13).
Huron’s Lucinda Paliani started her final season for the River Rats on the right foot. The senior finished in sixth place with a time of 19:25.2. Three other Huron runners cracked the top 30 with freshman Mira Shelgikar 22nd (21:48.8), senior Julieta Turon 25th (22:14.3) and freshman Zoe Bossmann 28th (22:26.1).
Freshman Deborah Song was 59th (24:22.7), junior Nishka Kalantry was 67th (24:43.1), sophomore Irene Kim was 74th (25:15.4) and senior Lianne Liu was 78th (25:31).
