In the early days of cross-country, teams ran dual meets against league and neighborhood foes, often on Saturdays at halftime of the high school football game. However, as the sport has evolved, teams have replaced those duals with large invitationals, and teams may only run on their home course one or two times a year. In Reserve's case, as the duals waned, the Pioneers have been lucky to always find one school willing to run the occasional home meet. Recently, The Laurel School has been that opponent, and each school hosts the other once each season. These races are important for a few reasons. One is that every athlete can run. A second reason is that the strategy of a dual meet is slightly different than that of an invitational, as duals truly are runner versus runner. And the final reason is that for a program like Reserve's with 38 years of course records, these duals are a great way to honor the past by allowing current runners to test themselves against the program's best, and this comparison really can only work when all the times are from the same course.
This last Friday, Laurel came to Reserve's campus to try and avenge an earlier close loss to WRA. What they found instead was a WRA team clicking on all cylinders, as Reserve defeated Laurel 15 – 41 (low score wins). Reserve took places 1-5 and 7 to soundly defeat their guests from up north, accumulating the fewest possible points available in a cross-country meet. Yet, while the win was truly impressive, what really earned Coach Warner's attention was the fact that every Reserve runner had a heck of a day, with efforts ranging from runners who completed their first official 5K race to other runners who put themselves in the record book. Consider the following:
Claire Brown ('25) – placed 3rd in the meet and would have placed 20th on the Junior All-Time list except that a teammate jumped in ahead of Claire with a faster time and kept her off the list; ran just 34 seconds off her season best!
Sofia Kovacevic ('25) – ran her best time of the season by 1:29!
Addie LeVan ('25)—placed 1st in 21:37 to earn the 17th spot on the WRA Top 20 list and the 12th spot on the Junior All-Time list; ran just 24 seconds off her personal best!
Min Roh ('25) – ran over 1:00 faster than her previous best on our course 2 years ago!
Miranda Wang ('25) – placed 4th and ran her second fastest time of the year, running just 34 seconds over her personal best!
Erin Bickford ('26) -- ran a course personal best by over 1:00!
Yuna Ravasio ('26) – ran 22:17 to place 2nd, earning the 12th spot on the Sophomore All-Time list; ran just 25 seconds off her season best!
Adelaide Baran('27) —placed 5th and ran her best time of the season by 50 seconds!
Amira Cassady ('27) -- ran her first timed 5K and broke 30:00!
Sophia Korman ('27)-- ran her first timed 5K and broke 30:00!
Reserve does not have an easy course. In fact, teams have moved to flatter and faster courses over the years, making Reserve's hilly course an even greater challenge than it used to be. To have one or two runners have a great day on a course is always a special treat. But to have every single runner run well is a gift, making Friday's victory one to cherish for a long time.
