Before embarking on trips to the Sierras, San Diego, or San Francisco for fall break, the men of P-P cross country battled against their SCIAC rivals on the grassy hills of La Mirada Park last Saturday morning.

The race culminated in a second-place finish for the Sagehens, and despite a relatively disappointing result, the team is still focusing on the positive side.“I know some of the guys are still really down about the race,” noted co-captain John Mering PO ’10. “But we need to move on from the race and get ready to take first at SCIACs. Many of us expected to have better performances, but on race days things don’t always go exactly as you hope they will. I really wanted to go to the water park that is adjacent to the course after the race, but that didn’t happen either.”

Mering’s attitude in no way reflects complacency with the Sagehens’ finish. Many of the runners, Mering included, were quick to recall that a second-place finish at multi-duals still leaves the Sagehens in the running to be SCIAC champions if they finish first at Prado Park on Oct. 31.

“We can still be first in SCIAC if we win next weekend, and that’s the most important thing to come out of Multi-Duals with,” said Hale Shaw PI ’12.Co-captain Brian Gillis PO ’10 also expressed optimism based on the team’s performance at La Mirada.

“Many of us had bad races, but we still finished second,” Gillis said. “That’s really encouraging for what could happen if we have good days at Prado.”Despite expecting slightly stronger performances, P-P’s first six runners—Mering [27:24], Anders Crabo PO ’12 [27:35], Gillis [27:43], Alex Johnson PI ’13 [27:57], Charlie Enscoe PO ’11 [28:06], and Paul Balmer PO ’12 [28:25]—all placed among the top twenty finishers on the challenging course.

Coach Torrey Olson was impressed by the depth of the team’s top runners.

“Even though some of the guys were not having their best races, there were others who stepped up to insure that the team still had a strong finish,” he said. Crabo and Keenan Ferar PI ’11 both worked to fill the gaps within the top seven on Saturday. Crabo finished second for the team and ninth overall, while Ferar was the Sagehens’ seventh finisher and 27th overall in 28:41.

“The fact that so many guys have proven themselves as great competitors and capable of running within our top seven makes me more confident that we can have a better performance at SCIACs,” Coach Olson asserted.

Most important, Saturday’s challenging race fueled the competitive spirits of P-P’s harriers. They will be training hard and preparing to exact revenge in the SCIAC finals.