Carlmont's Gescuk has breakout run at Stanford

One week prior to the start of the cross-country practice season, approximately two months ago, Gescuk suffered an ankle sprain while running during the summer. Saturday’s meet at Stanford marked her first outing of the season.

“I wasn’t sure how she would do but she had a really great performance,” Lilygren said.

The result? Gescuk took third place in the girls’ Division I race with a time of 18 minutes, 47.6 seconds, recording the best time of any girls’ runner from San Mateo County.

Arriving at Carlmont last season as a transfer from Oregon high school, Gescuk was one of the Scots’ top cross-country runners last season as the team reached the state meet for the first time since 2013. Then, as a natural lacrosse player, she contemplated skipping track in the spring in order to play lacrosse.

When Gescuk found out she would have to sit out half the lacrosse season due to CCS transfer rules, however, she opted to keep on running.

“So she decided to run track,” Lilygren said. “Being kind of new to running, she had really dropped off her training between cross-country and track; and I was thinking I was going to have to bring her along slowly.”

Gescuk went on to win the Peninsula Athletic League championship in the 3,200 as a sophomore. She reached the Central Coast Section trials in the event, missing the cut for the finals by one spot.

“She doesn’t know how good she can be,” Lilygren said, “and I think she has a lot of upside potential. So hopefully going into this spring track season and next year, we’ll be able to do something about that.”

The Gentleman Scots also had a strong showing Saturday with senior Justin Tsu taking third place in the boys’ Division I race with a time of 15:54.70.

In the boys’ Division IV race, Sacred Heart Prep took third place in the team competition, paced by senior Max Cluss placing 13th individually with a 16:35.10, and sophomore Calvin Katz 15th with a 16:39.20.

Menlo sophomore Kamran Murray took 11th individually with a 16:24.30.

In the boys’ Division V race, Crystal Springs Uplands took third place, paced by juniors Jake Symonds with a 16:59.00 and Wilser Vasquez with a 17:04.80 finishing 13th and 14th, respectively.

Nueva School senior Caleb Dittmar took second place individually with a 16:10.70.

In the girls’ Division II race, Woodside junior Sarah Perry took fourth place at 19:00.0, with freshman teammate Elle Marsyla finishing 14th with a 19:31.6. Aragon senior Emma Madgic took seventh place with a 19:04.1, while teammate Beata Gold took 10th with a 19:22.5.

In the girls’ Division III race, Mills took third place in the team competition, led by Tessa Chen who took 13th individually with a 19:44.4.

In the girls’ Division IV race, Menlo School took second place, paced by juniors Charlotte Tomkinson and Kyra Pretre. Tomkinson took sixth individually with an 18:55.9, while Pretre took 11th with a 19:11.5.

Serra places third at Ram Invite

The Serra boys’ cross-country team was in the mix at the Ram Cross-Country Invitational Saturday at Westmoor.

The Padres placed third overall in the team portion of the boys’ varsity race, and charted the best team run in their heat. The varsity competition features two different races, with Bellarmine (first) and Alisal (second) showing better in team points than Serra’s performance in the alternate race.

Senior Andrew Abbey recorded the fourth best time, and second in his heat, with a 13:02. Senior Raymond Zhang (13:26), senior Ryan Possa (13:29), junior Trey Alhorn (14:00), and senior Brendan Callagy (14:02) rounded out the Padres’ top five finishers.

In the girls’ varsity race, Westmoor senior Shannen Dorn placed second overall with a time of 15:16. Only St. Ignatius sophomore Evie Cohen (15:05) performed better, leading the Wildcats to the best team performance of the day.