Sophomore Julia Flanagan on Wednesday became the first Holy Cross girl to win the BCSL Freedom Division title in six years and also led the Lancers to their first title in six years.
Flanagan became the first Holy Cross girl to win a BCSL title since 2017, when Julia Lloyd ran 21:39 to win the Freedom Division title on the same course.
That’s also the last time Holy Cross won a team title. The Lancers in 2017 outscored 2nd-place New Egypt 19-36 to win the Freedom Division title.
Flanagan finished 150 meters ahead of Maple Shade junior Crystal Benito, who was 2nd in 20:27.
This was Flanagan’s first time under 20 minutes on any course. She ran 20:23 earlier this month at DREAM Park in Logan Township.
The results are a mess – one set of results has no first names, the other set only lists the Liberty Division results with no times – but it looks like Holy Cross edged Palmyra by a 26-29 score to win the team title.
For the Lancers, junior Anna Fonseca placed 5th in 22:07, junior Molly Frith 9th in 23:12, senior Sara Sherlock 12th in 25:54 and sophomore Hannah Crane 14th in 28:29. Sherlock was a state medalist last spring in track in the 400 hurdles and 800.
It appears from their MileSplit profiles that none of Holy Cross’s five scorers ever ran cross country before this fall. Only Sherlock and Crane have run track.
The rest of the top 10: Palmyra senior Cadence Anderson [3rd in 21:00], Maple Shade senior Yaretzy Rodriguez -Parras [4th in 21:12], Riverside junior Sydney Greenidge [6th in 22:22], New Egypt sophomore Alana Burnett [7th in 22:53], New Egypt senior Jenna Rountree [8th in 22:54] and Maple Shade senior Natalia Diaz [10th in 24:43].
From the Backstretch by Reuben Frank 