St. Francis Cross Country started strong with their 2020-21 kickoff event on Saturday. The "Meeting of Marauders and Troubadours" took place at Jesuit High School, where Jesuit and St. Francis ran against themselves in intrasquad races. 

Saturday was the debut race for Head Coach Melanie Cleland who led the team in their first race in over a year. "We were excited, one to bring the girls together into some sense of normalcy, and then the second thing was being able to see that we could do this very safely as well." She then went on to say that she believed both of these were successful. When asked how she thought the girls did today she said, "I think they did wonderful, I was very excited with their performance and excited with how the season's coming together, and everyone seemed to have a good time." 

The top three runners today were: Cate Joaquin (12:08), Tatiana Cornejo (12:35), and Claire Silva (12:42). All of the runners did amazing today and the season is looking bright! Many of the runners made it quite clear that the Troubies are very excited to be back and running together. 

The Troubies will be back in action at Jesuit High school against Carondelet High School on Saturday, March 13. Race time to be announced.  Due to public health measures, spectators are limited and restricted to just two pre-approved members of each athlete's household. 

Race recap and photos submitted by Bella McCullough ('22), SFHS Sports Media Club