Unstoppable Together
The Dallastown girls cross country team make their mark in postseason meets after an undefeated regular season.
The girls pose with their trophy and medals under the rainy sky after the district meet. The team won first place, and many of the girls won individual medals as well.
Cross country is largely seen as an individual sport. Each runner can only rely on herself to beat their personal records.
But, to the girl cross country runners of Dallastown, it truly is a team sport.
What started off as a group of strangers has transformed into a sisterhood of one of the best cross country teams in school history.
With an undefeated record of 20-0, the girls showed that their young team, coached by Doug Moyer and John Myers, was unstoppable.
“We’ve worked so hard all season and I’m so proud of the outcome, it’s really been amazing to see it all come together!” junior runner Allie Myers said.
The team lost three key members, Lydia Fimmano, Sarah
Groetz, and Bella Wise, to graduation last spring.
But they didn’t seem to miss a step. Led by senior Carly Gable, and juniors Emily Schuler and Myers, the largely underclassmen team came back stronger than ever, with incredible feats in their postseason.
The YAIAA cross country championships were held at Gettysburg High School on October 16. Schuler’s time of 18:39:7 led her to first place.
Schuler, who has been a standout since her freshman season, was excited to be the champion after falling short to upperclassmen the past few years.
Other Dallastown runners within the top 20 were Allie Myers (6), Carly Gable (8), Lydia Tolerico (10), and Helen Zardus (16).
The team beat out Northeastern, Gettysburg, Red Lion, and York Suburban to be the county team champs.
The next weekend, the team traveled to Big Spring High Schools to race in the District III meet in unfavorable conditions.
Soggy grounds, bitter rain and wind, chilly temperatures, and mud, mud, and more mud made the already difficult meet even more stressful.
“The conditions were very harsh…Staying warm, making sure our legs were loose, and getting proper footing on the course was important,” Schuler said.
The team did not let the bad weather rain on their parade. The team
won the meet, becoming District III Champions for the first time in school history.
Schuler also placed first individually in the Class 3A race with a time
of 19:06.8, becoming the first girl at Dallastown to do so. Myers placed 17.
“It was such an amazing experience, we all work so hard and it feels so good for all the work to have paid off,” Schuler said.
The team continued their race to the top with the state championship at Hershey on Saturday, Nov. 3.
With visions of gold medals and Hershey Kisses in their head, the team is trained hard this week, but they are having some fun along the way.
In honor of Halloween, the team had a “Hallo-week”, where they dressed in costumes according to a daily theme for practice, including Christmas and western.
The goal for states was for the team to improve from last year’s 7 place win. The group effort from all runners led the team to accomplish their goal, with a 4 place team win.
Individual scores in the top 100 included Schuler 10, Myers 42, Lydia Tolerico 49, Helen Zardus 68, and Gable 91.
While the season is over, many of the girls will run again together in the spring when track and field begins.
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