Blair returned to their course on Friday, October 23rd for the second virtual meet of the season, this time running against MAPL rival The Lawrenceville School. Because of scheduling difficulties, Blair and Lawrenceville had not raced a dual meet against each other since 2013. In providing a chance for the two schools to resume their traditional head-to-head competition, the virtual season did come with a silver lining after all. Blair’s course came with a 25 second handicap when compared with Lawrenceville’s flatter, faster course, but the Bucs were unable to upset their powerful counterparts.
Lawrenceville’s first four runners finished before Petra Taylor '24 came through in a season-best 23:50 (23:25 versus The Big Red) to lead all Blair runners. Jessica Wilm '21 - displaced by Lawrenceville #6 - was second for Blair, while Marty Dericks '22 ran her first 5k of the year to place third for the team. Blair’s final two varsity scorers included Lily Starrs '21 and Corrine Wilm '21, with Paige Folli '23 and Chloe Lau '23 completing the varsity squad on the day.
The final overall score was 16 - 46 in favor of Lawrenceville. Several Blair runners were held out of the race to recuperate from injuries, but the full squad hopes to be back racing in two weeks when Blair takes on The Peddie School over a special two-mile course on Blair/Peddie Day on November 7th.