By BECKY SHANE
Staff Writer
On Saturday, September 27, top runners from the University High School cross country team competed in the 41^st annual Stanford Invitational in Palo Alto. All participating Trojans performed extremely well, many placing in the top 100.
The Stanford Invitational, a 5k race, is longer than the usual 3 mile cross country race. The meet took place in what captain Sarah Stern (Sr.) considered “great running weather.”  In the Division 2 Women’s 5k, 175 runners competed from schools across California. Sarah Stern (Sr.), Janine Bryant (So.), and Kyra Schmidt (Sr.) all placed in the top 100, finishing in 12^th place with 19:07, 43^rd with 19:54, and 84^th with 20:47, respectively. In the Men’s 5k Division 2 race, Eric Kawana (Jr.) placed 67^th with 17:09 and Elias Tita (Jr.) placed 96^th with 17:40 out of 173 competing runners.
Kyra Schmidt (Sr.) said, “The race was a tour of the first nine holes of the Stanford gold course. The weather was nice and it was a decently fast race. However, the times were a little bit slower because it was a 5K instead of 3 miles, but you didn’t really notice it during the race”.
In addition to the race itself, the team also enjoyed a Stanford campus tour and a bonding experience driving to and from the meet. Janine Bryant (So.) said, “The girls have lots of fun driving in Coach Levensailor’s van!”
The Trojan Cross Country team will compete in its first league meet at Irvine Regional Park on October 9.