The Lady Dragon cross country team took on the Holly Invitational last weekend.

The ladies finished the race in 10th place overall with two-time all state junior Sophie Novak finishing fourth with a time of 19:20. Also earning an individual medal was senior Abby Locke placing 34th overall with a time of 21:20.

Additional scoring contributors were freshman Annika Russell placing 63rd, junior Alexa Mathes finishing in 83rd and junior Iris Meech completing the run in 85th.

This year’s team consists of 41 runners with eight returning varsity.

“We did graduate key runners Allison Sherman and Olivia Ames so we have some work to do to make up this gap,” said head coach Deborah McDonald.

Novak is expected to contribute greatly to the team with help from seniors Marissa O’Leary, Locke and Sofia Bohannon.

Juniors Mathes and Meech have returned and are running healthy and two freshmen are making their mark on the team, Russell and Kyra Andrews.

“Our first jamboree we finished 6th out of six teams. Our focus is getting stronger and faster and try to move up within the league. For now we can only take one meet at a time and focus on the things we can control. Hopefully by regionals we can get the job done and qualify as a team,” McDonald said.