Malvern girls cross country focused on growth, resiliency

It’s said there is strength in numbers. That maxim is most often used in reference to large numbers, but there is resiliency in small numbers, too.

Evidence of that can be found in the Malvern girls’ cross country team. The cross country program at Malvern is not big by any metric, but that’s fine with Coach Jeremy Maher.

What he’s got is a disciplined, tight-knit bunch of young runners who have matured together. And the beauty is that since there were no juniors on last year’s squad, the returning core of Hornets will be together this year and the next.

While Malvern does says farewell to Rayne Theiss and Leah Irvine, juniors Emma Maher and Lexus Buchman are back, along with sophomore Mya Doughty. Theiss and Irvine’s leadership will be missed, but Maher, Doughty, and Buchman were the Hornets’ top three finishers at the Division III District meet held at Cambridge last year. Although Malvern failed to advance to regionals, Maher and Doughty placed in the top forty and Buchman recorded a season best time.

Maher, who enters his eighth season in charge of the program, is excited about getting these student-athletes for not just one more year, but two.

“We look forward to seeing the girls who ran last year lead our team,” he said. “We are excited to be able to keep this group together through this year and into next and know they will improve as we go throughout the season.”

Joining the team are freshmen Olivia Maher and Annabelle Renz, who will replace the holes left by Theiss and Irvine, allowing the Hornets to field a full team of five runners. Being so young, the Hornets may be a year away from really turning heads on the course, but their coach says not to count out this team, just yet.

“We are interested to see what our new runners can produce and we want to see all of our runners continue to improve on the success they had last year,” said Maher. “They are a fun group to have and we know if they put in maximum effort, they will accomplish great things this year.”