Old Lyme Junior Gilbert Qualifies for X-Country Nationals in San Diego, First Ever OL Runner to Reach Nationals

Pictured here are the four girls who qualified for the Footlocker Cross Country National Championship in San Diego on Dec. 14. Lyme-Old Lyme High Schools’s Chase Gilbert is at right in photo—the other girls are, from left to right, Tess Sherry (Conard), Brook Strauss (Glastonbury), and Liv Sherry (Conard.) Photo by T. Gilbert.

BOSTON, MA—UPDATED 12/02 WITH NEW PHOTOS: On Saturday, Nov. 30, Lyme-Old Lyme High School (LOLHS) Junior Chase Gilbert qualified for the Footlocker Cross Country National Championship with her fifth place finish in the 5,000-meter course at the Northeast Regional Championships at Franklin Park In Boston.

Gilbert’s time was 17:56.9—only around six seconds behind the fourth place finisher, Liv Sherry of Conard High School in West Hartford at 17:49.3.

Brooke Strauss of Glastonbury was the highest-placed Connecticut finisher at third with a time of 17,41,5,

The National Championship will be held in San Diego, Calif., on Saturday, Dec.14..

The fastest 10 girls, who finished the race, qualified for the National Contest and four of those 10, including Gilbert, were from Connecticut. The fourth was Liv Sherry’s sister, Tess—also from Conard—who came 10th.

Chase Gilbert (left) is pictured here after Saturday’s race standing with her LOLHS coach, Jan Merrill-Morin, (center) and Merrill-Morin’s husband, Jeff. Photo by T. Gilbert.

Gilbert is the first Lyme-Old Lyme runner ever to qualify for the National Championship. She is coached at LOLHS by former 1976 Olympian runner Jan Merrill-Morin and LOLHS History and Civics teacher Aron Daquila.

Asked by LymeLine how she felt about her success, Chase responded by email saying, “I am so excited to represent the Northeast at nationals with an amazing group of girls! My coaches Jan and Aron have helped me earn this position with their commitments of coaching and supporting me. My family and teammates have been so supportive along the way as well.”

Chase Gilbert (center) in action. Photo by Alyssa Mercaldi.

“The whole community is very proud of Chase’s achievement,” Daquila said in an email to LymeLine, adding, “Chase is a very focused runner and this amazing achievement is a product of her dedication, patience and perseverance. Now she [has] earned a ticket to San Diego for Nationals, a goal of hers since freshman year. And certainly not an easy one, literally only 10 athletes from the entire Northeast region earned this.”

He concluded emphatically, “I’m just so happy for her.”

Here at LymeLine, we add our heartiest congratulations to Chase!

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