Ava Parekh, a junior at Latin School in Chicago, placed third during the Nike Cross Virtual Championship week competition by running a personal-best 16:59.40 on her home 5-kilometer layout Nov. 21 at Lincoln Park. Parekh, who joins DyeStat editor Erik Boal to reflect on her impressive fall season, also helped Chicago Latin XC Club place seventh overall with 187 points. She went unbeaten against Illinois competition the entire fall and placed in the top three in every cross country event she contested, including a third-place finish Oct. 15 in the championship race at the XC Town USA Meet of Champions, presented by The Garrett Companies, at the LaVern Gibson course in Terre Haute, Ind. Parekh also captured the Division 2 title Nov. 8 at the ShaZam XC Club Championships at Three Sisters Park. She also ran Nov. 21 with her brother Akili and her parents in a family distance medley relay against the Centrowitz lineup, including Matthew Sr. and Matt. Parekh looks forward to returning to the track to lower her personal bests of 4:51.56 in the mile and 10:30.69 in the 3,200 meters, which she achieved Aug. 1 at the Illinois Meet of Champions, in addition to racing relays with senior teammates Marianne Mihas and Olivia Syftestad.