B-CC X-Country/Track 2011-12

At state meet, victory and heartbreak

2012-02-22T21:16:00.008-05:00

One won by a step. The other lost by a hair’s breadth.

B-CC junior Brittney Wade led from start to finish in the girls’ 800-meter race at the Maryland 4A high school state indoor track championship Tuesday, winning in two minutes, 17 seconds.

Later in the state competition, senior Ava Farrell (No. 2 in the picture below)

took the lead in the last 300 meters in the 1600-meter race, only to finish in a virtual tie with Churchill runner Lucy Srour. Cameras on either side of the finish line helped determine that Srour finished first by 0.004 of a second.

Srour’s time: 5:15.371.

Farrell’s: 5:15.375.

The bottom line from the competition overall was that B-CC girls’ team finished fourth in the state. Every girl who competed scored points for the team. The boys’ team, after a strong year, did not have any athletes qualify for the meet.

Wade’s victory was especially impressive, said Coach Chad Young, because it was her third competition of the day. She ran the 500-meter race, winning her heat in 1:17. That was good for sixth overall, as the large field was divided into two groups with Wade seeded in the slower field.

In the 4 x 800 girls’ relay team, junior Caroline Leuba led off in 2:30, putting the team in fifth place. Senior Hallie Jester (2:27) (pictured below) and junior Laura Nakasaka (2:24 for her fastest time of the year, pictured second below), picked up the pace slightly, passing a few teams. Wade, the anchor, ran 2:20, but she was unable to catch Northwest’s anchor. B-CC ran strong and well, finishing second in 9:42, or three seconds faster than its earlier record.

“We’re a pretty deep team,” Young said. “We just stayed calm and got ourselves back in the race. Northwest was just a little bit out of reach. You have to give a lot of credit to them. They also ran a very smart race.”

In the 800-meter race, Young said he wasn’t sure that Wade would have enough energy to win.

“I hoped she would still have the legs,” he said. “We were all waiting to see how she would feel. She went out and ran the fastest time of the year. She decided she would lead the race from the beginning. Toward the end of race, a girl from Severna Park came on her shoulder, but Brittney held her off for the last lap. Mentally, she was extremely determined to win the 800. She had a lot of confidence.”

Farrell did as well. Young had made the tactical decision not to place her in the 4 x 800 relay, even though Farrell was the team’s second fastest 800 runner. He wanted her fresh for the two longest races of the meet – the mile and two mile.

In the mile, the pack started at a 5:20-minute pace, slow enough so that eight girls hung together for several laps. Young had talked to Farrell before the race about not waiting until the end to start her kick.

Farrell did just that, breaking away from the field with 300 meters to go.

“In that last lap and a half, she took off, and built and maintained a nice lead,” Young said. Srour, the Churchill runner, started closing the gap, gradually erasing the distance, and caught Farrell right at the finish line.

No one knew who won.

Twenty minutes passed. Farrell gave an interview on the sidelines. Coaches and teammates watched and waited. Finally, the judges ruled Srour the winner.

“I guess it shows you have to lean at the finish line,” Young said. “Sprinters always do, but distance runners run to the line. It was a great race. Ava ran beautifully. Tactically, she ran a great race, too. It was her best race of her high school career so far.”

In the 3200-meter race, Farrell and freshman Caroline Beakes entered for B-CC.

“Caroline has been our freshman star of the indoor track season,” Young said. “There have been a lot of freshman stars this year, and she is yet another.”

Beakes (pictured left) passed Farrell a few laps into the race, and continued to pass other runners, finishing in 11:45, for fifth overall. Farrell finished seventh in 12:01.

There was one letdown at the end. The team’s 4 x 400 relay was set to go, waiting for Wade after she finished her 800 meter race. Wade started cramping a bit near the starting gate and signaled to Young that she couldn’t run. Young quickly tried to substitute her with Jester, but the officials wouldn’t allow it.

Young said he felt terribly for the team, especially sophomore Laila Ismail, who had waited all day for the race. The other team members were Leuba and Nakasaka. “It was a real debacle,” Young said. “Everyone was confused. The officials were confused. The girls were confused. Sadly, it didn’t work out. I felt so badly for Laila. She really cared a lot, and wanted to put on a great performance at the end of the season.”

Fortunately, the indoor season’s end comes just a week before the outdoor season’s start. Practice starts March 1. The first meet is at home on March 21, against Churchill (possible redemption for one senior) and Gaithersburg.

“We just had a great group of girls and boys on this team,” Young said. “Every one had such a great attitude. It was so easy to coach these kids. It’s a shame that the boys didn’t qualify for the states, but I have high hopes for both teams next year.”

Regionals: B-CC girls race to 2nd place finish

2012-02-12T20:59:00.001-05:00

By Chad Young

Every two years the 4A West Regional meet changes its location between the familiar PG Sportsplex and the less familiar— and less glamorous—Baltimore Armory. The seniors, having run at the armory as freshmen, explained the horrors of running there: There is no actual track (it’s more of a gym floor), the floor is dusty and slippery, the lighting is dim, there are no pits for long or triple jump (hence the reason those events are not contested at the state meet), and shot putters throw onto mats.

The top four places at the regional meet qualify for the state meet and athletes not in the top four can still qualify if they hit a predetermined qualifying time, distance, or height. The team goals at the regional meet are not necessarily to win the meet, but rather to qualify as many athletes for the state meet as possible to increase the chances of winning a state title.

Despite the less than adequate facilities, the athletes remained competitive and determined. The girls surpassed their performance from the county meet, where they finished fourth overall, to get second place. They beat Clarksburg and Wootton, who had beaten them at the county meet a few weeks earlier, but they were still outmatched by Northwest who won the meet. The boys performed very well and placed 12th overall out of the 17 teams in the region.

The day began with sophomore Lucas Beck competing in the pole vault, an event that has not featured a BCC athlete in many years. Lucas awed his teammates with his new talent as they gathered to cheer him on as he attempted to clear the opening height of 9 feet. With just one other competitor from Quince Orchard, Beck needed only to clear the bar to score eight points and to advance to the state meet. Unfortunately, nine feet was just out of reach, but his performance was surely a highlight of the meet.

The girls 4x800 was the first race of the day and BCC shined. Caroline Leuba (2:34) led off with confidence. She set a fast tempo from the beginning, which showed from the single file line that formed behind her. She handed the baton off to Hallie Jester (2:33), with a Richard Montgomery runner not far behind. Hallie surpassed the RM runner and held off a charging Northwest girl to hand the baton off in first place. Laura Nakasaka (2:40), running the mile shortly after this race, ran with a sense to conserve, but did not wish to relinquish the lead to NW who would not agree to keep the pace slow. Brittney Wade (2:33), received the baton just behind the NW team, but took over the pace making and held off the field for the win in 10:22. (The team is pictured, minus Laura Nakasaka.)

Wade continued to have an impressive day, edging the fifth place runner in the 500 to get fourth and qualify for the state meet by just .17 seconds. She then went on to become the regional champion in the 800 in 2:29. It was her third race of the day, and she admitted to feeling a little tired. She sat near the back of a pack of six runners, and with each of the four laps she gradually moved her way up to the front. A lap and a half from the finish she took the lead and made fighting off a group of six runners for the win look easy.

Wade was not the only athlete to book a trip to states in multiple events. Now a senior, Ava Farrell last ran at the armory when she was a freshman, and a lot has changed since then. She has run many races and learned a lot about her abilities and about how to race. One thing that hasn’t changed – she’s still really fast. During the 1600, a race she wasn’t originally planning to run, Ava sat behind the leaders for the majority of the race. When Churchill’s Lucy Srour pulled away from the field, Ava didn’t panic, but instead gradually reeled Srour in and set herself up for an exciting last lap where she decisively passed Churchill’s star runner and pulled away to win the race in 5:26.

Farrell had little time to enjoy her 1600 success. With her next race, the 3200, quickly approaching, she was forced to turn her cool down into a warm-up. Two of Farrell’s toughest competitors would be doing the same, which would keep the race close. What none of these three girls realized though, is that BCC freshman Caroline Beakes would look to steal the spotlight.

A pack of five runners circled the track together until Caroline Guiot, the Whitman senior and 4A state cross country individual champion, took off with two laps to go. Farrell and Beakes closed the gap and Beakes sprinted during the final lap to challenge Guiot for the win. Guito edged her out by a mere one second, but Beakes’ 2nd place finish was more than enough to earn her a trip to the state meet. Farrell, also sprinting and challenging Guiot in the final lap, crossed the line one second behind Beakes for a third place finish and her second qualifying mark of the day. Beakes and Farrell finished in 12:01 and 12:02 respectively.

The girls 4x400 was the last group to qualify. Sophomore Laila Ismail (1:05), Leuba (1:06), Nakasaka (1:05) and Wade (1:05), finished in 3rd overall in 4:25.

Although the boys had no qualifiers, they had a number of notable performances. Sophomore Nolan Ebner showed that a slow surface doesn’t always result in a slow time. The boys’ 800 was separated into two sections and Ebner ran in the slower seeded section. He sat back early, but surged ahead on the final lap and ran away with the win. His time, 2:12, tied his personal best and earned him a fifth place finish - just one place from qualifying.

Sophomore Peter Horton ran the same tough double as Farrell – the 1600 and 3200. He performed well in both finishing 8th in the 1600 in 4:50, and 6th in the 3200 in 10:29, just missing the qualifying standards.

The boys’ 4x200 relay of Julien Dorsey (26.26), Alessandro Lallas (25:35), Chris Bonilla (26.03), and Weyimni Dorsu (25.72) showed the most improvement, finishing 7th overall in 1:44. The boys 4x400 team, Ebner (58.55), Lallas (56.27), Dorsey (58.97), and Dorsu (59.60), finished in 8th place overall in 3:53.

Boys' 4x800 team: Matt Boden, Sam Hainbach, Aidan Hennessey and Kyle Nakasaka.

State qualifiers will compete next at the 4A State Championships that will be held at the PG Sportsplex on Tuesday February 21st at 4pm.

Race videos from regionals can be found on the Running Maryland website: http://runningmaryland.com/index.php?option=com_jomtube&view=videos&Itemid=70

Full regional results can be found on mocorunning.com: http://www.mocorunning.com/meet.php?meet_id=2321

Girls’ Team Wins Last Track to Philly Invitational

2012-01-28T23:19:00.000-05:00

Left to right: Helen Webster, Brittney Wade, Kat McNeill, Caroline Beakes.

By Chad Young

The B-CC girls have a problem. It’s not a common problem. In fact, most teams don’t have it, and many wish they did. B-CC, being one of the deepest girls teams in the state, has an abundance of competitive, fast, and talented runners. It’s a good problem, but with so many talented athletes, it’s not always easy to give each of them a chance to compete.

Today, three gifted newcomers had a chance to step into the spotlight. While this was a fairly unfamiliar place for them, they maintained their composure and ran their way to an unexpected but not entirely surprising victory. Freshmen Kat McNeill, Caroline Beakes, and sophomore Helen Webster teamed up with veteran junior Brittney Wade to win the girls 4x800 in 10:01, the third fastest time in the county this year behind only Northwest and B-CC’s top 4x800 team.

McNeill ran the lead-off leg of the 4x800. She fared well, finishing in the middle of the pack and running a personal best in 2:33. She handed off to a Beakes who maintained the team’s position and ran a personal best in 2:32. Still in the middle of the pack, the team needed to make up a little ground. As the baton passed to Webster, she showed she was ready for the responsibility. Webster passed two runners and moved the team closer to the leading pack of two runners about 25 meters ahead, running a personal best of 2:34. Running a 2:19 split, Wade anchored the relay, showing off her talent and experience as she used the first two laps to calmly catch the leading pack and the last two laps to ensure victory for the B-CC team.

The two-mile was equally impressive. Even as a fourth year varsity runner, senior Ava Farrell has only had a couple of chances to run the two-mile race with fresh legs. Even today, she ran the 800 leg of the DMR for B-CC’s first win of the day. However, with plenty of rest between races, Farrell was ready to post a fast time. She battled a runner from Glenelg Country School who began averaging about 42 seconds per lap. Farrell waited patiently and matched each stride, waiting for the right time to break away and finish the race on her own. With four laps to go, she made her move. The Glenelg runner responded immediately and picked up the pace. Farrell, motivated by this reaction, put the pressure on and made a decisive move to create a wide gap. The extra motivation resulted in a ten-second personal best as Farrell set the top time in the county this year in 11:18.32.

On the boys’ side, sophomore, Peter Horton, in need of a regional qualifying time, ran a smart race. The leaders took the race out fast and Horton knew that he would have to pace himself on his own to run a fast time. He paced himself evenly and knocked five seconds off of his personal best, running 10:17 and placing seventh overall.

These impressive races were not the only noteworthy performances of the day. The meet began with a win by the girls’ distance medley relay (1200m, 400m, 800m, 1600m), run by Wade (3:49 in the 1200), sophomore Laila Ismail (1:03.03 in the 400), Farrell (2:25 in the 800) and junior Laura Nakasaka (5:28 in the 1600). BCC took the lead from the start and ran away from rival Severna Park. Their time of 12:47.99 is the fastest time in the state this year.

In the girls’ mile, Beakes and Webster allowed others to take the pace. They held on near the front the entire race and with one lap to go they fought their way to the finish line. The B-CC duo finished first and second respectively; Beakes in 5:34, a personal best, and Webster in 5:39.

The girls’ 4x400, Nakasaka (1:05.30), Caroline Leuba (1:05.33), Ismail (1:03.43) and Wade (59.79), placed second in 4:14.57, the 3rd fastest time in the county this season. In fourth place with just the last leg to go, Wade again made up ground, pulling the team into second place.

The boys’ 4x400 also posted their best performance of the season, moving them up to tenth in the county. The boys’ team, Nolan Ebner (55.25), Alessandro Lallas (54.19), Julien Dorsey (55.66) and Weyimni Dorsu (53.59), finished in 3:38.99 for seventh place.

Of the 65 teams competing the girls took first place with 57 points and the boys took 26th place with four points.

The teams will compete at the 4A West Regional Championships at the Baltimore Armory on Thursday February 9th at 4pm. Armory address: 5th Regiment Armory, 219 West Hoffman St., Baltimore, Md 21201. The 4A State Championships will be at the PG Sportsplex on Tuesday February 21st at 4pm.

County championship: ‘A test of strength’

2012-01-24T23:54:00.001-05:00

After finishing fourth in the 300-meter race at the Montgomery County championship on Monday, B-CC junior Brittney Wade became physically ill. She didn’t know if she could continue.

Coach Chad Young talked quietly to her. He asked how she was doing. He said how important it was to marshal her strength and to try another race.

Wade did more than try. She ran the 500-meter race, finishing third in 1 minute, 17 seconds. She ran the 800-meter race, winning it in 2:21. And then she ran the anchor leg of the girls’ 4 x 400 relay; the team finished third overall in 4:17.

“It was a test of strength,” Young said afterward. “It’s pretty rare to run all those events, and she did really, really well. It was a nice test run for her before the regionals and the states. After the 300-meter race, I wasn’t sure she could continue. But she pulled together for her team and got back out there.”

The other runners on the 4 x 400 team were juniors Laura Nakasaka and Caroline Leuba, and sophomore Laila Ismail. The time beat their previous record by six seconds.

The state now ranks runners of all high schools by their best time, and Wade’s performance vaulted her into elite company. She is now 19th fastest in the state in the 300, 6th fastest in the 500, and 3rd fastest in the 800.

Wade wasn’t the only star of the day. There was a second: senior Ava Farrell.

Farrell was an ironwoman as well, anchoring the 4 x 800-meter relay, which finished second overall in 9:45; finishing second in the 1600-meter race in 5:18, a personal record; and finishing second in the 3200-meter race in 11:50.

Freshman Caroline Beakes finished fourth in the 3200-meter race in 11:57. “She was flying around the track in the last lap,” Young said.

Young said that Farrell ran a tactically smart race in the two-mile with a strong kick at the end, surprising a runner and edging her for second place. In the mile, Young said that Farrell did exceptionally well and her time is ranked as sixth fastest in the state.

The girls’ 4 x 800 team also included Leuba (2:29); Nakasaka (2:25), and senior Hallie Jester (2:25). Farrell ran 2:25 in the relay. It was the first time this season that the team finished under 10 minutes.

Rounding out the scoring the girls was Ismail, finishing eighth in the 300-meter race in
43:03. The girls’ team finished fourth overall in the county meet.

For the boys’ team, sophomore Peter Horton ran a blistering mile race, finishing eighth overall in 4:42, his PR by eight seconds. Horton was the only member of the B-CC boys’ team to score in the meet. The team finished 22nd out of 25 teams.

The next meet will be Saturday at the Georgetown Prep track invitational. The regional championship is set for Feb. 9 at the Baltimore Armory, and the state championship is Feb. 21 at the Prince Georges Sportsplex.

Words to run by: Strong, tough, and important

2011-11-28T23:42:00.001-05:00

By Emily Young

CARY, N.C. -- Those of you who have read or seen The Help are familiar with the mantra that Aibileen makes Mae Mobley repeat to herself: you is smart, you is kind, you is important. This past weekend, the varsity girls (running as the Bethesda Pine Trees due to Maryland rules about postseason competition) came up with their own version of this mantra as they prepared to face their toughest competition of the year at the Nike Cross Country Southeast Regional meet:

I am strong, I am tough, I am important.

Without senior leader Ava Farrell, the girls knew they had to use the strength they’d developed through their training to attack a difficult course because of their individual importance to the team.

The girls’ commitment led them to a very respectable 10th place finish out of 18 teams, making them the highest placing Maryland team in the championship race.

The mostly young and inexperienced Pine Trees made the trip to North Carolina determined to run hard and enjoy the experience. “This season we focused our training schedule around the state meet. Nike wasn’t something we thought seriously about until a few weeks ago,” said coach Chad Young. “We kind of looked at it as a reward for a great season and told the girls to run hard but to have fun and learn from it because we may make this meet the end goal of our season sometime in the next couple of years.”

The girls followed Coach Young’s instructions and ran some of their most impressive times of the season even though they didn’t train for the race. The Pine Trees’ first three runners, Nora McUmber (19:12), Laura Nakasaka (19:54), and Annie McElvein (20:12), all ran personal bests, while Hallie Jester (20:18) and Kat McNeill (20:29), runners four and five, ran their third best times of the season. Abby Fry, who ran the race with a painful hamstring cramp, and Caroline Leuba finished the race as the sixth and seventh Pine Tree runners, running 21:03 and 21:46 respectively.

McUmber, the Pine Trees’ top runner, led her team yet again despite feeling sick before the race. “Even though she was feeling a little under the weather when she woke up on Saturday, Nora still ran a great race,” said Young. “She has been so consistent this year, and she showed just how tough she is by running a PR on a hilly course on a day when she wasn’t feeling her best. I think in a year or two, after some more training and more racing experience, she could easily be up with the front pack in a race like this.”

Young also was extremely impressed with McElvein, who showed confidence and maturity in one of the few races she was able to run this season. Young called her performance “the biggest surprise of the day. … She went from not running the first half of the year because her jaw was wired shut, to being our alternate, to running a huge PR on her way to finishing third on the team. She really stepped up and made a significant difference in the team score.”

Nakasaka also entered Saturday’s race having recently battled back from injury. “Laura is just so determined in every race, and she never lets us down,” said Young. “Some runners lose their confidence when they first return from injury, but Laura never seemed to worry about how she would run after taking time off. She just went out and ran her way to a PR like it was no big deal.”

Now that the season is officially over, Coach Young is already thinking about next year when he hopes to take both the boys and the girls back to Cary. “I’d really like for this to become a new end of season tradition for both teams,” he said. With the amount of young talent that emerged from this year’s squads, this seems like a very real possibility. Congratulations to both of the teams.

B-CC girls win state championship, boys finish 12th

2011-11-12T23:02:00.004-05:00

The B-CC cross-country girls’ team now has a new name: State champs.

The team (shown above in a photo courtesy of Julie Billingsley) won the state championship Saturday in a hard-fought race at Hereford High School, riding on the strength of a deep pack of talented runners to narrowly win the competition among the state’s top 21 teams. It was B-CC girls first cross-county state championship since 2003, and the first 4-A win since B-CC joined the largest high school group three years ago.

Just 16 points separated the top five teams, with B-CC beating runner-up and last year’s champion Whitman by eight points. In this team sport, the scores are compiled from the top five finishers – the sum total of the finishing places – and the victor is the one with the lowest total.

“At the end of the race, they knew they pushed as far as they could,” said Coach Chad Young. “They prepared well, raced it hard, left it all there on the course. They had nothing left when they crossed the finish line.”

The boys’ cross-country team also performed well, finishing 12th out of 24 teams, and also edged cross-town rival Whitman.

In the girls’ race, a top pack went out without a single B-CC runner.

But senior co-captain Ava Farrell led a second pack, and close behind her were freshmen Nora McUmber, Abby Fry, and Kat McNeill; juniors Laura Nakasaka and Caroline Leuba; and senior Hallie Jester.

Even though the team had won the county and regional races, the state competition posed new challenges. At one point, Farrell fell. Fry also tripped over a pole on the course, falling far back for a while. And McUmber was in roughly 25th place at the one-mile marker, a typical back-in-the-pack start for her but still it was enough to create knots in Young’s stomach.

The girls then stepped up. McUmber rallied to finished seventh overall, in 20 minutes, 18 seconds. Farrell came in next in 20:47 to finish 14th. Then: Fry, battling back, in 21:02 for 19th; McNeill, 21:21, for 29th; and Nakasaka, 21:31, for 34th. Jester was right behind in 21:33, for 35th place, and Caroline Leuba finished 66th in 22:19.

The finish: B-CC 103, Whitman, 111, Severna Park, 114, Dulaney, 117, and Wootton, 119.

“All five coaches were thinking after the race, ‘Did we do it?’ We were all really excited with how our teams had performed,” Young said. “I think we ran a great race, we ran as hard as we could, they ran with no regrets.”

Young said the girls knew that each of the top five finishes were equally important if they were going to win. “We rely heavily on having a tight pack, and that was key to our success,” he said.

Another key: three of the top five are freshman, a bounty that no one could have predicted at the team’s first practice before the start of the school year.
Young noted a couple of highlights from the race, two involving those freshmen:

On Fry: “Abby ran into a pole and almost fell down, and she was way back in the field for a while. As I was watching her, I didn’t know why she was so far back. But I later learned that the pole, which was marking the course, really slowed her down.”

On Farrell: “About 800 meters from the finish, she slid on some mud, fell down, and got back up. All the girls really ran with a lot of determination, and you could see Ava at the end really leaning into the hill, really gritting her teeth up the hill.”

On McUmber: “Some coaches from other teams commented to me, ‘She was so far back at the mile,’ and then they said how impressed they were with how she gradually picked off the field. She does it so casually it seems. It looks so easy for her to run up the hills, compared to how hard it is for almost everyone else.”

Coach Emily Young missed the race because of a family wedding. Chad Young said she was sad not to be there. He texted her after the results were announced.

“She was extremely excited for the girls and she relayed a message to them about how proud she was of the team,” Chad Young said. “It was great to have a woman on the coaching staff. She related a bit more to the girls, ran with them a bit more. I try to do my best with that, and so did (former coach Nathan) Herchenroeder, but it’s really good to have Emily there.”

In the boys’ race, sophomore Peter Horton led the way for the team, finishing in 17:50, for 45th place. Next was sophomore Nolan Ebner, whom Young called “the star of the day,” finishing in 17:56, for 48th place. Next were: junior Nick McGreivy, 18:02, for 59th place; senior Aidan Hennessey, 18:15 for 73rd; freshman Sam Baker, 18:22 for 77th; sophomore Matt Boden, 18:49, for 99th; and junior Thomas Horton, 18:57 for 102nd.

“Just like the girls, we have a solid pack of boy runners,” Young said. “The spread for the boys, from first to fifth, was just 32 seconds. That’s where the boys have a lot going for them. Yes they are young, and we don’t have a front of the pack runner – yet – but we have guys really competing out there.”

“Peter Horton led the team today,” Young said. “He had a great race. Nolan also ran extremely well and it was great to see him bridge the gap to the top runners on the team. The pack was getting tighter and improving a lot with each race this year.”

Young said one theme throughout the year for both teams was surpassing expectations that outsiders had of them.

“For the girls, a lot of people thought Whitman’s team would be the best all year,” he said. “On the boys’ side, nobody really had much faith in them early in the year. So they had a little chip on their shoulders, wanting to prove people wrong. And that’s what both teams did all year.”

The result for the girls is that there soon will be a new trophy and a new banner at B-CC proclaiming the 2011 team the 4A state champs.

Words from a coach: Team bond sets stage for states

2011-11-11T20:23:00.000-05:00

Coach Emily Young will not be able to attend Saturday's state meet. Here's a guest blog post from her to the teams:

The boys and girls teams are headed to the state meet on Saturday, and they both find themselves in a position that not many people expected them to be in at this point in the season. The boys, not even favored to finish top ten in the county at the beginning of the season, easily qualified for states by finishing 5th in the region. Tired of being underestimated, they repeatedly defied the expectations of their critics and made a name for themselves throughout the county and the state. I have no doubt that the boys will deliver another surprising performance on Saturday, providing a fitting ending to an inspiring season.

Unlike the boys, the girls were expected to be one of the top teams in the county, but they still constantly found themselves in Whitman’s shadow, a place that just about everyone seemed convinced they would remain. Everyone that is, except for the girls themselves. Like the boys, they were not content to have their talent underestimated, so they set their sights on Whitman and never looked back. Their hard work and determination paid off as they bested Whitman in their last two races, running smoothly and confidently to victories at the County and Regional Championships. If they can hold off Whitman and a talented Severna Park squad on Saturday, they have a very real and exciting chance to walk away as Maryland state champions.

While only 14 B-CC runners will be running this weekend, those 14 could not have gotten to where they are without the efforts of all 70 members of the team. This year’s squad was full of talented, dedicated runners who pushed themselves each day at practice and in races. Because they were all so determined to improve and because they all challenged each other to be better, earning a spot on the varsity team was not an easy task. The seven boys and seven girls running on Saturday are as good as they are now because they had teammates who forced them to fight for those top spots.

But it was not just the healthy competition that made a difference in the way the season played out. The friendships that evolved and strengthened over the past few months created a strong team bond and a positive atmosphere that set the tone for the late season success. At every race and during every practice, the kids supported each other and enthusiastically and proudly represented their team and their school. They knew how to work hard while still having fun, and as coaches, we could not have wished for a better group of kids to work with.

And finally, we owe so much thanks to all of the parents and fans who supported the team in so many ways throughout the season. From cheering at meets to taking pictures, coordinating fundraising and other events, providing snacks, hosting pasta dinners, and offering to help carpool, your efforts were invaluable to the team’s success this year, and they made our job as coaches infinitely easier.

I hope you will all come out one last time this Saturday to cheer on our teams as they represent B-CC at the state meet. Bring your signs, your body paint, your cowbells, and your best cheerleading moves and outfits, and let’s show these runners how proud we are of what they have accomplished!

States, here comes B-CC: Girls win regionals, boys fifth

2011-11-03T23:22:00.002-04:00

Entering this year’s cross-country season, B-CC coaches Chad and Emily Young weren’t sure what to expect. Both the boys and girls teams were young, relying on freshmen and sophomore runners. At Thursday’s 4A regional meet – a step below the state championship – both teams grew up.

The girls’ team won the regional championship. The boys finished a strong fifth.

Both will be going to the states, and the girls have to be considered one of the favorites to win it all.

Chad Young, now in his seventh year as coach and generally modest in his praise, was effusive after the regional meet.

“We had quite the day,” he said. “The lead story is definitely the girls. They are really running with a lot of confidence. It’s a big difference from a couple of weeks ago when they won the county meet. Last time, they beat Whitman by five points. Today they beat them by 16.”

Their blueprint for success: A deep squad, a tight pack, and several runners stepping up their performance.

Young pointed out two runners in particular: freshman Abby Fry and junior Laura Nakasaka.

“Earlier in the year, Abby had hip pain and had to sit out for a while,” Young said. “She was really concerned that it would keep her from the varsity team. She has run really well this year, but today was her breakout race. It was a narrow start and Abby kind of realized it. She made a decision before the race to go out a little faster and that was a good decision.”

At the start of the muddy course, Fry and senior co-captain Ava Farrell went out with the lead pack. But B-CC’s other runners kept them in sight.

In the end, five B-CC runners finished within 41 seconds of each other, handily beating Whitman and the rest of the field. Freshman Nora McUmber finished first on the team, sixth overall, in 19 minutes, 56 seconds. Farrell was 7th overall in 20:04; Fry finished 10th in 20:19; Nakaska 12th in 20:33; and freshman Kat McNeill 13thin 20:37. Finishing sixth on the team, 15th overall was senior Hallie Jester, and junior Caroline Leuba finished 25th in 21:56.

McUmber started out with her customary slower pace and then finished strong. Farrell and Fry kept close to the leaders. Nakasaka, who sat out the county meet because of an injury, finished a strong fourth. “She makes the team really stronger,” Young said. “Having her back gave the team a lot of confidence today.”
Whitman runners finished first and fourth overall. Before the third Whitman runner finished, the top five B-CC runners were in.

“We don’t have a girl who is going to win the race yet, but we have this really tight pack and when we look at all the other teams that ran today we, by far, have the fastest group one to five,” Young said.

Why such depth? How did this pack develop?

Youth, said Young.

“On the boys’ and the girls’ side, we have a lot of freshmen and sophomores,” he said. “The three freshmen on the girls’ team started off with a lot of promise, but every single race they are improving. That has made our team better with every single race.

“For the boys, it’s the same thing,” he said. “We have a bunch of sophomores. Race experience for young runners is one of the things that help them improve really quickly. They just need to race. They need to figure it out themselves.”

In the boys’ race, B-CC learned just the day before that its top runner, sophomore Alex Riishojgaard, who had finished ninth overall in the county meet, was lost for the season due to a stress fracture in his foot.

“Not having Alex in today’s meet, meant we really weren’t sure we could qualify for the state meet,” Young said. “We had a little talk before the race, and I said that everyone needs to step up today. When you lose your top guy everyone has to run hard to make a difference.”

Freshman Sam Baker apparently took it to heart. Like Fry, he also went out harder than he had in past races. At the start of the season, he was running sixth or seventh on the team. But he had been steadily moving up, and on Thursday, he finished fourth on the team, 32nd overall, in 17:41.

Also taking it to heart: Junior Nick McGreivy, who had been the No. 3 runner on the team, finished first for B-CC, 23rd overall, in 17:20. Sophomore Peter Horton finished 27th in 17:31; sophomore Nolan Ebner was 30th in 17:38; then Baker; and senior Aidan Hennessey was 40th in 18:10. Sophomore Matt Boden finished sixth on the team in 55th overall in 18:34, and junior Thomas Horton was 71st in 19:09.

“It was fun to watch Nick today. He and Peter Horton battled a little bit,” Young said. “Nick ran with a lot of confidence and determination today.”
Young added: “These guys really stepped up. If they hadn’t, I don’t think we would have made it to the states.”

Since B-CC was designated a 4A school three years ago, this is the first time that both teams have qualified for the state championship meet.

“It really is an honor to make the state meet,” Young said. “It really is hard to get there. That’s the way it should be. We are very fortunate both teams were able to qualify. I’m really proud of them It’s amazing to watch these boys and the girls learning a lot about themselves. As coaches, it makes our job easy in some ways because they work so hard. We’re really lucky to have such great kids.”

The state championship will be held Nov. 12 at Hereford High School, northwest of Baltimore.

In JV races, many saved best for last

2011-10-23T19:36:00.000-04:00

At the Montgomery County cross-country meet on Saturday, the top performers weren’t just members of the varsity team. Here are Coach Chad Young’s comments on several other impressive racers in the JV competitions:

In the JV freshmen-sophomore girls’ race, freshman Annie Annie McElvein finished second overall, in 20 minutes, 54 seconds. “She’s 8th or 9th on our varsity team, but on most teams she would be running on varsity. She has been very impressive,” he said.

Other top performances in that race: Sophomore Vanessa Shu, fifth overall, in 21:47; and Amanda Cohen, eighth overall, in 21:56.

In the JV junior-senior girls’ race, Young cited several runners, including senior co-captain Susannah Derr, who was third overall, in 21:56; junior Victoria Prevost, in 22:17, for eighth overall; and juniors Shayna Nash and Emily Hardgrove, who both finished in 22:30, for 11th and 12th places. Also, senior Claire Galasso ran 23:44 for 24th place, and senior Lilly Herrick-Reynolds who ran 25:54 for 65th place.

Young made special mention of senior Alison Thomas, who has been injured for the much of the season with a stress fracture in her ankle. She is scheduled to have surgery soon. Her doctor cleared her to run in the race, and Young saw that she was in pain in the second half.

“She wanted to gut it out one last time,” he said. “You can see the pain in her face toward the end. It was an accomplishment to finish.” Her time was 24:04 for 27th overall.

In the boys’ JV freshmen-sophomore race, Young named several runners as having impressive performances, including: sophomore Sam Hainbach, 43rd overall in 19:07; sophomore Lucas Beck, 46th place, 19:13; freshman Dylan Johnson, 55th, 19:27; sophomore Conrad Jones, 61st, 19:35; and freshman Wyatt Donnelly, 68th, 19:44.
Young also said the team was heartened to see freshman Jack Ward run after an incident during school on Thursday in which he was hurt. “He was unsure whether he was going to run, but on Saturday he felt fine so he gave it a go,” Young said.

“The whole team was excited to see him out there. He became the team hero this week for being able to race.”
Ward did more than just race. He ran a PR in 21:52, 50 seconds faster than his previous best time.

Sophomore Kevin Flores, described by Young as very quiet, had been battling knee injuries all year and had run in the 28 to 29 minute range for the 5K races. But on Saturday, he ran 24:15. “He was so excited that he ran over to (coach) Emily (Young) with a huge smile and said, ‘I ran my fastest time ever!’ Just to see that emotion from him was a big deal.”

In addition, Jason Kohn also was battling injuries, and he ran with a distinct limp. He finished in 31:27, the second to last finisher. “He was so determined,” Young said.

In the boys’ JV junior-senior race, the six runners were: junior Thomas Horton, 18:29, 21st place; junior Greg Picard, 31st, 18:47; senior Alessandro Lallas, 34th, 18:54; junior Jacob Bennett, 41st, 19:09; senior Ethan Ebinger, 76th, 20:40; and senior Schuyler Parsonnet, 84th, 21:16.

“For Ethan and Schuyler, both of them had been injured most of the year, but they still worked hard in practice when they could,” Young said. “It was good to see them out there in their last race.”

Here is a list of PRs set Saturday for the team. In all, 19 boys and 15 girls set personal records. They are:

Sam Alston 21:30
Sam Baker 17:29
Lucas Beck 19:12
Matt Boden 18:03
Ethan Ebinger 20:39
Nolan Ebner 17:19
Kevin Flores 24:15
Bill Foley 21:35
Sam Hainbach 19:06
Aidan Hennessey 17:42
Peter Horton 16:45
Conrad Jones 19:34
Alessandro Lallas 18:53
Liam McGowan 20:27
Nick McGreivy 17:09
Kyle Nakasaka 21:22
Alex Riishojgaard 16:23
Jack Ward 21:52
Paul Witten 20:39

Alyssa Alfonso 24:13
Sarah Bien 23:57
Marieanne Bonnefoy-Campusano 30:58
Francesca Faccone 23:36
Ali Friedman 30:05
Abby Fry 20:12
Hadara Goldsmith 24:53
Hallie Jester 19:48
Tess Joseph 25:16
Annie McElvein 20:54
Kat McNeill 19:40
Nora McUmber 19:17
Elaine Otieno 23:56
Victoria Prevost 22:16
Vanessa Shu 21:47

Photo blog: County meet

2011-10-22T19:15:00.000-04:00

Here are some photographs of B-CC student-athletes at Montgomery County's cross-country championship. B-CC girls finished first out of 25 teams, while B-CC's boys finished fourth of 25.

B-CC girls win county meet, boys finish strong fourth

2011-10-22T19:02:00.003-04:00

GAITHERSBURG – On a crisp autumn day, over the course of a morning at the Montgomery County high school cross-country championship, B-CC’s boys and girls teams both beat expectations, thanks to a long list of personal records, a coach’s sideline exhortations, and one runner’s dramatic finish.

First, Saturday’s news:

B-CC girls won the county meet, the first such top finish in Coach Chad Young’s seven years running the team. They narrowly edged arch-rival and reigning state champ Whitman.

B-CC boys finished fourth out of 25 teams, a high point so far in a season that has dazzled observers. In preseason, a MoCoRunning.com poll didn’t list the team in the top 10 in the county, and a poll just a week ago put them as the No. 10 team.

In the girls’ race, the drama started early. Young decided that Junior Laura Nakasaka should sit out the race due to a lingering shin injury. That sidelined B-CC’s No. 2 runner and, Young said, considerably lessened B-CC’s chances to win.

“The girls didn’t worry so much about Whitman,” he said. “They just ran their own race.”

Senior Ava Farrell shot out with the lead pack. Freshmen Nora McUmber and Kat McNeill were in roughly 20th place at the first mile. Behind them: senior Hallie Jester, freshman Abby Fry, junior Carolina Leuba, and senior Claire Cohen.

Farrell started to slowly drop back from the lead pack. McUmber picked it up, lengthening her stride and passing Farrell about 2.5 miles into the 3.1 mile race. McUmber finished fifth overall in 19 minutes, 18 seconds, a PR. Farrell was right behind her, in 19:28, her fastest time of the year, for seventh. McNeill was next in 19:40, a PR, for 10th.

Then came Jester, the senior who is running cross country for the first time.
Six hundred yards from the finish, Young yelled out to her as she passed, “Catch that pack ahead! Give it a shot!”

A pack of four runners were 15 to 20 yards ahead of her. Jester picked up the pace, passing two Whitman runners in the pack, and finished in 12th place overall, in 19:48. The Whitman runners finished in 14th and 16th place. B-CC ended up winning by five points, meaning that Jester’s kick was a difference maker.

“The race came down to Hallie’s final kick,” Young said. “She was so determined to catch the girls. She hunted them down, passing enough girls to make the difference in the meet.”

Still, he added, “it’s a team race and everybody ran really well.”

Fry finished in 21st place, in 20:12. It was the first time in Young’s seven years of coaching that four girls had finished under 20 minutes. Her finish also meant that three of B-CC’s top five finishers are freshmen. Finishing sixth was Leuba in 21:20 for 47th overall, while Cohen finished in 21:52 for 66th-place.

In the boys’ race, all seven runners ran PRs.

The team’s top three runners – sophomores Alex Riishojgaard and Peter Horton and junior Nick McGreivy – started strongly. Riishojgaard went through the first mile in about 20th place, and gradually picked up his pace, finishing in 9th place overall in 16:24, or 47 seconds faster than his PR. It was the fifth fastest time registered by a B-CC runner in Young’s seven years as coach.

Second was Horton, finishing in 16:46, for 20th; that time was the eighth fastest time in Young’s tenure. McGreivy came in 34th place, in 17:10.

Next were sophomore Nolan Ebner in 17:20 for 42nd overall; freshman Sam Baker in 17:30 for 51st; senior Aidan Hennessey in 64th place, 17:43; and sophomore Matt Boden in 18:04, for 83rd place.

The next race will be the 4A West regionals competition on Nov. 3. Qualifying teams will then go to the state championship.

Young will select 10 to 12 from both the boys and girls teams to continue training for the regionals (although just seven will race). For the rest of the team, it is time for a well-deserved break.

Tomorrow: Look for an account of the JV races at the county championship.

"I attacked the hills. With my spikes."

2011-10-11T22:52:00.000-04:00

The cross country team ran over the river and through the woods in an effort to tackle a hilly and daunting Smokey Glen Farm course on Tuesday afternoon. Except instead of a river there was a creek, and instead of woods there was a Christmas tree farm. While Christmas trees are usually associated with presents, family, and holiday merriment, the team formed some new associations, namely pain, agony, and sweat. And though the unforgiving course seemed more like a lump of coal in their stockings than a neatly wrapped package under the tree, they soon discovered that the feeling of accomplishment they felt as they finished the race was a far better present than anything they could ever hope to find under a tree (parents, this exempts you from ever buying holiday gifts again). Sophomore Amanda Cohen summed up her proud feeling of accomplishment after the race saying, “I felt like blahhhhh on the hills, but I attacked them. With my spikes.”

Led by senior Ava Farrell, the girls fought the hills and ran their way to a first place team finish. Farrell, who was almost disqualified for boldly defying the meet official’s order to remove her earrings, finished third overall in the race. B-CC’s next three finishers were the McFreshmen- Nora McUmber, Abby (Mc)Fry, and Kat McNeill. Annie McElvein, McFreshman number four, also finished an impressive 9th on the team behind a talented pack of Caroline Leuba, Hallie Jester, Laura Nakasaka, and Angie Peterson. When asked about the McFreshmen’s performance today, Coach Chad Young commented, “they ran McFast.” Also running fast today was Freshman Ali Friedman. Despite the steep, relentless hills, Ali ran almost a two-minute PR, and she was the only member of the B-CC team to do so.

The boys began their day with their new pre-race ritual, a motivational speech from Captain Greg Picard. They each took a knee around their revered leader and eagerly absorbed his every word. His speeches, now famous among B-CC athletes, coaches, and parents, have been proven to add speed to legs and courage to hearts. Coach Young is “sure his speeches will be his legacy” and hopes that someone “will be able to fill his shoes once he graduates.”

With Greg’s words in mind, the team took to the course with aggression and determination. Alex Riishojgaard and Peter Horton stepped up once again as B-CC’s top two runners. Captain Nick McGreivy, whose positive attitude and leadership have been vital to the team’s success this season, finished a few short seconds behind Horton. Nolan Ebner and Aidan Hennessey battled it out for the number four spot on the team, with Ebner barely edging out Hennessey. According to Coach Young, “Aidan and Nolan make the team better by fighting for that fourth spot.” The team’s efforts earned them a third place finish out of six strong teams.

The only PR on the boys side came in the JV race as Bill Foley ran 8 seconds faster than he has all season. Senior Ethan Ebinger led the way for the boys in the race despite questioning whether or not he could run the race at all due to injury. Kyle Nakasaka also turned in an impressive performance in the JV race.

The final B-CC runners that deserve recognition are Solomon Goldfarb and his crew of injured reserves. Goldfarb and Senior Alison Thomas gather the injured each week at meets and assign them jobs for the races. These unsung heroes of the team record times, hand out numbers, and execute their best cheers in an effort to support their able-bodied teammates. Their positive attitudes in the face adversity set a great example for all, and their often-unnoticed contributions are vital to the team’s success.

The team will be back in action on October 22nd for the County Meet at Gaithersburg High School.

Moments in a cross-country season: ‘I didn’t die on the Dip’

2011-10-06T22:00:00.001-04:00

At a team gathering and fund-raiser in Mamma Lucia’s restaurant Thursday night, just past the mid-point of the B-CC cross-country season, several runners talked about important moments for them this year. A sampling:

Conrad Jones, a sophomore: “Everything came together for me at Bull Run, which is one of the most difficult and interesting courses. I didn’t end up running my fastest race, but I felt like I was running one of my best races. There were lots of challenging hills and lots of people that you have to pass. Finishing Bull Run is very gratifying. It’s immensely gratifying. You feel like you have overcome one of the most difficult courses.”

Sarah Bien, sophomore: “My practice today on the track was the most important. I did a normal workout instead of a newcomer workout. In the beginning of the year, I really struggled with the easy workout (which could be two 500-meter runs). I feel like I’m really running much longer and much faster now.”

Greg Picard, junior: “The most meaningful moment for me was when I was elected captain. The team means so much to me, and they gave me an opportunity to be a leader this year. It’s made me proud that we are doing so well now. To me, being a captain means you are a role model. You have to lead by example. My goal is to inspire the younger runners to come back next year. Usually, many freshmen don’t return after their first year. But I want to make them fall in love with the sport. So far, so good. We have a very enthusiastic bunch of young runners and I’m proud of all of them.”

Shayna Nash, junior: “My best moment was when Coach said that I had worked really hard so they took me to the Paul Short race. It was really important to me. Even though the hard work wasn’t paying off in races, it got me little brownie points.”

Alison Thomas, senior (who is injured with a stress fracture in her ankle): “I’ve been injured most of the year, but I ran Bull Run. I stopped for a second during the race and my teammate Susannah (Derr) also stopped right in front of me. Coach Young told me to go over to her. Susannah told me, ‘Alison, we need to finish this race.’ It may be the hardest race I ran in cross country. But I had nothing to lose. So I ran the last mile and a half. I was slow, but I needed to prove to myself that could do it.”

Aidan Hennessey, senior: “My last meet was the best because the person who normally beats me (Nolan Ebner) didn’t. The race was like just keeping your eye focused ahead. It was constantly being in the moment. I didn’t worry about the what ifs. Now I feel much more comfortable in the races.”

And then there were freshmen Annie McElvein and Kat McNeill, sitting next to each other at the restaurant. They talked about their favorite moments in a back-and-forth dialogue.

McElvein: “The Dip. That was the moment. The Dip is in the Bull Run course. This is what I’ve been training for. There are a lot of stories behind it. A lot of upperclassmen talked about how hard it is.”

McNeill: “It’s a decline and then it’s a climb up. And you do it twice.”

McElvein: “Yeah, twice. When I was walking it beforehand, it looked really hard. But running it was easy.”

McNeill: “It was helpful for everyone to say it was terrible because it was easier than it sounded.”

McElvein: “Honestly, I didn’t think it was that bad. Everyone said, you die on the Dip. I didn’t die on the Dip.”

McNeill: “Neither did I.”

Strong team finishes, Jester 'on a mission'

2011-10-05T21:53:00.002-04:00

With deep squads of freshmen and sophomores and several seniors stepping up, B-CC’s boys’ and girls’ cross-country teams posted their two top performances of the year in recent days. At the Paul Short invitational at Lehigh University on Friday and at a meet against Magruder on Tuesday, the teams showed major improvement.

On Tuesday, in a meet that included four teams but counted officially only as a Magruder-B-CC matchup, B-CC’s boys beat the other three teams, including Whitman and Damascus. Beating Whitman by a score of 22-34 was particularly significant following Whitman’s easy defeat of a B-CC squad earlier in the season.

At the Magruder meet, sophomore Alex Alex Riishojgaard (17 minutes, 27 seconds), sophomore Peter Horton (17:41), and junior Nick McGreivy (17:49) finished 3-4-5 overall. Right behind them was another pack of runners finishing under 19 minutes: senior Aidan Hennessey (18:05); sophomore Nolan Ebner (18:06); freshman Sam Baker (18:38); and sophomore Matt Boden (18:55).

In the top seven, four are sophomores and one a freshman.

The team’s reliance on younger runners “could be part of the reason for the slow start this year,” said Coach Chad Young. “It’s really been impressive how they have improved. These sophomores were freshmen the year before in a team full of seniors and they weren’t asked to step up. Now they know it’s really up to them.”

Young asked the runners on the boys’ team on Wednesday whom they thought had the best race at the meet, and the runners’ consensus wasn’t a sophomore. It was senior Hennessey.

“The first couple of races he went out really hard, and halfway through he realized he had spent himself,” Young said. “As the season has progressed, he has gotten in much better shape. He and Nolan Ebner battled each other the whole race for the fourth spot on the team, and I think running with Nolan really helped him. We are relying on Aidan to do well and he’s stepping up and doing it. The guys were all proud of him.”

In the girls’ race on Tuesday, B-CC beat Magruder and Damascus handily, but lost by a single point to Whitman, 28-27. (Officially, the only competition that counted was the B-CC win over Magruder.) Whitman’s girls, reigning state champs, beat B-CC earlier in the year.

Young said while nothing official was riding on the B-CC-Whitman competition, “deep down you could see they did care how the meet ended up. It was a huge confidence boost for the girls. We’ve improved a lot, and it shows the girls aren’t scared to compete with them. It was a good day for us.”

Senior Ava Farrell won the race in 19:49, taking the lead from the start and keeping it the whole race. “She has had a couple of rough races in a row,” Young said. “But in this race she took off with the lead, and kept strong the entire race.”

In second place overall was senior Hallie Jester (20:21), and Young said she had the race of the meet for the girls.

“She was on a mission,” he said. “She is really determined to be one of the top runners. As a senior, she realizes she has responsibility of being an upperclassman and it’s really important for her to step up and be a leader on the team with her running as well as being a good teammate.”

Three freshmen finished next for B-CC: Nora McUmber (20:28); Abby Fry (21:03); and Kat McNeill (21:24). Following them were junior Caroline Leuba (21:34); sophomore Angie Peterson (21:38); and freshman Annie McElvein (22:28).

Young was impressed with Fry’s race. “Abby had a hip issue for a little while early in the season, but she ran really great yesterday,” he said. “She was neck and neck with two girls from Whitman at the end. She passed one and almost passed the other. We showed a lot of depth and a lot of it is because of the freshmen we have, Kat as well.”

He said that the freshmen girls “have put a little put of pressure on the upperclassmen, but in a good way because it’s going to challenge them and help the team become better.”

At the Paul Short race, the highlight for Young and many of the runners wasn’t necessarily the race itself but the chance to see several former B-CC runners compete in college races over the weekend.

Among the B-CC alumni racing there: Eliot Gerson, a Vassar freshman; Trevor Stephens, a freshman at Juniata College; Darcy O’Connor, a sophomore at St. Joseph’s College; and Kathleen Tatem, a senior at St. Mary’s College.

“It was really fun to see them,” Young said. “It was good to show our runners how running lives on and goes beyond the four years in high school, and can go beyond the four years in college and be a life-long thing. It’s a great thing to encourage them to build a healthy lifestyle.”

For the race, briefly, six girls finished under 21 minutes, finishing 10th out of 82 high school teams: McUmber lead the way, followed by junior Laura Nakasaka; Farrell; Jester; McNeill; Leuba; and Peterson.

For the boys, who finished 24th of 44 teams: Riishojgaard finished first on the team, followed by Horton, McGreivy, Ebner, Hennessey, Baker, and Boden.

The next meet is Tuesday in a six-team competition at Quince Orchard.

With sprint at end, Riishojgaard wins

2011-09-27T22:24:00.004-04:00

Alex Riishojgaard had a frustrating start to his cross-country season at B-CC. The sophomore had joint pain and had little energy for a couple of weeks. Doctors cleared him to run just eight days ago.

On Tuesday, in his second race, Riishojgaard (at right) won his first meet in his high school career, beating a three-high-school field in 17 minutes, 11 seconds. The other schools were host Damascus and Richard Montgomery.

Riishojgaard ran with two other top B-CC runners – sophomore Peter Horton and junior Nick McGreivy -- in a lead pack for much of the race and then took a large lead. Toward the end, a few runners challenged him, but Riishojgaard outsprinted them to the finish. Horton finished fourth, just three seconds back, in 17:14, while McGreivy (shown below) finished fifth in 17:32. All three ran a PR.

“Alex really broke out today,” said Coach Chad Young. “It was the highlight of the boys’ meet. Not only was it a win, but it was an impressive sprint at the end. It was fun to watch.”

Richard Montgomery edged the B-CC boys team by only three points, while B-CC finished ahead of Damascus.

Sophomore Nolan Ebner finished four on the team (12th overall in 18:05), senior Aidan Hennessey was fifth (18:14), followed by another pack of boys who finished impressively under 18:30: sophomore Matt Boden, junior Greg Picard, and freshman Sam Baker.

“The B-CC boys showed a little bit of depth today,” Young said. “It was a great day for us. They weren’t scared of their competition by any means. They were very aggressive. It was our best race of the year.”

B-CC’s girls handily won their meet even without top runners senior Ava Farrell and junior Laura Nakasaka. Both were held back because of nagging injuries.

Finishing first for B-CC was freshman Nora McUmber (third overall in 20:12), followed by senior Hallie Jester (fourth, 20:14), freshman Kat McNeill (sixth, 20:24); freshman Abby Fry (seventh, 20:25); junior Caroline Leuba (eighth, 20:56); junior Emily Hardgrove (10th, 21:21); and freshman Annie McElvein, (11th, 21:23).

Young’s take:

“Nora started way back, really slow, and as coaches we worried she was too far back. But even as a freshman, she knows what she is doing so well and gradually made her way up and wound up being toward the front. Hallie Jester, to me, she ran the race of the day for the girls. She and Caroline Leuba (above center) both sensed a feeling of responsibility as the race started. Caroline went out hard, and made sure that B-CC’s presence was known. She faded a little, but still finished eighth. Hallie (below left) came on strong toward the middle of the race and was very aggressive with a great kick to the finish line.”

After McNeill was Fry, competing in just her second race. “She was out for two weeks with hip pain and had done a few workouts,” Young said. “This was the first race she felt no pain. She can run for real. She’s a big help to B-CC’s team. She’s right there with the top freshmen on the team already. As the season progresses, as we figure out the identity of this team, Abby may be one of those girls who end up on varsity by the end of the season.”

Four freshmen finished in the top seven. The fourth was McElvein.

“I was talking to other coaches today about how when it comes to invitational meets choosing the top seven is not easy when you have freshmen who are start figuring things out,” Young said. “You don’t know how they will react. The other coaches were saying to me, ‘That’s a nice problem to have.’ It’s true. The girls are definitely in good shape as far as their depth goes. Now we need to make sure that they compete with the higher-end runners. That’s the tough part. If we can do that, we will be hard to beat.”

The next meet is Friday for varsity only at Paul Short Invite at Lehigh University in Bethlehem, Pa. Ten boys and 10 girls will compete.

At Bull Run, B-CC teams serve notice

2011-09-25T20:55:00.001-04:00

At the Bull Run Invitational in northern Baltimore County on Saturday, one of the toughest courses in the state, B-CC’s girls and boys team both finished near the top.

The girls came in third out of 18 teams, the boys sixth out of 24.

The top finisher for either team was a freshman, Nora McUmber, who was eighth overall in the elite girls race in 20 minutes, 49 seconds. Coach Chad Young was impressed with her race as well as the depth of the entire team.

“Nora showed the state of Maryland who she is at this meet,” Young said. “She went out conservatively, slowly. She was way back but she gradually kept picking people off the entire race. It was really fun to watch.”

He said the girls’ team competed really well. The next four finishers were junior Laura Nakasaka (14th overall, 21:10); senior Ava Farrell (21st, 21:31); freshman Kat McNeill (30th, 21:50); and senior Hallie Jester (37th, 22:04).

Severna Park and Chantilly were the two top girls teams with 94 and 107 points, respectively. B-CC finished with 110. “It was really tight,” Young said. “It was a great showing at this time of the season. It’s really fun to have two freshmen so far to have the experience of being on the varsity team.”

Young also singled out Jester, who is running cross-country for the first time this year; she had run track for her first three years in high school. “Hallie had a really good day. She was really competitive,” he said. “The reason our team placed so well is that our fifth girl, Hallie, was in front of a lot of teams’ fifth girl. Things are going really well for her. She’s really improving in her races.”

In the varsity boy’s race, Young said he saw a big improvement at Bull Run.

“For our boys this was our best showing of the season so far,” he said. “The guys ran well and also we got one of our injured runners back,” Alex Riishojgaard, a sophomore.

Finishing first for the B-CC boys in the “large schools” race was sophomore Peter Horton (20th overall, 18:10), followed by Riishojgaard (25th, 18:24); junior Nick McGreivy (29th, 18:28); sophomore Nolan Ebner (41st, 18:54); and sophomore Matt Boden (61st, 19:19).

The time gap between the first and fourth runners, Young noted, was 44 seconds, “which is really great. A lot of teams are struggling to get a tight pack that we are fortunate to have. We just need that pack to improve as the season goes along.

“I was really proud of them,” Young said. “They are still finding out who they are because they are so young. They are starting to run with some confidence.”

In the JV races, the meet organizers did not score the competition so it was not possible to learn the teams’ finishes. But several individuals did well.

On the girls’ team, Young noted senior Claire Cohen (21:19), “who is fighting for a varsity spot;” and freshman Annie McElvein, in her first real meet of the year who started far back and fought her way to second on the team.

On the boys’ team, the top finishers were Dylan Johnson (20:52); junior Jacob Bennett; and sophomore Sam Hainbach. Nine freshmen boys ran in the meet. “They got a chance to run on one of the hardest courses in the state,” Young said. “It was a good way to learn how tough they are. Those guys were using a ton of effort on this course.”

The next meet is Tuesday at Damascus in a three high school competition; Richard Montgomery also will be competing. The meet starts at 3:30 p.m.

Girls win in dominant performance

2011-09-21T20:56:00.006-04:00

B-CC girls’ cross country team went 1-2 Tuesday against Poolesville in its lone home meet of the year.

Then it went 4-5-6-7-8-9-10-11-12-13.

The girls took 12 of the first 13 places to beat Poolesville, a performance that Coach Chad Young said “was a confidence builder in some ways.”

Or, perhaps in many ways.

The boys’ cross country team didn’t fare as well, losing to Poolesville, which took the top three spots.

In the girls’ race, senior Ava Farrell won in 19 minutes, 53 seconds, followed by junior Laura Nakasaka in 20:01. Farrell rebounded from the Whitman meet last week in which she injured her foot. “She had no foot trouble at this race and she finished where she usually finishes – in first,” Young said.

The rest of the varsity squad (top seven finishers) were in order freshmen Nora McUmber and Kat McNeill; senior Hallie Jester; junior Caroline Leuba; and sophomore Angie Peterson. In all, 10 girls finished the three-mile course in less than 22 minutes.

“This was the fastest meet we’ve had this year by far,” said Young. “This meet helped us remember that most of the teams out there aren’t going to beat us, even if they have a good day. Now we have to make sure we mentally prepare ourselves for the tough part of the season ahead.”

Young said many runners did well in the meet, mentioning Peterson (below, No. 352) as a good example. Last year, as a freshman, she ran 24:04; on Tuesday her time was 21:18.

“She worked hard over the summer, and worked hard last year as a freshman,” Young said. “She has done a great job in figuring things out, and she’s become a leader on the team, even as a sophomore.”

In the boys’ race, the top finishers were sophomore Peter Horton and junior Nick McGreivy, who finished 4-5 overall. Sophomore Nolan Ebner was the third B-CC finisher (eighth overall), followed by senior Aidan Hennessey, sophomore Matt Boden, freshman Sam Baker, and junior Jacob Bennett.

With two of B-CC’s top boy runners sidelined by injuries, Young said there was opportunity for others to make the varsity squad. “The top guys have to break up the pack to give us a chance to win, and the guys who are normally 7-8-9 are now on varsity team and have to outrun the varsity runners on the other team,” Young said.

“They have to be less worried about making a PR, or the time they run, and be more worried about who they are running next to.”

Young praised Horton and McGreivy for again leading the team, and he said the others also competed well. Many set personal records. One was Boden, who finished in 18:33, nearly two minutes faster than his time a week before. Another was Bennett (right, No. 821), who ran track for the first time last year. He finished in 19:13, a PR by nearly three minutes.

“He’s a naturally talented runner and with a little more racing experience he will see a lot of improvement,” Young said of Bennett. “This could be a breakout race for him.”

At the end of the meet, the team’s juniors led a ceremony to honor the seniors on the squad.

For the girls, the seniors are: Claire Cohen, Susannah Derr, Ava Farrell, Claire Galasso, Lilly Herrick-Reynolds, Hallie Jester, Alison Thomas, and Molly Zinkgraf.

For the boys: Brad Connell; Ethan Ebinger, Aidan Hennessey, Alessandro Lallas, and Schuyler Parsonnet.

The next meet will be Saturday at the Bull Run Invitational Cross Country Meet at Hereford High School in rural northern Baltimore County. The course is noted as one of the most challenging cross country courses around, with hills, twists, turns, and a ravine called “The Dip.”

The race is divided into competitions according to school size and team ability. B-CC girls will compete in the elite race; the boys will run in the “large school” race. The day also features junior varsity runs. All B-CC runners can compete.

“We’ll get a real taste of the competition in the state and see how we stack up,” Young said.

First meet: A photo blog

2011-09-15T21:56:00.000-04:00

'I was just fired up today'

2011-09-14T23:31:00.003-04:00

No one knew what to expect from Nora McUmber.

The freshman B-CC cross-country runner had finished second on the team in one preseason scrimmage and then in the middle of the pack in a second scrimmage.

But in Wednesday’s first meet, against arch-rival Whitman High School, McUmber started out conservatively and then picked up the pace to finish second on the team, sixth overall, as one of the pleasant surprises for B-CC coaches Chad Young and Emily Young.

Overall, Whitman’s boys and girls won the meet handily. The Whitman boys scored 23 points to B-CC’s 36, while Whitman’s girls scored 20 points to B-CC’s 37. (Scoring is done by adding a team’s top five finishers and the winner has the fewest points; B-CC boys finished 2-3-8-11-12, and B-CC’s girls finished 4-6-7-8-12.)

While the final scores were disappointing to the coaches, they also saw many reasons to be optimistic for the season.

Among several strong performers were two girl freshmen, McUmber and Kat McNeill.
One pundit has already called them the McFreshmen of B-CC. McNeill finished third on the team, seventh overall, in 22 minutes, nine seconds. McUmber finished in 21:55. The top B-CC finisher was junior Laura Nakasaka in 21:23, good for fourth overall.

“It was really exciting to see those two freshmen girls step it up,” Chad Young said. “For most of the race, they were behind Whitman’s fifth runner, but then they closed the gap and went right past her. It was so much fun to watch them run.”

Before the race, McUmber said that Emily Young told her to stay focused and run hard. She said it helped.

“What Emily said really motivated me to try to do my best for the team,” McUmber said. “I was just fired up today. I had some Powerade before the race, and got pumped up.”

McNeill said she also became excited by another pre-race moment: “A group of freshmen runners came together, we talked and got pumped up,” she said. “The race went well. I started out slower than a previous meet and it worked well for me because I could run faster later.”

In the girls’ race, three senior Whitman runners and two B-CC runners – senior Ava Farrell and Nakasaka, a junior – broke out to a large lead for roughly half of the 5K course.

But Farrell, one of the top runners in the state, started slowing considerably halfway through, which immediately concerned Chad Young because of Farrell’s consistent high performance level. It turned out that Farrell had hurt her foot. She gutted out the race and finished eighth overall in 22:15. After she crossed the finish line, she crumpled to the ground and was helped to her feet.

“You could tell something was definitely wrong with her during the race,” Young said. “She wound up being very tough to even finish.”

He said Nakasaka ran extremely well. “She hung with the senior top runners at Whitman. She was not intimidated at all by them,” he said. Whitman’s girls are reigning state champs.

Finishing fifth on the B-CC’s girls team was junior Emily Hardgrove. Young said her performance was one of the highlights of the meet for him. She finished in 23:16.

“If you look at the summer mileage charts, she ran all the miles and gradually built up as she was supposed to,” he said. “It’s great to see the hard work start to pay off. It’s very, very impressive.”

In the boys’ race, junior Nick McGreivy (18:52) and sophomore Peter Horton (18:59) finished in second and third places overall, respectively. “They ran really well, a great race,” Young said. “Both were smart, very steady, very aggressive, and very competitive.”

The team started off with a handicap: Two of its top runners, junior Thomas Horton and sophomore Alex Riishojgaard, could not run because of injuries. It meant B-CC had little chance of beating a deep Whitman team, but it also opened the door for other runners to finish on the varsity team, the top five spots.

The next finishers were: sophomore Nolan Ebner (19:54); junior Greg Picard (20:17); sophomore Matthew Boden; senior Aidan Hennessey (20:24); and freshman Sam Baker (20:31).

Young gave special mention to Ebner. “He finished in eighth, but was 11th for much of the race, and gradually worked his way up to a scoring position,” he said. “He’s come along pretty strong for a couple of weeks. He’s in shape and really interested being part of the varsity team. He’s an important piece of our team if we are going to be successful.”

Two big events are coming up.

The first is the C&O Canal 5K at Meadowbrook Park (Candy Cane City) this Sunday at 8 a.m. Junior Greg Picard is organizing the race, and Young said he will be encouraging the teams to run it. The race fees will help repair and preserve the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal National Historical Park. Picard has a great tag line for the race: “Run 3.1 miles, preserve 184.5!” Here’s a link to learn more or register.

Next Tuesday is B-CC’s only home meet, also held at Meadowbrook Park. The first race starts at 3:30 p.m.

B-CC cross country team hopes for fast start

2011-09-11T15:49:00.002-04:00

Welcome to the blog for the 2011 B-CC’s cross-country team. We’ve covered indoor and outdoor track for the past two seasons. This is new terrain, even if with some familiar characters.

The first meet will be Wednesday at Whitman. More on that in a minute.

Coach Chad Young returns for his seventh year as head coach of the team. His long-time co-coach, Nathan Herchenroeder, is now on a two-year teaching contract in Paris. “The kids really loved him,” Young said. “We’ll miss him, but so far he’s really enjoying himself in Paris.”

No doubt.

Taking his place as coach is Emily Young (shown in the center of the picture at left), a former runner at the University of North Carolina who also coached track for B-CC runners three years ago; some of the senior girls on the cross-country team had her as coach when they were freshmen. For the last two years, she has coached runners at a West Virginia boarding school.

Chad Young already sees Emily’s impact: “She has done a great job in bringing toughness to the girls’ team, early on in the season,” he said. “It’s good to have a female coach to get a little more out of them, and she has already helped change the mentality.”

On Wednesday, Chad Young believes he will see several strong performances. He also expects surprises from a very deep girls’ team and a wide-open boys’ team that has 18 freshmen runners (double the number of girl freshmen on the team).

“We have a solid group of freshmen again this year,” he said. “In the past, we’ve had groups of girl freshmen come in a large pack. This year, we have this huge pack of freshman boys. Eighteen boys is a ton for us. They all have a really good attitude and they are all excited to start the season.”

He said Friday’s cancellation of a meet was a letdown; it was the only one of the year that featured just a freshmen race. Still, Young expects both boy and girl freshmen to have an impact on the varsity teams. The varsity squad, in many races, consists of the seven top runners.

For the boy freshmen, Young said that Sam Baker has posted the fastest times so far, followed by Wyatt Donnelly and Reed Crosson. Another promising newcomer is senior Alessandro Lallas.

For the girl freshman, Kat McNeill has already challenged some of the top upperclassmen in scrimmages, followed by Abby Fry and Nora McUmber.

“For the freshmen, it’s new to them,” Young said. “It’s not just going out and running 3.1 miles. It’s how they mentally prepare to go through this. It’s easy to run the first mile and easy to have a finishing kick, but what you do in between is really important.”

The boys’ team has just one of the top seven runners returning: Nick McGreivy. “The door is wide open, not for only sophomores, juniors, and a couple of seniors, but also for the freshmen. We don’t know what the varsity squad will look like by the end of the year,” he said.

At this point, Young said the top two runners appear to be McGreivy and sophomore Peter Horton (see in photo, McGreivy just ahead of Horton). The boys’ captains are all juniors: McGreivy, Thomas Horton, and Greg Picard.

The girls’ team, which returns its top 13 runners from last year, should be one of the top teams in the state, Young said.

“The top 13 are very talented, very competitive, and this year, the pack of girls has tightened up a lot,” he said. “Someone 10th on the team last year could be second or third this year because there are so many girls ready to step up and compete even within the team.”

Leading the way are seniors Ava Farrell, one of the top cross-country runners in the state, and Laura Nakasaka (in picture, Farrell is rear right and Nakasaka rear left). “Laura has really separated herself from the rest of the girls so far, and she and Ava could go one-two for the season,” Young said.

The girls’ captains are seniors Farrell and Susannah Derr.

Wednesday’s meet will be a good marker for them. Whitman High’s girls’ team is the reigning state champion, and it is returning most of its top runners. “On paper, everything looks like Whitman should be better than B-CC,” Young said. “Our girls will learn how they will fare this season even as early as Wednesday at Whitman. It will be a good test.”

The girls’ start will be at 3:30 p.m. Wednesday at Whitman (the course is on the high school grounds), while the boys’ start will be around 4:15 p.m.

One last note: Please feel free to add comments to this blog. We’d especially like to get the perspectives of the runners themselves about what they see as important moments during the year.

State meet, day two: Three strong performances

2011-05-29T11:55:00.002-04:00

At the second and final day of the Maryland state 4a championship Saturday, sophomore Brittney Wade and junior Ava Farrell were B-CC’s lone entries. Both had run the day before – Wade and Farrell were part of the 4 x 800 meter relay team that finished second, and Farrell had finished third in the two-mile.

Farrell was the first competitor on Saturday, running the mile. In the two-mile on Friday, she had hung back while a lead pack took off and she eventually caught them. This time she went out with the leaders.

“She decided to go with the top pack and stay as long as she could,” said B-CC Coach Chad Young. “The whole field settled in, maybe as a result that almost everyone was running multiple events, and the second and third laps were slower paced. Runners started to separate on the last lap, while Ava ran the same pace as she had in the second and third laps.”

She finished 10th overall, and she tied her PR, running 5 minutes, 14 seconds. “She gave everything she had,” Young said. “Usually she has a kick at the end, but she ran the first lap so fast it may have taken something out of her. She was happy with tying her best time ever; the competition was pretty elite.” The winning time was 5 minutes flat.

In the 400-meter race, Wade was seeded in the fastest heat. She finished fifth in 58.8 seconds in her heat, and seventh overall. The winner was Northwest all-American Olivia Ekpone, a senior who on Saturday ran the fastest 400 meter time in the country for a high school athlete so far this year, clocking 53.15 seconds.

“The way they staggered the runners at the start, with Brittney on the inside lane, made it seem like she was starting behind, so I think she tried to make up the ground early in the race and gave it everything she had. Her time was really good,” Young said.

In the final race, the 800-meter run, Young was a little concerned that Wade would not be at her best because of the lack of recovery time. In the regional meet a week earlier, the lack of time between the 400- and 800-meter races had hurt Wade; she ran the 800 meters in 2:24, barely qualifying for the state meet. It also meant that she was seeded Saturday in the slower heat.

That turned out to be a key factor.

In the first heat of the 800-meter race, one or two other runners challenged Wade, but she soon took control and opened up a huge lead, running 2:17.77. “She had nobody to push her, so it was a mental challenge for her,” Young said. “She had to race the clock the whole time, knowing that she was trying to take a place from girls in the other heat.”

And that’s how it unfolded. In the fast heat, another star Northwest senior runner, Britt Eckerstrom, won in 2:12. Wade ended up running the fourth fastest 800 meter time of the day – and her time was extremely close to the second and third place runners who ran in Eckerstrom’s heat. Wade finished just out of the medals.

“We were left wondering whether Brittney would have beaten them if they had all run in the same race,” Young said, adding that the B-CC supporters present all felt she would have had a good chance. “It’s a good learning experience for next year, but she did really, really well in this race.”

Young said all the girls who competed in states did an excellent job. “Everybody had very good days and it was nice to end the season that way. We’re proud of them no matter what, but we‘re so happy they finished the season so strongly.”

**

Writer’s note: Many thanks to Coach Chad Young for taking time after long practices and longer meets to then give an accounting of B-CC track teams’ performances. The stories over the indoor and outdoor season had drama, excitement, and reflected all the hard work of coaches and the team. It’s been a lot of fun to write them.

State meet: 'She knows how to race'

2011-05-27T23:33:00.002-04:00

At the Maryland state 4A track and field championship today, B-CC junior Ava Farrell had to be a little tired lining up for her two-mile race. She had just run a hard opening leg for the girls’ 4 x 800-meter race. The temperature hovered near 90 degrees.

And then the gun went off and Farrell faced a new degree of difficulty: A pack of five girls shot to the front and immediately created distance with the rest of the field.

Farrell, ranked ninth in the state, had a choice. She could either sprint to catch the lead pack or she could stay within herself and run her own race. She chose the latter and it made all the difference.

Watching from the sidelines at Morgan State University, B-CC Coach Chad Young was concerned. “As a coach you worry a little bit, and hope your athlete will stick with them, but Ava made the decision not to go crazy with the first group.”

So she ran with a group of eight girls in a second pack. “It seemed like they were fighting to lead the pack, fighting for position, and no one seemed to be comfortable, all trying to figure out what was going on,” Young said.

Meanwhile, two of the five girls from the front pack slipped back. Farrell and two Whitman runners broke out. “They hunted down the two girls in between the two groups, and with two laps to go, Ava was sitting in sixth or seventh place,” Young said.

Then, with one lap left, Farrell picked it up. She and one of the Whitman girls broke out and ran into fourth and fifth place. At the last turn, the two caught Anna Ryba of Whitman, who was second in the regional meet the week before. Down the stretch, Farrell had one more kick in her, finishing third in 11 minutes, 31 seconds. It was three seconds off her PR.

“I was really proud of Ava to make the decision to run her own race, and not worry about how fast everyone was going out,” Young said. “She knows her body, she knows how to race, and she knows she can work her way back into a race.”

The finishing time, Young said, was secondary to how well she competed. “She really did a great job,” he said. “It was her best race she has had so far as a high school runner. She has so much experience now, she has patience and she has confidence as well. We couldn’t have asked for much more.”

But, in fact, the team did ask for a little more: running the opening leg in the girls’ 4 x 800 meter team. The team, Young said, was well prepared. “They weren’t too nervous, they were well composed,” he said.

Still, the race tested them in ways they hadn’t experienced before.

Farrell took off to the front of the pack with a runner from Northwest. They were one-two in the handoff, Farrell finishing in 2:21, her fastest 800 ever.

In No. 2 position, sophomore Caroline Leuba had a challenging race. Her counterpart from Northwest took off and broke away. Leuba went out hard the first lap, but started to slightly lose her pace on the second lap, and she and three other girls handed off the baton at about the same moment. She ran a strong 2:28.

The next runner, sophomore Laura Nakasaka, also had to battle. “She showed a lot of guts on her leg,” Young said. “She was running with three or four girls, and it looked at one point like a few of the girls would break away and pass Laura. She had to make a choice: hang on the pace or back off. She decided to stay with the pack and fought and fought and fought the whole time. She looked like she was ready to hand off the baton halfway down the straightaway.” Nakasaka finished in 2:27, tying her fastest time ever.

She handed it off to sophomore Brittney Wade, who, Young said, “made it look easy. You knew right away we were going to get second. She looked so smooth, kind of casually passed all three girls.” Wade finished in 2:16. The team finished second in 9:34, its fastest performance of the year.

“I think the girls were pretty excited,” Young said. “It’s one of those things. They have been very consistent in their times, running 9:35 or 9:37 a number of times. You kind of expect that they will run that every time, but every single race is different. You are not guaranteed to run that same time. Anything can happen. You can get nervous on the big stage with the state meet. It was 90 degrees out there today. And they did so well. They were pretty proud of themselves.”

“I think it sunk in when they got their medal: They were the second fastest team in the state.”

The excitement isn’t over. The state meet continues Saturday and three competitions will have a B-CC entry. Farrell will run the mile and Wade will run the 400 and 800 meter races.

In regional meet, success -- and heartbreak

2011-05-20T18:43:00.002-04:00

It was the Ava, Brittney, and girls’ 4 x 8 show.

At the regional championship at Walter Johnson High School on Wednesday and Thursday, four B-CC girl athletes ran their way to the state championship next weekend.

Several others barely missed the cut in a competition marked by personal records set by a number of B-CC athletes.

The stars were junior Ava Farrell, who qualified for the mile, two-mile, and as a member of the 4 x 800 meter relay team; sophomore Brittney Wade, who qualified for the 400 meter, 800 meter, and on the 4 x 800 meter relay; and sophomores Caroline Leuba and Laura Nakasaka, the remaining two members of the 4 x 800 team.

In the 4 x 800 meter race, B-CC Track and Field Coach Chad Young said he orchestrated it with a strategy in mind. Believing that the team would almost surely qualify, he placed Farrell as the anchor – Wade usually runs last. That way, if the team was firmly in place to qualify, Farrell would not have to run her hardest and save something for the two-mile race that followed.

The strategy worked. Leuba led off, running 2 minutes, 25 seconds, putting the team in third or fourth place. Wade then set a blistering pace, finishing in 2:16. Nakasaka ran hard and finished in 2:29, and Farrell also finished in 2:29. The team finished second.

In the two-mile, Farrell ran with a pack of girls who went out hard in the first mile. She finished in sixth, out of the running in terms of place, but her time met the qualifying standard. She ran a PR in 11:28 to qualify for states. Farrell also qualified in the mile, running 5:19.

Wade, meanwhile, ran in the 400-meter race against stiff competition from Northwest, including senior All-American Olivia Ekpone. Ekpone won, but Wade emerged from a pack to finish second in 58.29. Two Northwest girls finished third and fourth.

In the 800-meter race, Wade, struggling somewhat because of almost no recovery time between races, fell behind but managed to pass a girl to finish fourth, good enough to qualify. Her time was 2:24.

As much as Young was happy about the girls’ performances, he was sad about a number of athletes who fell just short of qualifying. Still, he was impressed with their effort.

One athlete he singled out was sophomore Eugenia Wilson, a hurdler and sprinter who has come on strong in the last part of the outdoor season. Wilson fell during the 100-meter hurdle race on Wednesday, finishing out of the running. But on Thursday, in the 300-meter hurdles, “she rebounded,” Young said. “She just took off, and was determined to beat everybody. She was in the slower heat and was in the lead for the first turn, and maintained it whole way. We waited for the faster heat to finish, and we anxiously looked at our watches, hoping she would be in the top four.”

Wilson finished fifth. She missed qualifying by one place and one second. Still, she beat her PR in the 300-meter hurdles by an astonishing five seconds. “That’s enormous in a short race like that,” Young said. She finished in 47.78.

For the boys, “it seemed we were fifth place, or one or two seconds off qualifying time the whole meet,” Young said. “There were a number of PRs, but somehow we didn’t have enough to get over the hump this time. It was unfortunate, but at the end of the day the guys felt proud of how they ran.”

Among the top performances:

* The boys’ 4 x 800 meter team finished seventh. “It was a great race to watch,” Young said. “The whole team was into it.” The all-senior team, running in their last high school competition, was Trevor Stephens (1:59), Philip Catterall (2:04); Patrick Frampus (2:07); and Eliot Gerson (2:02).

* Two freshmen two-milers, Alex Riishojgaard and Peter Horton, ran well. Riishojgaard won the slower two-mile heat in 10:28, while Horton finished fourth in that race, in 10:35. Young looked back at the records of freshmen two-milers at B-CC over the past six years, and the pair had the two fastest times in that period. Gerson was No. 3.

* In the 800, Stephens ran 1:59.54 for fifth place. His time was 0.2 off qualifying for the states. “He ran a great race and looked so good,” Young said.

* In the mile, Gerson finished ninth, but set a PR in 4:31. He missed qualifying for states by only two seconds. “At the end of the race, he was happy because he knew he couldn’t have run any faster,” Young said. Two other runners also turned in strong performances. Catterall ran 4:45, or seven seconds faster than his PR, and Frampus ran 4:55, also a PR.

* In the 300-meter hurdles, freshman Nolan Ebner set a PR in 45.52, continuing his steady improvement throughout the year.

* In the shot put, junior Mike Nyarko finished 5th in 44 feet, six inches, a PR, and some seven to eight farther than his performances during invitational meets.

* And in the boys’ 4 x 400 meter relay, the team finished fifth in 3:30, but Young marveled at their effort and performance. “Everyone was on their feet watching this race, knowing it would be tough to qualify,” he said. Nana Twum Agyire ran aggressively, finishing in 52 seconds; Stephens ran a 51-second lap; Julien Dorsey kept it going in 53 seconds; and Weimu Dorsu finished strongly as anchor in 52 seconds.

“We did a great job all the way around,” Young said. “We took care of everything we could control. Not everything turned out exactly the way we wanted it, but everyone should be proud of the way we raced.”

The state championship meet will be held next Friday and Saturday at Morgan State University in Baltimore. The competition starts at 4 p.m. on Friday and 11 a.m. on Saturday.

Wilson aces county B championship meet

2011-05-15T22:58:00.001-04:00

All season, B-CC track and field coach Chad Young has watched sophomore Eugenia Wilson improve. On Saturday, he watched her win -- twice.

Wilson won both the 100-meter hurdles and the 200-meter race at the County B Championship at Whitman High School. The meet is a chance to compete for many athletes who are rarely entered in invitational contests.

“It is an opportunity for them to show they can compete in the top events,” Young said. “Someone like Eugenia really took advantage of the opportunity.”

Wilson won the 100-meter hurdles in 16.5 seconds, beating the second place finisher by six-tenths of a second. In the 200-meter race, she won in 27.10, a full second over the second place runner. “She was the star of the day,” Young said. “Over the course of two years, she has worked very hard, has had a great attitude, and I’ve watched her improve a lot.”

In other events:

* The girls’ 4 x 400 meter relay team finished second overall, in 4:40. “It shows the depth we have,” Young said. The team consisted of Wilson (1:06); freshman Angie Peterson (1:11); junior Alison Thomas (1:13); and junior Laila Shehata (1:08). Wilson took the lead, the middle two runners fell behind a couple of teams, but Shehata “made up a lot of ground on the last lap,” he said.

* In the shot put, Junior Phillie Stallone threw her best distance of the year: 20 feet and a half inch. “She was very excited with her throw,” Young said. “She did a great job.”

* In the discus, sophomore Devin Doherty also had a PR, throwing it 68 feet, two inches. “He comes out every single day, always working hard on his throwing,” Young said. “It was great to see him PR.”

* In the long jump, freshman Sam Kaye had his best jump by five inches, going 16 feet, 11.5 inches. Kaye also ran the 200 meter-race, finishing in 25.9 seconds, good for 24th overall.

* Also in the boys’ 200 meter race, sophomore Benton Williams finished 10th in 24.8, almost a second faster than his previous PR.

* In the girls’ long jump, sophomore Nicole Flibbert finished 13th overall, jumping 12 feet, 5 inches. “That was huge for her,” Young said. “She beat more than half the field. She’s improved a lot, and is a really hard worker.”

* And in the high jump, sophomore Kayla Fuller wasn’t so excited about the competition. Coach Alex Gray found her after the jumps had begun, and persuaded her to enter. The bar already had been raised to 4 feet, 4 inches. “She has been a little bit frightened of the bar – it’s sort of like walking to the end of the diving board and having those nerves,” Young said. But Fuller cleared the height on her first try, and she ended up in 8th place. Young was happy for her. “She was very excited, and if she had warmed up, who knows how high she could of jumped.”

Wade, Farrell star in county meet

2011-05-13T12:47:00.001-04:00

As a freshman, Brittney Wade was a sprinter, running strong and hard and challenging some of the county’s best runners. Now as a sophomore, Wade started competing in longer distances -- 400 and 800 meters. On Tuesday, at the Montgomery County championship meet, she did more than challenge.

In the 800-meter race, Wade finished second to Northwest senior Britt Eckerstrom, running 2 minutes, 15.81 seconds, which former B-CC coach and current social studies teacher Tim Gilmore said was the best time at B-CC for at least the last decade.

During a student-athlete's first year in high school, “you try a number of new things – and Brittney was good at everything,” said Coach Chad Young. “Now, as a sophomore, she is making a serious push for the states, and even this year as a sophomore, even in just a couple of weeks, it’s very possible she can win the whole thing.”

Wade ran third for much of the race, but passed Wootton junior Grace Corbett in the home stretch, and finished just a little more than a second behind Eckerstrom, who broke the meet record in 2:14.17.

Of the first eight finishers, all were juniors and seniors except for Wade. B-CC junior Ava Farrell finished seventh in 2:25.08, and sophomore Caroline Leuba finished ninth, in 2:26.28.

In the mile, Farrell also had a breakout race, finishing third in 5:14, which was the fastest mile time during Young’s six years as head coach, breaking Addie Tousley’s time two years ago by one second.

“Ava’s and Brittney’s races were very similar,” Young said. “Both went out hard, established position toward the front of the race from the beginning. So they stayed away from trouble and both finished strong, passing people at the end.”

In other highlights from Tuesday’s meet at Walter Johnson High School:

* Two throwers had excellent outings. Junior Michael Nyarko had been throwing the shot put around 36 feet all season long. On Tuesday, he threw 40 feet, 9 inches, breaking his personal record by more than two feet and finishing 12th. He also did well in the discus, throwing 108 feet after only reaching in the 70-foot range in the season. He was 15th in the discus. “It was a huge day for him,” Young said.

For the girls, sophomore Ruth Orevba’s best shot put throw of the season had been 28 feet in the first meet, but then she dipped to 24 and 25 feet for much of the year. But Tuesday, she threw 30 feet, 1 inch, finishing 13th. In the discus, she threw 74 feet, 9.5 inches for 14th.

* The boys’ 4 x 800 meter team finished in 8:20 – one second off their best time – but still need to lower that time in the regional meet in order to qualify for the state championship. The all-senior team -- Eliot Gerson, Phillip Catterall, Patrick Frampus, and Trevor Stephens – “have the potential to run a lot faster than they did,” Young said.

* In the open 800 meter race, Stephens became the first B-CC runner to finish under 2 minutes since 2008, finishing in 1:59.99 – or a one-hundredth of a second under the mark. “He ran a great race,” Young said. “He was pretty happy about it. It was way better than two minutes flat.”

* The boys’ 4 x 400 meter team received a blow the day before the race when senior captain Terrence James informed coaches that he would not make the meet. But with Julien Dorsey filling in admirably, running 52 seconds for his lap, the team finished eighth overall in 3:32. The team consisted of Nana Twum Agyire, Stephens, Weyimni Dorsu, and Dorsey. “Julien did a great job,” Young said. “He’s been a star since his freshman year and had been running 56, 55 seconds, so to have him close to 52 in this race was huge for him and the team.”

* And finally, the trio of freshmen pole vaulters -- Conrad Jones, Sam Hainbach, and Lucas Beck – competed but failed to clear the opening height of 8 feet. Still, Young said, they were back practicing after the meet, traveling to Gaithersburg to meet their pole vaulter coach. They will compete in next week’s regionals. “It’s going to be a challenge,” Young said. “But this is a good experience for them. It they stick with it, they could be very good.”

A late-season showcase for emerging talent

2011-05-08T12:39:00.002-04:00

High school track meets have different purposes throughout the year. The Katie Jenkins Invitational, held Friday and Saturday at Sherwood High School and featuring about 15 Montgomery County teams, serves as a tune-up for the county meet. The varsity county meet is Tuesday, while the JV county meet is next Saturday.

But the invitational also had another purpose for B-CC’s outdoor track team: It became an important showcase for a number of emerging talented athletes on the team.

Coach Chad Young highlighted several performances, including:

* Freshman Nichelle Reid, now the team’s top 100-meter sprinter, ran two qualifying races and then the final, finishing 5th overall in 13.03 seconds. “It was cool watching her compete,” Young said. “She’s really emerged as a top 100-meter runner.”

* The girls’ 4 x 800 meter relay won first place in 10 minutes, 36 seconds, beating the second place team by 10 seconds. The team had only one holdover from the Penn Relays squad. “It shows our team has a lot of depth,” Young said. The team: junior Hallie Jester (2:36); and sophomores Cammi Yeutter (2:32), Carolina Leuba (2:38); and Shayna Nash (2:46). Young was particularly appreciative that Nash, who is typically a 100- and 200-meter runner) filled in when junior Grace Reingruber could not run.

* The boys’ 4 x 800 meter relay – Young called them the “4 by 8 of the future” – ran well, finishing 9th overall in 9:17. The team featured junior Aiden Hennessey (2:21); and three freshmen -- Peter Horton (2:16), Alex Riishojgaard (2:17), and Kenneth Norris (2:21). “This team has shown a lot of improvement,” Young said.

* In the two-mile races for boys and girls, lightning postponed the competition on Friday night – for the girls the race was called off after four laps. The races were held Saturday and B-CC athletes won both. Sophomores Ava Farrell finished in 11:41 and Laura Nakasaka in 12:05 for the top two places; it was Farrell’s fastest time of the season and for Nakasaka it was a personal record. In the boys’ race, senior Eliot Gerson ran a PR as well, finishing first in 9:46.

* Senior Terrence James ran the 200-meter race as a tune-up and did well, winning in 22.78.

* And in the 300 meter hurdles, freshman Nolan Ebner, who has been working with coach Alex Gray and shown improvement all year, finished 6th in 46.27. “By far, it was his best finish of the year,” Young said. Ebner will be one of the few freshmen to compete Tuesday in the county varsity meet.

One more item in the category of something to look forward to:

All year, three freshmen have traveling twice a week to Gaithersburg to take lessons on pole vaulting from a certified pole vaulting coach. The three – Conrad Jones, Sam Hainbach, Lucas Beck – will compete in the county meet on Monday. (It is being held a day before the other events). Young is looking forward to it. “They heard about the opportunity to try the pole vault and the three of them were very interested in giving it a try. I haven’t seen them compete, and it’s something we’re very excited about,” he said.

On Tuesday, the county competition will start at 4 p.m. at Walter Johnson High School.

Penn Relays: Making a statement

2011-05-03T23:03:00.001-04:00

On big stages, it’s hard to predict performance. Still, B-CC track coaches Chad Young and Nathan Herchenroeder had high hopes for two teams – the boys’ 4 x 400 relay and the girls’ 4 x 800 relay – in last week’s Penn Relays.

They weren’t let down. Both teams rose to the moment.

The boys’ team, in particular, performed beyond expectations, winning their heat in 3 minutes, 26 seconds, their fastest time by eight seconds and perhaps setting a school record, Young said. The four – seniors Terrence James, Nana Twum Agyire, and Trevor Stephens and junior Weyimni Dorsu -- finished 97th out of 568 teams.

The girls’ team also performed well, running 9:37, just two seconds off their best time, and good for 37th out of 71 teams. The team consisted of junior Ava Farrell and sophomores Laura Nakasaka, Caroline Leuba, and Brittney Wade.

Here’s Young’s assessment of the races (he attended the girls’ race last Thursday, while Herchenroeder coached the boys on Saturday):

“Brittney led off, and I warned her about getting out quickly. There were a lot of people in her race so I wanted her to get out fast. She got into second place, ran with a small group of girls, maintained it for most of leg, and finished in her fastest split time, 2:17. Caroline Leuba was next, held the position well, and finished one second off her fastest time, in 2:25. Laura Nakasaka ran 2:31, which was a solid leg, and she competed extremely well and hard. And then Ava ran against the fastest runners generally on teams, the anchors, and she finished in 2:22, her fastest ever on an 800, and passed a couple of people.”

What impressed Young so much was that the underclassmen displayed uncommon poise. He said Wade set the tone.

“She just doesn’t want to lose, and having that attitude as a sophomore is really great,” he said. “Just watching three sophomores and one junior going up against so many upperclassmen was really impressive. They held their own.”

On the boys’ race, Young said it was a special moment for all of them.

“They were determined to make a statement in this meet,” he said. “They were really excited to go and have the opportunity to run there. Nana led off and, just like Brittney, got off the line quickly. He established himself in second place, maintained it and ran 52.41 seconds. Trevor was in third for a split second, made a move, and passed both guys, and handed off in first place, in 52.59. Weyimni, and I know he must have had some pressure on him at this point, the team had the lead, went out hard on his leg, and held first place the whole time. Two guys were creeping up on him, and by the handoff, they were right on him. He finished in 52.17

“TJ kind of let those guys hang around for 200 and he took off as well, and with 150 or so to go, TJ opened a gap for the win, in 49.11.”

How did the boys shave eight seconds off their former record?

“Nathan mentioned they don’t run fresh in the 4 x 4 very often as it’s always the last meet of the day, and it’s usually their own third or fourth event. That’s one big reason. The other reason is that they were really pumped, the adrenaline must have been going, and they really wanted to make a statement. They sure did.”

The next meet is Friday and Saturday for the Katie Jenkins Invitational at Sherwood High School.

Midseason report: Young's Top 10 list

2011-04-19T14:17:00.002-04:00

At the natural midpoint of B-CC’s outdoor track and field season – the division meets are over, Penn Relays is on deck, and then come the county, regional and state meets -- Coach Chad Young took a step back to give a midseason report. Here’s his top 10 observations:

1. Strong team performances so far: In the division meets, the girls finished 5-0, the boys 2-3. For the girls, it was first time they had won the division during Young’s six-year tenure as coach. For the boys, it was a strong rebound from last year in which they finished 0-4-1.

2. Soaring sophomores: For the girls team, “our sophomores have stepped up big time this year,” Young said. “They were baby freshman last year and they have really improved. They have not just been running with the juniors and seniors, they are beating the juniors and seniors. Juniors and seniors also are doing well, and it adds up to a really deep team."

3. Brittney’s star turn: Sophomore Brittney Wade is running well in all events, ranked No. 1 in the 400 meters (58.2 seconds) and No. 5 in a completely new event for her, the 300 meter hurdles. “She is such a good athlete, she wins just about everything she is in,” Young said.

4. TJ’s performance: Senior Terrence James has dominated his events, consistently winning 200 and 400 meter-races, and anchoring the boys’ 4 x 200 and 4 x 400 teams. He is ranked No. 1 in county in the 200, with a 22.1 time, and is in the top 10 in the 400.

5. Penn Relays – boys: The team’s 4 x 400 relay team – seniors James, Nana Twum Agyire, and Trevor Stephens and junior Weyimni Dorsu – were county champs in the indoor season. “They have gotten pumped up since then and really improved. I think these guys will do very well, especially with the big stage, and once the adrenaline gets going,” Young said. Their best time is 3 minutes, 34 seconds, a second better than their county-winning time. One concern for the April 30 boys’ meet at Penn Relays is James’ health. He had a bad cramp in his leg at the home meet earlier in April.

Penn Relays – girls: The team’s 4 x 800 meter relay team – junior Ava Farrell and sophomores Laura Nakasaka, Caroline Leuba, and Brittney Wade were ranked No. 1 in the county all season, running 9:35. But at the recent Viking Invitational, Northwest (9:26) and Walter Johnson (9:34) posted faster times. B-CC, Northwest and Walter Johnson all will be in the same heat at Penn Relays on April 28, providing a good measuring stick on where they stand.

6. Ava’s near perfect season: Farrell has won all her division meets in the 800 meter, one mile, and two mile, with the exception of one two-mile competition in which Nakasaka outleaned her at the finish. “ Ava has been very impressive,” Young said.

7. Steady improvement in relay: The girls’ 4 x 400 team – Wade, Nakasaka, Leuba and sophomore Cameron Yuetter – have steadily improved, registering a 4:11 time, good for No. 3 in the county.

8. Help from the field: Sophomore Ruth Orevba has won several shot put and discus competitions in the division meets. “She’s looking to improve big time,” Young said. The team’s new throwing coach, Geoff Goidell, has helped out several athletes so far in the season.

9. Eliot, Trevor, Phillip, and Patrick: Seniors Gerson, Stephens, Catterall, and Frampus now are ranked No. 5 in the county for 4 x 800 relay, finishing in 8:19 at the last home meet, a major improvement for them. “I looked at my watch to make sure it was right,” Young said. “Then they came back at the Woodward Relays and proved it wasn’t a fluke, running 8:20.” Gerson and Stephens are running close to 2 minutes flat for the distance, and Young said the “key to the relay” will be Catterall and Frampus. Both run under 2:10, but he said if they can improve to 2:05 or better, “they will be right up there with the best teams and can qualify for the state meet.” To get to states, they will need to run 8:13 or under.

10. A more competitive season ahead: Post-division meets, Young said, are much more intense. “The mindset has to change at this point,” he said. “In the next few weeks, we will decide who will be on the regional teams. There are a lot of questions to be answered.”

Girls win, boys lose, and an electric 4 x 200 relay

2011-03-23T22:49:00.003-04:00

Let’s get the news out of the way:

In the B-CC outdoor track’s first meet on Tuesday, the girls beat Gaithersburg 87-49.

The boys lost 77-59.

Let’s get the stars up high:

* Senior Terrence James, three wins, in the 200 meters (22.63), 400 meters (52.14), and 4 x 400 meter relay (team’s time was 3:37.4);

* Senior Eliot Gerson, two firsts in the 1600 meters (4:42) and 3200 meters (10:16) and one second in the 800 meters (2:10);

* Sophomore Brittney Wade, four wins, in the 200 meters (26.44), 400 meters (58.19, a PR), 300 meter hurdles (51.87) and as part of the 4 x 400 meter relay (team time, 4:24.9);

* Junior Ava Farrell, three wins, in the 800 meters (2:41), 1600 meters (5:49), and 3200 meters (13:13).

* And a semi-hidden star, sophomore Laura Nakasaka who finished second to Farrell in each race by a fraction of a second each time.

But for Coach Chad Young, one of the strongest moments was a race in which his team didn’t win a point: the boys’ 4 x 200 meter relay. The team was disqualified because of a bad baton pass.

The team: Freddy Nzekele (who finished in 23.95); Duc Momo (23.66); Weyimni Dorsu (22.93); and James (22.62). They finished in 1:33.3.

Still, Young said, the disqualification didn’t negate the strong effort, which was capped by James’ electric final 200 meter leg, in which he surged past a Gaithersburg runner in the final 50 meters, in full view to fans in the bleachers.

“That was probably the most exciting race,” Young said. “The team fell behind, but TJ stormed back and crushed the Gaithersburg team. People in the stands were yelling. There was some energy in the stadium to see him for the first time outdoors this year.”

For Young, it was just nice to be outside for a competition, especially one at home.

“It was exciting to be back outside again and away from the PG Sportsplex for a change,” he said. “The girls did extremely well. The boys also competed well. A few mistakes were made and I hope we can learn from them. It was closer than the score really let on.”

Other top performances:

* The boys’ 4 x 400-meter relay team won in 3:37.4. The team included Momo, Dorsu, James and Trevor Stephens.

* In the boys’ 400-meter race, the boys swept: Behind James were Nzekele (53.83) and Stephens (53.91).

* In the boys’ 800, another 1-2-3 B-CC finish: Stephens (2:08), Gerson (2:10), and Phillip Catterall (2:12).

* In the 3200-meter race, freshman Alex Riishojgaard (10:56) finished in third place.

* In the 110- and 330-meter hurdles, sophomore Jordahn Brown, a newcomer, finished fifth and third respectively. He also finished fourth in the shot put, while his brother Juhstin, a junior, finished third in the shot put and second in the discus.

* In the girls’ competition, the 4 x 400 relay team won in 4:24.9. Its members: sophomore Cammi Yeutter (1:06); junior Grace Reingruber (1:09); sophomore Caroline Leuba (1:08); and Wade (1:01.)

* Yeutter finished second in the girls’ 400-meter race (1:02) and fifth in the 800 meter race (2:42). “She has come along very well, transitioning from basketball, and I’ve been impressed with her hard work and how competitive she is,” Young said.

* Sophomore Ruth Orevba finished second in the shot put (24 feet, 4 inches), first in the discus (63 feet, 6.5 inches), and fourth in the long jump (13 feet, 11 inches).

* Junior Mimie Ndubisi finished second in the long jump (14 feet five inches), won the triple jump (27 feet, nine inches) and was third in the high jump (4 feet, 4 inches).
Ariana Braganza finished second in the high jump, and Alanna Diggs finished fifth.

* In the 100-meter hurdles, senior Julia Hardgrove won in 16.44.

* And in the 100-meter dash, senior Katie Williams finished third in 13.04.

Photo blog: First outdoor meet 2011

2011-03-22T21:26:00.000-04:00

Photos from the March 22 home meet against Gaithersburg. (Story to follow)

'They don’t want to lose’

2011-02-24T22:02:00.001-05:00

At the mid-point of the boys’ 800-meter race in the 4A State Championships Tuesday at the Prince George’s Sports and Learning Complex, B-CC senior Trevor Stephens was in pain. And he was far off the lead pack.

That’s when his race began. Stephens eased up slightly in the third lap, and then poured on speed and effort, passing four runners in the final lap and finishing in 4th place in 2 minutes, 2.16 seconds, a personal record.

“At the 400 mark, I was a little concerned,” Stephens said. “I thought I was going to die with the rest of the group. I slowed that third lap down a little bit so I would have something to kick with.”

He continued: “I was feeling very, very sore. It was probably more of a mental thing that I could advance. I’ve adapted to the idea of racing people, instead of just running a race. In the past, I was running to a certain comfort level, instead of taking a little more pain and getting up with that next pack. There were points in that race on Tuesday, where if I were at last season’s level, I would have dropped off and stopped trying.

“But I realized this was my last meet indoors as a senior, so I pushed a little more,” he said.

For B-CC Track Coach Chad Young, Stephens’ performance was one highlight among many. The girls’ team finished in 5th place overall and the boys were 19th.

Another senior runner, Eliot Gerson, also ran a PR, finishing sixth in the mile in 4:34. Gerson also ran his own race, staying back in the pack as a group surged ahead and then he made his move, passing several near the end. Young said both Gerson and Stephens have become much stronger competitors than a year ago.

“It’s amazing to me to see their progress and to see how hard they work,” he said. “Last year, they didn’t qualify for the state meet, but this year they scored points for the team, and put themselves in position to win. They don’t want to lose. The difference was that before they wanted a PR. Now they don’t want to lose.”

Soon after the open 800-meter race, the boys’ 4 x 400 meter relay team finished in 3:38, for 10th place. The team consisted of sophomore Freddy Nzekele (52.66), junior Weyimni Dorsu (55.18), freshman Duc Momo (57.29), and Stephens (53.47). Young said that Momo, the freshman, was a replacement for Nana Twum Agyire, who has a stress fracture in his foot. With the exception of Stephens, the three other members of the team had never raced before this season.

“It says a lot about how hard they worked,” Young said. “They realized on the ride home, ‘Wow, we were just in the state championship in Maryland,’ and a couple of months ago they hadn’t run at all.”

In the girls’ meet, sophomore Brittney Wade had another breakout race, finishing second in the 800-meter race in 2:22. “She almost won the whole thing,” Young said.

Wade also ran in the 4 x 800 meter relay earlier. In that race, the B-CC team led at the three-quarter mark. Wade (2:25), junior Ava Farrell (2:25), and junior Grace Reingruber (2:27) gave senior Alex Doll the lead.

Doll ran well (2:22) but not enough to stave off the anchor runners for two others teams. Still, the time of 9:40 was the best of the year, and Young said there was no reason to feel disappointed with the effort. “The girls ran so well,” he said.

For Doll, it was one of her three races in the meet, which is likely the last of her high school career. She will play soccer in the spring.

Doll also ran the open 800-meter race, finishing in 2:27, and she ran the mile, running a sterling 5:08 – good enough to win in nearly any other year. But two runners posted 5:02 times, edging her out. “It was great to have Alex on the team,” Young said.

And in the two-mile race, Farrell ran what Young termed perhaps that smartest race of the day. A lead pack went out quickly, and Farrell stayed in the back for lap after lap. Slowly, Farrell caught each of them save one. She finished in 11:31, a PR, good enough for second place. “It was really fun to watch,” he said. “Ava has raced a lot now and really gained some confidence.”

For the B-CC runners, there won’t be much time off to savor performances. Outdoor practice starts next Tuesday, March 1. Young is looking forward to it.

“I hope now we can have continued success,” he said. “I think we can have some kids step up and lead us to becoming an even better team.”

Ten B-CC athletes qualify for state meet

2011-02-10T23:21:00.001-05:00

In the biggest meet so far this year, the B-CC indoor track team put on its best collective performance Thursday, with five girls and five boys qualifying for the Feb. 22 state meet. Several runners registered personal records.

“Last year, it was a real struggle, especially among the boys, to get anyone to qualify for the state meet,” said Coach Chad Young. “This year, we are stepping up and we are improving and it’s great we have a lot more people who belong in the state’s this year. There will be plenty of us there.”

At the regional meet held at Prince George’s County Sports and Learning Complex, the girls’ 4 x 800-meter relay team was the sole B-CC team to win a race, finishing in 9 minutes, 48 seconds.

Junior Ava Farrell (2:27) led off, followed by junior Hallie Jester (2:29); sophomore Laura Nakasaka (2:29); and senior Alex Doll (2:22). Young was particularly happy with Nakasaka’s performance. She beat her personal record by four seconds.

The boys’ 4 x 400-meter relay team entered the meet as the county winner. But Young did not allow the team’s star runner, senior Terrence James, to run for disciplinary reasons.

“The boys were upset with me when I told them TJ couldn’t run,” Young said. “They are so competitive and know they are better when TJ is on the team.”

But the team hung on to finish fourth, just enough to qualify for the state championships. Top four places automatically qualify, but runners up to sixth place can also go to states if they meet qualifying times.

Freddy Nzekele led off with 53 seconds flat, followed by senior Trevor Stephens (54.21); Weyimni Dorsu (54.38); and Nana Twum Atyire (55.63). Their total time was 3:37.23.

“They showed they could do it. I hope it helps build their confidence,” Young said.

The other qualifiers:

* Sophomore Brittney Wade finished fourth in the 800 meter race in 2:22, the fastest time on the team this year. Doll, finishing just behind her in 2:23, finished sixth, fast enough also to make states.

* Doll also qualified in the mile, finishing second in 5:09.

* Farrell qualified in the two-mile race, finishing in 11:47.

* Senior Eliot Gerson qualified in the mile, finishing in 4:36, for fourth place.

* Stephens qualified in the 800-meter race, finishing in 2:02 (a PR) for fifth place, fast enough for states.

Young also pointed out several other top performances that missed out making the state meet. Among them were Wade’s 300 meter race in 42.42, just 0.2 seconds out of fourth place, or an automatic qualifier; Nzekele’s 300 meter race in 37.38, for sixth place; senior Katie Williams ran a 44.6 second 300-meter race, a PR; junior Grace Reingruber and sophomore Caroline Leuba ran about a 1:25 flat for the 500 meter race, a PR for both; and Nakasaka ran a 12:24 two-mile race, another PR.

Musings from the sidelines: On the way to regionals

2011-02-09T15:02:00.001-05:00

In the buildup to Thursday’s 4-A regional track meet at Prince George’s Sports and Learning Complex, B-CC track coach Chad Young was able to see a wide range of athletes perform in two practice meets at Georgetown Prep over the last week. In many ways, he said, it was a glimpse into future indoor and outdoor teams.

For many of the runners, Tuesday’s practice meet was the last competition of the season.

Young’s highlights:

* A new contributor: Freshman Alex Riishojgaard led off the 4 x 800 boys’ relay on Tuesday and ran competitively, Young said. “In the first few laps he was up there with the lead pack in second place,” he said. “On the third lap, he fell back a bit, but made up lost ground on the last lap. We talked a little after his race that it was not just running four laps as fast you can, but racing the four laps, and there’s a difference. A pack of people went by him, and he didn’t fight back at all. The challenge for a younger runner is to at least put up a little bit of a fight. He’s a good young runner who was injured for most of the cross-country season but has gotten healthier. He’s going to be a contributor to the team – even this outdoor season.” His time was 2 minutes, 20 seconds.

* Coaching pays off: Two freshmen hurdlers, Conrad Jones and Nolan Ebner, also ran well on Tuesday. In recent weeks, Young has had help from a B-CC alumni, Alex Gray, a former state champion in the 110 meter and 300 meter hurdles. Gray has coached hurdlers, long and triple jumpers, and relay teams. “Having Alex around has been really helpful,” Young said. “Alex has already seen some improvement in these two freshmen, and, to quote him, he has seen ‘flashes of greatness.’ He can see they are really eager to learn and work very hard. As a coach, it’s nice to have them on the team. They really are showing the dedication it takes to get better.” Jone’s time in the 110-meter hurdles was 11.11, down from 11.82 the week before; Ebner’s time was 10:84, down from 10.89

* Perseverance and effort: At last week’s meet, Young said that sophomore Gavin Donnelly ran a strong 400-meter race, and also stuck it out for hours at the meet. Near the beginning of meet, Young said that a couple of the sophomore’s friends approached him. “They asked if they could run the two-mile, and I said, ‘Absolutely.’ They ran the two mile and didn't stay for the rest of the meet. Gavin was still there and his meet was the second to last heat of the day. When it finally came up, his race was one of the more exciting ones of the day. At the end of the first lap, he was leading the race. He really raced hard, and one runner came up behind him, challenged him, and Gavin had a tough time catching back up. It was pretty competitive and was really exciting to watch. I gave a lot of credit to Gavin for sticking out and being ready to run. I was proud of him.” Donnelly finished second in his heat in 1:02.

* Long-distance runners: In the girls’ two-mile race, sophomore Laura Nakasaka and Hallie Jester worked hard and ran together for much of the race, passing a number of runners. They finished in 12:43 and 12:47, respectively. Junior Alison Thomas won her heat in 13:09 and freshman, Amanda Cohen was not too far behind, running 13:21, followed by sophomore Emily Hardgrove in 13:38.

* Top time: Senior Eliot Gerson ran the two mile as well and ran his fastest time yet in 9:56 to get ready for the regional meet.

* Strong 400s for girls: In the girls’ 400-meter race, several B-CC girls ran well, including Caroline Leuba (1:06), Brittney Wade (59.98), Simone McGuinness (1:12), and Helen Webster (1:09).

* Strong 400s for boys: Nana Twum Agyire ran 53.89, and Trevor Stephens 54.14 in the 400-meter race as BCC’s top finishers.

For Thursday’s regional meet, which starts at 4 p.m., each team can enter only two athletes per event. In order to qualify for the state championship on Feb. 22, athletes have to finish below a qualifying time or finish in the top four places.

Girls' team shows its depth, finishes third

2011-01-30T21:21:00.000-05:00

At the Last Track to Philly, an invitational meet that attracted about 60 schools at Georgetown Prep on Saturday, B-CC coach Nathan Herchenroeder wasn’t sure what to expect when the girls distance medley relay (DMR) lined up.

Junior Ava Farrell ran a strong 1200 meters (3 minutes, 58 seconds) and freshmen Brittney Wade ran a strong 400 meters (1:00). Wade passed the baton to junior Hallie Jester, who took off in the 800-meter leg (2:27), snatching the lead, before junior Grace Reingruber ran the 1600-meter leg (5:46). The team finished second, and Herchenroeder, who was filling in for coach Chad Young, was impressed with the team, particularly Jester.

“I know she has improved from the two meets prior to this one, but she ran a really great 800,” he said. “She was really racing the other girl, and especially since she didn’t run in 4 x 800 relay in the counties, it was really great for her to go out and show her team she can run a great 800.”

The DMR was one of several impressive performances by the girls’ team, which finished third overall. Other highlights:

* The girls’ 4 x 800 meter team won in 10:14. The team consisted of sophomore Laura Nakasaka (2:33); Jester (2:36); Wade (2:29); and sophomore Caroline Leuba (2:36).

* Farrell won the 3200-meter race in 11:39. “A Whitman runner was on her shoulder basically the entire last mile, and Ava really pushed forward,” Herchenroeder said. “She kept her lead up to the last 200 and really broke off, and the Whitman girl couldn’t catch up.”

Overall, he said the meet “showed the depth of the girls team. We didn’t have all our top girls there, but still it looks like we have a lot of girls that can a pretty solid 800.”

Herchenroeder, who has taken much of the indoor season off from the team, said the depth created a “nice problem” for Coach Young. “Being at this meet made me miss the team. The girls’ performance got me excited about the outdoor season and coming back,” he said.

For the boys’ team, the 4 x 400 meter relay team ran a strong race, finishing in 3:36. The team ran in a slower heat and won going away. In the end, the team finished 5th overall. The team consisted of senior Nana Twum Agyire (54.29); senior Trevor Stephens (54.93); junior Weyimni Dorsu (55.76); and senior Terrence James (51.91).

In the 3200-meter run, senior Eliot Gerson went out fast, turning in a 4:50 first mile. He held on for fifth place, in 9:56.

And in the 1600-meter run, freshman Peter Horton ran a strong race, finishing in 5:13. Sophomore Greg Picard finished in 5:32.

`He just kept on going’

2011-01-25T22:04:00.002-05:00

At first, B-CC Track Coach Chad Young couldn’t believe his eyes. Sophomore Freddy Nzekele shot out to a large lead in the boys’ 4 x 400 relay in the finale at Montgomery County’s Track and Field Championship at Prince George’s Sports and Learning Complex.

Nzekele held the lead, and held the lead, and Young held his breath.

“I was just hoping he didn’t go out too hard, and just when you think the field is going to catch him, he just kept on going,” Young said.

Nzekele, in first position (53.64 seconds), passed the baton to senior Trevor Stephens (55.34), but the field caught up to him. Stephens passed it to senior Nana Twum Agyire (54.43), who battled back to second place. Agyire passed it to senior Terrence James.

By now, the whole B-CC team was on its feet in the stands, cheering loudly. Only one runner -- from Churchill -- was in front of James. It wouldn’t last.

James passed him easily and won going away. His time was 52.27, and the team finished in 3:35, the second fastest time by a B-CC boys 4 x 400 relay in the last five years.

“When I put them together, I was thinking they would be good, but not that they would be in contention to win the whole thing,” Young said. “When they ran, everyone was watching, everyone was excited, the place was really loud. With each lap, when they stayed in such good position and contention to win, it became more and more exciting for the whole team. We were all standing together in the stands, cheering. It was really fun.”

The meet, held Monday, had other dramatic races for B-CC as well.

In the girls’ 4 x 800 relay, another sophomore, Brittney Wade, led off.

“Before she got on the track, I told her this is an important race for the team and I hoped she would do well so she could continue to run the 4 x 8 in later meets,” Young said. Wade had only run the 800 meter race a few times, lowering her time from 2:38 to 2:30.

In the relay, she took off, just as Nzekele had.

“I kind of held my breath because she hadn’t run it a whole lot,” Young said. “But she really shined.” She ran it in 2:23, holding the lead and handing the baton to
junior Ava Farrell (2:25), who passed it to junior Grace Reingruber (2:30), who passed it to senior Alex Doll.

Doll (2:23) ran well, Northwest senior Britt Eckerstrom, who like Doll is a soccer standout, ran even better. Eckerstrom (2:12) passed Doll and won the race for Northwest. B-CC finished second.

In other highlights:

* James finished third in the 300 meter race in 36:46. Nzekele came in eighth, in 37.36.

* Doll won the mile race in 5:13. She had gone out strong and held off Walter Johnson runner Camille Bouvet (5:15). Doll also ran the 800-meter race in 2:28, finishing fifth. In that race, sophomore Caroline Leuba finished seventh in 2:30.

* In the two-mile, Farrell ran well, finishing in 11:46 for fourth place.

In all, the girls team finished 8th out of 25 schools, while the boys finished 13th. The next competition is the Georgetown Prep Invitational on Saturday.

Conversations: Senior Eliot Gerson, on leadership

2011-01-20T20:52:00.003-05:00

Distance runner Eliot Gerson, 17,has had a strong start in the indoor track season. Last year, during the outdoor season, he set a PR in the mile, running 4 minutes, 38 seconds. This year, he has already eclipsed that time twice indoors, running 4:36 and 4:37. In the 800 meter run, he also has excelled, running a 2:04 in a 4 x 800 relay race. Eliot has committed to Vassar College next year, where he plans to run cross-country and track. Here is one in an occasional series of conversations with B-CC track student-athletes:

Q: What are your impressions of the season so far?

A: I’m really excited because I’ve been running faster and my times have been dropping consistently. It’s especially exciting because it’s early in the year.

Q: Why has it gone well?

A: Health is probably the biggest reason. I’m managing thus far to stay healthy, which is huge. After four years, I’m beginning to understand my body a little bit, when to push, when to back off. (Senior) Trevor (Stephens) also has helped me drop my time, just by having him as a training partner.

Q: How often do you run together?

A: On the days we have practice, we run together. He also lives nearby so on weekends we also run, and that’s one of the biggest things, helping me get out.

Q: What are your goals this year?

A: I don’t know if I have specific goals set. I’m taking it one race at a time. Anything can happen. I can get hurt, or things could go great and I run faster than I thought I could. I don’t want to limit myself (by setting a goal), but I also don’t want to set a goal that does not allow me to enjoy the things I have done because I haven’t accomplished that one goal. So if I’m going to pick a goal now, it’s a smaller one. One is to qualify for states for the indoors. From there, if I do that, I’ll see what place I can realistically get. But until I qualify for the states, I’m not thinking about it.

Q: As a senior, how has your role on the team changed?

A: It’s kind of interesting, because on one hand as a senior you have a little bit more responsibility, but at the same time, there’s a little bit less pressure because we have a lot of seniors this year. We’re lucky in that regard. A lot of people have been on the team for a number of years, and that’s been helpful. It’s taken the pressure off all of us, and we can rely on each other. One or two of us don’t have to carry the weight.

Conversations: Sophomore Brittney Wade, on versatility

2011-01-20T08:09:00.003-05:00

Brittney Wade, 15, had a standout season at B-CC last year as a freshman, racing in the 100-, 200- and 400-meter distances. This year, Coach Chad Young also has had her run in the 800-meter races, and her results have been outstanding. In her first 800, she ran two minutes, 47 seconds. A few weeks later, at the Montgomery Invitational, she lowered her time to 2:30. Moco.com ranks her 6th fastest in the county in the 400-meter race. Here is one in an occasional series of conversations with B-CC track student-athletes.

Q: How do you feel about your season so far?

A: The season is going really well for me, especially with it being a transition from a sprinter to a mid-distance runner. I didn’t expect to do so well in something that was brand new to me.

Q: How was it running in the 800-meter race the first time?

A: At first I was really nervous. It has been a while since I did it last -- in the 7th grade. I wondered, how should I maintain my pace throughout the race? The first one was a little slow compared to now.

Q: What’s the difference in tactics in the 400 and 800?

A: For the 400, you’re supposed to pace yourself, but you’re also supposed to run as hard as you can for the whole race. For the 800, it’s more of a strategic race, it’s longer, you have to hold onto your pace for another 400.

Q: What’s harder?

A: The 400. You have to run hard the whole way. The 800 feels pretty long, but it’s easier for you to relax.

Q: Now that you’re running longer distances, does that change your expectations for this year and the rest of high school?

A: I think I will be more of a middle distance runner from now on, instead of being identified as a sprinter. I think I’ll also be running the 200 and 400, but instead of 100, I’ll be running the 800. I’m happy with that. I’m not a big fan of the 100.

Q: How does your success in running carry over to other things?

A: It makes me feel I can take on any challenge. It’s a really hard sport – other people may not think so -- but it’s pretty grueling. Running helps me know that since I can do this, I can also do that.

Q: What about your role on the team? Has it changed as a sophomore?

A: I think my role has changed a little bit from when I was a freshman, but I’m still a learner. I can give my experience to freshmen or to runners who are just starting, but I’m just a sophomore and I still have a lot to learn.

A cold workout on Martin Luther King Day

2011-01-17T16:35:00.007-05:00

Even on a holiday with temperatures slightly below freezing, more than 30 members of the B-CC track team gathered Monday at the outdoor track to put in a tough workhold. Here are some photos of practice:

And now increasing the pace: The boys

2011-01-10T21:27:00.004-05:00

For the past several track seasons, a quiet truth trailed the B-CC team: the girls outperformed the boys. But in small if perceptible ways, the boys’ squad this year has been making steady advances, even as the girls’ team remains at an elite level.

At Saturday’s Montgomery Invitational, a meet that drew elite athletes from more than 100 schools, some as far away as Pennsylvania and New Jersey, the boys 4 x 800 meter track team turned in its fastest time of the year, 8 minutes, 43 seconds, even with one key performer missing.

The team – seniors Nana Twum Agyire (2:18.52, filling in for Terrence James, who arrived late), Trevor Stephens (2:08), Philip Catterall (a PR 2:11), and Eliot Gerson (2:04) – finished in 17th place. They now are ranked 10th on the Montgomery County leader board.

Coach Chad Young said that he appreciated Agyire stepping in at the last minute to help the team, even if his main event is the 400-meter race. He also said he appreciates the overall leadership by his senior distance runners who have ``been improving and becoming more competitive.”

He specifically mentioned Stephens, Catterall, and Gerson. While Gerson has had much success earlier in his high school career, Young said that Stephens and Catterall have made great strides even in recent months.

“I’ve talked a lot to Trevor and Philip about racing and how it’s different than going out for a run,” Young said. “Running a mile is not the same as racing a mile. They have been transitioning from running laps around the track to racing around the track, and they’ve been teaching their teammates as well. They are showing senior leadership. They are leading by example. They’re putting a lot of work on the track and on the weekends.”

For the first time in three years, the boys 4 x 800 relay team has a shot at making the state meet, Young said.

Gerson, meanwhile, also competed in the 1600-meter race, finishing in 4:36, a PR, for in seventh place. “It’s really impressive,” Young said. “He’s been running under 4:40 almost every meet this year.”

In other boys’ races:

* In the open 800-meter race, Stephens ran 2:04, for 14th overall. He is ranked 8th overall on the county leader board for the distance;

* In the open 400-meter race, James ran 51.78, for fifth overall. He is ranked third in the county.

In the girls’ elite mile, senior Alex Doll, who is competing for the first time since her freshman year, turned in a performance that Young called “one of the highlights of the meet.”

After running in second place for most of the race, Doll was passed in the last 400 meters by two runners, finishing fourth. Her time was a sparkling 5:11.

“It was a chance for her to see what she still has from her freshmen year, and she battled some of the top runners from Maryland, Virginia, Pennsylvania, and New Jersey,” Young said. “She’s a really good natural runner, but she and I were in the dark about what to do with this race. Two, three weeks ago, the last time she ran the mile, she ran even splits on all her laps and easily won (in 5:21). The only thing I said to her was to try to stick to the pack for a while, and not be too aggressive at the beginning. She did hang back, and was fighting the urge to lead in the race. … She really did well.”

So well that Doll is currently ranked as the top miler in the Montgomery County leader board ratings.

In other girls’ races:

* The 4 x 800 meter team finished in 10:10 for fourth place overall. The team consisted of Grace Reingruber (2:33); Ava Farrell (2:25); Laura Nakasaka (2:34); and Hallie Jester ( 2:36). All are juniors except for Nakasaka, a sophomore.

* Sophomore Brittney Wade finished 10th in the open 400 meter race in 1:01.43. She is ranked sixth in the county.

* Farrell, in the elite 3,200-meter race, finished in 11:38, for second overall. “She’s really fun to watch,” Young said. “She’s in really good shape and is competing well.”

`She brings a sense of confidence to our team'

2010-12-22T22:19:00.002-05:00

She hadn’t been running track since her freshman year when she buzzed through the competition. So when B-CC senior Alex Doll stepped on the track Wednesday at the Montgomery County Developmental Meet at Prince George’s Sports and Learning Complex, her teammates, competitors and even other coaches looked up.

B-CC Coach Chad Young talked to her for a moment. “I told her not to set expectations too high, to see how she felt, to just strive to be competitive,” he said.

He didn’t have to be concerned. Doll, a standout soccer player, led the 4 x 800 relay, running it in 2 minutes 25 seconds. Juniors Grace Reingruber (2:31) and Hallie Jester (2:32) and sophomore Caroline Leuba (2:32) followed, and the team finished in 9:58, for second place overall.

Then Doll ran the 1600-meter race, taking the lead from start to end, winning easily in 5:21. “The impressive thing about her was that all her laps around the track were exactly the same split,” Young said. “If I can get a runner in their senior year, and if I’ve worked with them for four years, I’m really excited they can run an even split. And she got on the track for the first time in three years, and was able to do it right away. It’s really impressive.”

Reingruber and Jester also ran strong 1600-meter races, finishing in 5:32 and 5:33, respectively.

“I think having Alex out there gets everyone a little bit more excited,” Young said. “She brings a sense of confidence to our team when she is out there.”

Strong showing by boys' 4 x 800

The all-senior boys’ 4 x 800 relay also ran well. Terrence James led off in 2:07, the first to pass the baton. The next two runners – Eliot Gerson (2:08) and Trevor Stephens (2:07) – maintained the lead. The anchor, Phillip Catterall (2:13) ran well, but couldn’t hold the lead. The team finished second in 8:48. “It was one of the better times we have run this early in the season. They are extremely competitive,” Young said.

In the girls’ 3200-meter run, junior Ava Farrell battled for the lead up until the final two laps, finishing second in 11:50. Sophomore Laura Nakasaka finished in 12:34, easily besting her goal of finishing under 13 minutes, while freshman Amanda Cohen finished second in her heat in 13:36.

In the boys’ 300, James also ran strong, finishing in 36:18. (Results were not available immediately.)

For the girls’ 300, sophomore Brittney Wade led the team, finishing in 43.41, while freshman Laila Ismail (44.09) was close behind. Senior Katie Williams also ran well, finishing in 45.48, a personal record.

In the girls’ 4 x 200 meter relays, a team comprised of Ismail, Wade, Williams and sophomore Shayna Nash finished in 1:58.86. The top boys’ 4 x 200 team finished in 1:39.01. The runners were sophomore Freddy Nzekele (25:32); James (24.25); freshman Duc Momo (25.54); and senior Nana Twum Agyire (23.90). They were one of the top teams overall.

In the boys’ 500, seniors Agyire and Stephens both ran 1:12, with Agyire edging out his teammate.

And in the triple jump, freshman Kenneth Norris, who had never competed in the event, discovered he had a new talent. He jumped 37 feet, 6 inches. “For the first time, that was really good,” Young said. “It’s the time of the year when people are trying new things, and I really respect him for getting out there and trying.”

Tune-ups done, competition begins

2010-12-19T12:57:00.002-05:00

At the beginning of every sports season, a coach is never sure what to expect. Will top performers from previous years build on their successes? What about newcomers? Or previous back-of-the-pack athletes – will they step up?

Chad Young, the head coach of the B-CC indoor track team, is starting to learn some answers to those questions following one scrimmage meet (Dec. 4 at the Montgomery County scrimmage at Prince George’s Sports and Learning Complex) and one “practice” against other Montgomery County schools (Dec. 14 at Georgetown Prep).

Here’s seven highlights so far as the team prepares for its first official competition on Wednesday at the first Montgomery County Developmental Meet at Prince George’s Sports and Learning Complex. The second county meet will be Dec. 29.

1. Junior Ava Farrell’s fast start. “She seems to be in tiptop shape from cross-country season,” Young said. At the Dec. 4, meet, Farrell battled junior Alexandra Phillips of Whitman during the 1600 meter race. “Ava sat on her shoulder, and they went neck and neck to the finish line, where she was out-leaned,” he said. She set a personal record that day, running 5 minutes, 28 seconds. And then, 10 days later, she ran a new PR, 5:26.
2. Two freshmen performances. Freshmen Helen Webster and Simone McGuinness, both newcomers to track, ran their first 800 meter races at the Dec. 4 meet. “Helen took off in the lead for the first two laps, with Simone on her shoulder,” Young said. “Simone passed her, took the lead, created a small gap, but Helen responded and won at the end. It was fun to watch both of them compete for the first time and do so well.” Webster finished in 2:49, McGuinness in 2:50.
3. New competition: During the cross-country season, freshman Laila Ismail ran well but didn’t finish in the top pack. But Young placed her in some of the sprints for the indoor track competitions, and immediately Ismail provided competition to standout sophomore Brittney Wade. In the 55-meter dash, Wade finished in 7.4 seconds, Ismail in 7.7. In the 300-meter race, Wade was 44.02, Ismail 44.07. “If these two girls push each other, they could be pretty good,” Young said.
4. Another strong freshman performance: At the Dec. 4 meet, freshman Kenneth Norris ran a 5:23 1600-meter ran, winning his heat. At the second practice, he ran 5:36 in the 1600, and 2:22 in the 800-meter race. “He seems to be fitting right in and making it look easy as a first timer,” Young said.
5. Stretching out two stars: In one experiment during the first two meets, Young put two of his returning stars, Wade and senior Terrence James (both qualified for the state meet last year) in the 800 meter races. In the two races, Wade ran 2:41 and 2:37. James ran 2:10 at the Georgetown Prep practice. “Brittney is showing she has a lot of strength and could step up or down in distances depending on where we need her,” Young said. “For TJ, I wanted him to experience something new, and challenge him physically and mentally. Both of them really shined.” In the 800 meter boys race, Young said he asked his top runners to run with James for the first two laps, and “then I told TJ I wanted to see what he’s got.Trevor Stephens was pretty far ahead of him and TJ caught up and beat him. TJ is now making me rethink how we want to put together our 4x800 meter relay because he is so versatile.”
6. Senior Eliot Gerson’s strong performances. “He’s in great shape, and it showed – it’s exciting and encouraging,” Young said. He ran the 1600-meter races in 4:44 and 4:39. Stephens also ran a strong 1600 in 4:48 on Dec. 4.
7. On deck: “Wednesday will be our first opportunity to see where we fit in to the overall standings, and compare ourselves to the entire county,” Young said. “Right now, we’re looking pretty good, and our times are respectable. We’ll be building throughout the season and I believe we will be able to compete with the best teams. I think our effort will be stepped up in Wednesday's meet and that the team will be fired up since the results will be official.”

State meet: A celebration of excellence

2010-05-29T22:50:00.006-04:00

For the B-CC track and field team, the prospect of even a few elite athletes making the Maryland state 4A meet was more daunting this year than any before. The school had just moved up into the pool of the state’s largest high schools in the fall because of a large freshman class, putting it as one of smallest 4A schools in the state.

``In the past, qualifying for the 2A and even the 3A was pretty easy,’’ said Coach Chad Young. ``But for this state meet, we had to run as fast as we could or throw as far as we could even to get here. If you make a mistake, or you missed an opportunity, you wouldn’t make it.’’

And yet seven B-CC athletes qualified.

On Friday and Saturday, Young and fellow coach Nathan Herchenroeder proudly watched the seven perform on the largest stage of the year at Morgan State University against several nationally ranked athletes.

The results:

The girls 4 x 800 team (sophomores Grace Reingruber and Ava Farrell and seniors Paige Donnelly and Kate Leuba) finished in 9 minutes, 43 seconds for 5th place, winning four points for the team.

In the 200-meter dash semifinals, junior Terrence James finished in 23.24, sixth in his heat, just out of the running for the finals.

In the shot put, senior Chuck Banks threw 46 feet, 6 inches, for 6th place, winning three points.

On Saturday, in the 400-meter dash, freshman Brittney Wade ran 59.88 seconds for 12th place.

And in the discus, Banks threw 102 feet, 5 inches for 15th place.

In the girls 4 x 800, all the runners performed well in a race won by a Wootton team, which finished in 9:04.39 -- the second fastest relay time in the country this year.

``It was a great race,’’ Young said. ``It was our girls' second fastest time of the year.’’ The only minor hiccup was that Farrell at the end stopped just short of the finish line, before realizing she still had another 10 meters to go. She finished a second or two slower, but it didn’t affect the team’s place.

Afterward, the four girls were extremely happy with their performance as they gathered around Young for a recap. Their times: Reingruber, 2:24; Donnelly, 2:23; Leuba, 2:27; and Farrell, 2:26.

For the 200-meter dash, James had had a difficult several weeks beforehand with a nagging Achilles injury, and Young and Herchenroeder said they wondered if that accounted for his time, which was slower than he had run before.

``I think he was really pumped, but he didn’t get quite enough of a warm-up to the race. And the injury he’s had with his Achilles played a factor,'' he said. ``He had to take it easy over the past few weeks, and that could have affected him mentally and physically. But it was a learning experience for him. Just the fact he was at the state meet will provide motivation to get back here next year.’’

In the shot put, Banks was well-prepared. His best throw came on his second attempt – close to his personal record for the year. ``It was a good finish for him,’’ Young said. ``He’s so used to throwing farther with each meet, with each time he competes, so he was a little upset. But it was a good end to his shot put career in high school. He’s not sure where he wants to go in college, but he does want to try shot put in college next year.’’

In the girls’ 400 meters dash -- the finals featured eventual winner Olivia Ekpone of Northwest, who won in 53.60 seconds -- Wade started out slow in the first 100 meters, and then picked up the pace. ``She looked real good,’’ Young said. ``She caught four girls in the last 50 yards in her meet. That was pretty impressive – a great introduction for her at the state meet.’’

Editor’s note: Many thanks to both coaches – Chad Young and Nathan Herchenroeder – for all their efforts over both the indoor and outdoor seasons. Often, these meets stretched up to 12 hours, and they stayed until the very end, encouraging their athletes in ways that few parents could see. This blog, in fact, represented even more time for them – especially for Coach Young, who saw it as an extension of his teaching and coaching, finding a new way to motivate and communicate with his student-athletes. Athletes and parents should feel free to use the comment section to relate your own stories on their efforts, and on the season as a whole.

‘I can’t wait until next week’

2010-05-20T21:56:00.003-04:00

Before Terrence James, a B-CC junior, ran in the 200-meter dash finals at the regional meet Thursday at Whitman High School, several teammates offered advice.

``They were telling me, `You were real tight in the earlier race,’’’ James said. ``They told me to relax, use my arms more, raise my legs higher. I did all that, and I leaned at the end.’’

And he finished second in 22.2 seconds, qualifying for next week’s 4A state high school championship at Morgan State University. It will be his first state outdoor championship race.

``I feel like I’m going to give it my all,’’ James said after the race, sitting in the stands and watching his teammates compete. ``I’m real excited. I can’t wait until next week.’’

James wasn’t the only B-CC track and field athlete to qualify for the state championship. Others who accomplished the high honor: senior Chuck Banks in both the shot put (he threw it 45 feet, 3 inches, finishing third) and the discus (117 feet, for second); freshman Brittney Wade in the 400-meter dash (59.53 seconds); and the girls 4 x 800 relay team, consisting of seniors Paige Donnelly (2:24 leg) and Kate Leuba (2:28) and sophomores Grace Reingruber (2:22) and Ava Farrell (2:25).

``We had a really strong two days,’’ said Coach Nathan Herchenroeder, referring to the meet, which took place on Wednesday and Thursday. ``A number of people did really well.’’

Banks wished he had performed even better – especially in the shot put.

``It didn’t come through for me today,’’ he said. ``To throw the shot put, you need to have you lower body relaxed and your upper body strong. It’s like you’re a coil and you explode in one motion. I didn’t do it in one motion today; I did it in two motions. That’s what I’ll work on all next week. I have to relax more when I throw.’’

Banks, who has thrown over 48 feet in practice, said evenly, ``I got to get some payback next week.’’

Wade – who had run five races over the two days – seemed so tired at the end of the competition on Thursday that her reaction was muted about qualifying for the state meet. ``I was really nervous before running the 400,’’ she said. ``I saw who I was running against. But I was really happy with the result.’’

In the girls 4 x 800 race, the B-CC team was in danger of not qualifying until the final lap when Farrell moved into fourth place – the last qualifying spot for states. ``They ran a really good race,’’ Herchenroeder said. ``We had two PRs with Paige and Grace, and they all ran hard.’’

Farrell also ran a strong 3200-meter race, finishing in 11:44, but missed the state qualifying time by two seconds. ``She’ll take this race and learn from it,’’ Herchenroeder said.

Donnelly ran a 2:24 800 on Thursday, finishing 10th overall, matching her PR this season from the 4 x 800 a day earlier.

In other races:

* Junior Julia Hardgrove qualified for the 100-meter hurdles finals in 16.75, and then ran a 16.51 in the finals, finishing eighth.

* Juniors Eliot Gerson and Trevor Stephens ran PRs in the 3200-meter race. Gerson finished in 10:06, Stephens in 10:16.

* Senior Alex Barrett excelled in three competitions: clearing 5 feet, six inches in the high jump, finishing fifth, just missing qualifying for the states; running 53.89 in the 400 meter dash, more than a second faster than his times this season; and running a leg in the 4 x 400 relay, which finished second in its heat.

The 4 x 400 team ran 3:38, erasing its old record by three seconds, even though its faster runner, Terrence James, didn’t run because of a tight muscle. The team consisted of junior Nana Twum Agyire (53 seconds); Barrett (54.9); sophomore Julien Dorsey (54.8); and senior David Segun (54.7), who shot out in the beginning of his lap to first place, only to be passed in the last 50 meters.

* The girls 4 x 400 finished in 4:16, consisting of freshman Caroline Leuba (1:02); senior Kate Leuba (1:03); freshman Cameron Yuetter (1:06); and sophomore Laila Shehata (1:05).

For the state meet at Morgan State, competition on Friday begins at 4 p.m. Events scheduled Friday include the shot put; 4 x 8 girls relay; and boys 200 meter race. On Saturday, when competition begins at 11 a.m., there will be the discus competition, and finals for boys 200 meter and girls 400 meter dashes.

Relentless, and a burning intensity

2010-05-15T19:19:00.002-04:00

Nana Twum Agyire, a B-CC junior, started out the outdoor track season with burning intensity – maybe too much so. He injured his leg and couldn’t run for several weeks. So he learned how to throw the discus and shot put. He kept working, kept in shape, kept going to be ready when able.

The time came Saturday, in the Montgomery County `B’ championship track and field event held at Whitman High School. He was ready to run again, and Coach Chad Young entered him in the 400 meter dash, penciling in an expected finish of 62 seconds.

Agyire sped around the track, finishing in 55.5 seconds, 8th place overall.

``He improved his last time by seven seconds out of the blue,’’ Young said. ``He is one of the hardest workers on the team and did a great job to get himself race ready. He’s relentless with this desire to be good at things.’’

Agyire, who is originally from Ghana, wasn’t through. He ran in the 100 meter dash and barely qualified for the final heat – finishing 15th out of 15, in 12 seconds flat. But in the finals, he tied for third overall, finishing in 11.6 seconds.

The meet, which attracted 25 teams, is for athletes who did not quite make the top tier of their school’s team. Coaches love it – the competition allows also-rans in other meets to be champions, and it also brings a mix of ages competing at near the same level together at a time when many are peaking from weeks of training.

For B-CC, the meet brought some pleasant surprises, and again showed the depth of a strong girls team.

But with the boys, some highlights:

* Senior Andrew Crouch ran the 3200-meter run in 11:17, a personal record;

* In the 800 meter race, junior Lucas Morrison finished 5th in 2:12; followed by freshman Thomas Horton in 2:14. (Horton, said Young, went out hard in both the 800 and 1600; ``perhaps he was a little over-confident, but he learned a lot.’’ Horton finished the 1600 in 4:59.)

Also, freshman Greg Picard, running his first 800, went out a little too quickly, but ``it was a good learning experience,’’ Young said. Picard finished in 2:38.

And another freshman, Gavin Donnelly, ran a 2:27 800, his personal best. Young had estimated his finish at 2:40. ``He looked pretty comfortable on the track, and competed extremely well,’’ Young said. ``I thought it was his best race of the season so far. He looked like a runner out there, ready to race.’’ Donnelly had earlier run a 59-second 400, six seconds faster than his previous best time

* In the 1600, senior Nick Richter finished in 4:58, and junior Lucas Morrison ran 5:01. ``They all improved quite a lot in last few weeks,’’ Young said.

The boys finished 16th out of 25 teams, with 6.5 points.

The girls finished second, only behind Clarksburg, with 77.66 points.

For the girls, the fun started early:

* In the 100-meter dash, four girls qualified for the finals. Sophomore Nimie Ndubisi was second in 13.3; Fatoumatta Tunkara, a junior, and Shayna Nash, a freshman, tied at 13.8; and freshman Jamie Potter finished in 14.2.

* In the girls 4 x 800, their dominance showed. B-CC entered four teams, and they finished 1, 2, 6, and 8th overall. Leading the way was freshman Caroline Leuba, who had a banner day.

The A team -- Leuba (2:30), sophomore Laila Shehata (2:31), freshman Laura Nakasaka (2:40), and senior Darcy O’Connor (2:43) -- finished in 10:24, easily beating the field.

The B team – freshman Cami Yeutter (2:33), sophomore Alison Thomas (2:41), freshman Elena Crouch (2:59) and junior Minna Jacobson (2:49) – finished second in 11:06.

``Cami had an injury in the spring, and didn’t join our team halfway through,’’ Young said. ``So, she’s been running only for a month. She had been running the 200 and 400 and I told her last week that I was going to put her in the 800, and she’s been really nervous. But of all the 12 girls, she had the third fastest time. She’s now a candidate to be part of future 4 x 8 teams.’’

* In the open 800, Leuba finished first, in 2:30 again, out of 54 runners.

* In the 400 meter dash, Shehata finished third in 1:03, while freshman Eugenia Wilson finished fifth in 1:05.9.

* In the 200 meter dash, Wilson finished first in 27.6. Freshman Jamie Potter finished fifth in 28.7, while Nash, another freshman, finished sixth in 28.8. Tied for eighth: sophomores Emily Roy and Amy Heaton in 28.9.

Next up: The regional meet, at Whitman, next Wednesday and Thursday.

`He took his anger out on shot put’

2010-05-14T23:01:00.005-04:00

When B-CC senior Chuck Banks started preparing for Wednesday’s shot put competition in the Montgomery County track and field championship, a judge stopped him. She said he could not compete because he had signed up too late. Banks ran to find Coach Chad Young, and the two of them argued on his behalf.

After huddling with other coaches, the judge allowed Banks to compete. ``Chuck was pretty annoyed by the situation and took his anger out on his throwing,’’ Young said. ``He threw 45 feet something.’’

Rain postponed the meet until Thursday. Banks wasn’t late this time. He threw 46 feet, 11 inches – more than a foot better than his personal record.

``He took his anger out on the shot put,’’ Young said. ``He’s an emotional guy. To throw more than a foot past your PR is quite something – especially as far as he is throwing.’’

At the county meet, Banks wasn’t the team's only highlight. Senior Kate Leuba joined the girls 4 x 800 team for the first time in a year, giving it a huge boast toward a fourth place finish in 9 minutes, 47 seconds.

``She’s a senior, so I wanted to give her a chance to run in the state meet if we can get there,’’ Young said. ``She ran 2:28, which is close to her PR. She’s picking up where she left off and looked really strong on her leg.’’

Sophomore Ava Farrell, who anchored the relay, ran her fastest 800 of the year in 2:24; sophomore Grace Reingruber also ran her fastest 800 split in 2:25; and senior Paige Donnelly ran 2:27.

For Leuba, the 4 x 800 was only one of her three races at the meet. In the 4 x 200, she joined senior Nia Harrington, freshman Brittney Wade, and junior Katie Williams to run a 1:50, good for eighth place.

In the 4 x 400, Leuba, Donnelly, Wade and sophomore Hallie Jester combined to run 4:18 to finish in 11th place. The time was the fastest 4 x 400 of the year for the team by seven seconds, and Wade’s 60-second lap was the fastest individual time of the year by any B-CC runner.

In the longest run of the meet, the 3,200-meter race, Young took aside Farrell to talk about strategy.

``We talked a little bit, about the girls she was running with, and we set a goal in mind for the first mile -- 5:50. She kind of likes to go out a little slower, but this time she wasn’t looking at her watch, she just ran, and she did a 5:50 first mile,’’ Young said. ``She looked comfortable, and she started to slow down a tiny bit, but the field was slowing down, too, and gradually she began creeping up in the field, and started passing people. One girl in Clarksburg who had beaten her almost every time was ahead of her, and then Ava went by her. The girl jumped on Ava’s shoulder and passed her back and created a gap in the last 100 meters. But somehow Ava found the power and surged one more time, and passed her.’’

Farrell finished in 6th place, running 11:38 , or 11 seconds faster than she had ever done before.

In the boys 1600 meter race, senior Chris Henderson had been running steadily better in past weeks. He set a PR of 4:51 two weeks ago, and then ran 4:44 during the past weekend. On Thursday, he ran faster stiill, 4:41. ``He has really dropped his time,’’ Young said. ``That is always fun to watch, and he seemed excited.’’

In the boys’ 800 meter race, junior Trevor Stephens and Henderson ran together, with Stephens (2:04) finishing ahead of Henderson (2:05).

Junior Terrence James, one of the county’s fastest 200 meter runners, didn’t run in the county meet because of a balky ankle.

The county B meet will be held Saturday at Whitman High school. The regional meet is being held Wednesday and Thursday at Whitman. At the regionals, athletes have to make qualifying times or finish in the top four to compete in the state meet.

``A lot of people are running faster right now,’’ Young said. ``And it’s a good time of the year to run faster.’’

A test before county meet

2010-05-09T17:06:00.004-04:00

B-CC Track Coach Chad Young looked forward to the 26th Annual Katie Jenkins Memorial Invitational Track and Field Meet at Sherwood High School on Friday and Saturday. It would be a good test going into a battery of tough meets ahead -- this week’s county meet, and regionals and state competition after that.

The test was especially grueling for the team’s sprinters, who on Friday ran preliminary and semifinal heats – and for the qualifiers, again on Saturday in the finals.

``It gives them a good feel for racing two days in a row,’’ he said.

For the sprinters, it felt like they were running all the time.

In the girls’ events, freshman Brittney Wade qualified for the 100 and 200 meter finals, while senior Nia Harrington qualified for the 200 finals. For Wade, it meant four races on Friday, plus three on Saturday: the two finals, plus a leg of the 4 x 400 relay.

Her finishes: fifth place in the 100 in 13.27 seconds, and second in the 200 in 27.21. Harrington finished fifth in the 200 in 28.17.

In the boys’ events, junior Terrence James qualified for the 200 and 400 meter races, as well as anchoring the 4 x 400 team. He finished third in the 400 in 52.5 seconds, and – just two events later – finished second in the 200 in 23.13.

``That was pretty impressive to put those two together,’’ Young said. ``I think the highlight of the whole meet was the sprinters, getting through preliminaries, semifinals and then finals. That was a big deal for us.’’

But the strong performances didn’t end there.

The girls’ 4 x 800 finished first in the meet, running it in 10:00. The team was comprised of sophomores Grace Reingruber, Hallie Jester and Ava Farrell and senior Paige Donnelly.

Its 4 x 400 team – Wade, Jestor, Donnelly and sophomore Laila Shehata – finished second overall in 4:26.

In the open 800 meters, B-CC finished one-two-three, with Reingruber (2:29), Farrell (2:30), and freshman Caroline Leuba (2:31). ``They were racing each other down the home stretch,’’ Young said.

Leuba was just coming off a third place finish in the 400 meters (1:03.9). While in the mile, Reingruber was second (5:30), Donnelly fourth (5:40), and Jester sixth (5:43).

In the 3200-meter race, Farrell finished second in 11:55.

For the boys, the 4 x 800 team (seniors Chris Henderson and Eric Damtoft and juniors Trevor Stephens and Elliot Gerson) ran their fastest time of the year, finishing second in 8:34.

``That’s a big confidence boost for them going into the county meet,’’ Young said. ``We really do belong and we really are ready to compete against the county’s best. It’s fun for me and for them to watch and see how they are doing better over entire season.’’ In comparison, the 4 x 800 team’s indoor best time was over 9 minutes.

The 4 x 400 team also ran its fastest time of the year – 3:42 – for second place. The team consisted to James, sophomore Julien Dorsey and seniors Alex Barrett and David Segun.

Three boys ran well in the 1600 meter race, including Henderson shattering his old personal record by seven seconds, finishing in 4:44. Gerson finished in 4:43, while Damtoft ran 4:46.

In the 3200 meter race, Gerson finished sixth (10:19), Stephens seventh (10:22) and senior Andrew Crouch 18th (11:19).

And in the shot put, senior Chuck Banks nearly threw a personal record (44 feet, four inches) for fifth place.

The Katie Jenkins invitational also featured an unusual competition – the quadathlon – which involves a 400-meter race, discus throw, long jump, and a 1500 meter race.

Senior Kate Leuba finished second overall, while fellow senior Darcy O’Connor finished third. For the boys, junior Patrick Frampus (see photos) and freshman Thomas Horton competed well. Horton won the 1500-meter run.

Now the team faces its toughest challenge of the year – a varsity county meet Wednesday in Clarksburg, in which teams can submit only one competitor per event, or athletes can qualify with very competitive times. On Saturday, those who don’t compete in Wednesday’s event will compete in a meet at Whitman High School in Bethesda.

``The county meet will be our most challenging for the entire year,’’ Young said.

Reflections on seniors, part two

2010-04-18T13:01:00.000-04:00

This is the second of two parts on the B-CC track team coaches' reflections on their senior class members. This post highlights the girls team.

Girls team:

Paige Donnelly, captain

Chad Young: ``On the team four years, obviously she’s a great leader. Seniors as a whole have a great core of leadership, and there are a few people like Paige who have been on the team a long period of time and they are able to communicate to others what they have learned and that has made my job easy as coach. She was able to lay back as a freshman and sophomore and didn’t have to dominate the field. The last two seasons she has run extremely well to get to a state championship. But what has been really impressive is her leadership, especially this year. She has done more than she has to. Sometimes she gets a little out of her comfort zone, but recognizes it will mean a lot to the team, all on her own. It’s an accumulation of smaller things, leading a group run, or talking to some of the younger runners, that goes above and beyond what she has done in the past.’’

Nathan Herchenroeder: ``She’s served a great purpose with the young sophomores on the team this year. Most of the top girls on the team now are sophomores, and they definitely wouldn’t be there right now if it wasn’t for Paige.’’

Nia Harrington

NH: ``She is new to the team this year. She’s from a strong program in Oregon, and I think she really brought a lot of knowledge to a really young team in general. She brought that knowledge of success they had – her team had won a state championship in Oregon. She has a lot of technical knowledge, lot of running knowledge, skill knowledge, and a lot of great leadership to young sprinting team. She definitely wants to see good things come out of this season for her and her teammates.’’

Kate Leuba, captain

CY: ``She had a couple of great experiences with her running over the past few years. She was on the 4 x 400 team that went to the states. She has had a tough time in the last year or so with injuries. But she is fully committed to the team, she loves track, loves everything about it, dying to be a meaningful contributor to the team. She is so determined she is still scoring points in every outdoor meet. Physically, emotionally, and mentally, she’s extremely strong. She’s kind of our social leader to the team. She organized our T-shirt order, got people’s names on back of shirts, and that was a great way to bring the team together.

NH: ``It’s like Kate Leuba won’t be leaving the team next year, because her little sister Caroline is exactly like her.’’

Rachel Meltzer

CY: ``She ran cross country before, she joined track, and decided she wanted to throw shot put and discus. She has been very determined to continue to improve. As a senior her attitude has been extremely positive, and she has done a good job with some of the younger girls, helping orient them and helping them get settled.’’

Darcy O’Connor

CY: ``She is a distance runner and has improved a lot. She is more quiet, especially with the coaches. She organizes the runs with the girls, and a lot of the girls feel really comfortable talking with her. She is also very encouraging to them as well. I think her role on the team is so important for the way she deals with all the girls and helps me manage things.’’

Racing `like some crazy freshman'

2010-04-18T12:58:00.000-04:00

Eric Damtoft, a B-CC senior distance runner, wasn’t exactly sure of his strategy as he lined up for his 1600-meter heat Saturday at the Viking Invitational at Whitman High School. But when the gun sounded, he went out at a near sprint, quickly opening a 20-meter lead in the first 200 meters.

After the first lap, he had a 30-meter lead, running it in 62 seconds, or a 4:08 pace.

On the track, B-CC track coach Chad Young said to Damtoft as he passed, ``Are you sure this is what you want to do?’’

On the sidelines, his coaches and teammates couldn’t believe their eyes. ``Can he keep that up?’’ one of Damtoft’s fellow runners asked no one in particular.

``Gonna be tough,’’ replied Nathan Herchenroeder, assistant head track coach.

Damtoft didn’t keep the same pace, and the pack caught up to him by the third lap. But in the fourth and final lap, he poured it on again, running it in 66 seconds. ``That’s all mental,’’ Herchenroader said as he watched Damtoft surge a second time. ``He’s really pushing himself.’’

The senior finished in 4 minutes, 37 seconds, seven seconds faster than his PR.

``Unbelievable,’’ Herchenroader said. ``That was great.’’

``I was uncertain about what I was going to do,’’ Damtoft said later. ``Then I went out fast. I thought everyone would think I was some crazy freshman who didn’t know how to race.’’

Damtoft wasn’t the only top performer at the meet. Chris Henderson, a fellow senior 1600-meter runner, also ran a personal best, finishing in 4:51 in an earlier heat.

In the boys 200 meter race, Terrence James won the event in 22.59, the fastest time posted in the county so far this season. Earlier, James, a junior, had false started and was disqualified for 100 meter race.

``So he was a little fresher for this one, which is good,’’ Young said. ``Even in the 200 meter race, they had to restart it. He must have had some nerves. He hasn’t had a lot of work in the starting blocks, and he was the only one in final heat who didn’t use blocks. If he learns how to use them properly, he will drop a little bit of time. But he looked great. He had a fairly large lead coming off the turn, and was determined not to let anyone come close to him.’’

The boys 4 x 200 relay – featuring seniors Alex Barrett (23.82), David Segun (24.66) and Brendan McClafferty (25.08), and James (21.5, all unofficial splits) – won the second fastest heat in 1:34.99

The boys 4 X 400 relay also ran well, posting its best time of the year, 3:42. ``That’s encouraging,’’ Young said. ``We’ve had some runners step up now.’’ The team consisted of Barrett, Segun, James, and sophomore Julien Dorsey.

In the girls competition, the 4 x 800 relay finished third in 9:56. The runners were Hallie Jester (2:29), Grace Reingruber (2:26), Paige Donnelly (2:29), and Ava Farrell (2:29).

``They ran well,’’ Young said. ``I’ve been switching their order, allowing each of the girls to learn something different. Hallie led off and got a little boxed in, and she learned something from that. Grace had a lot of room to run and was able to bridge a gap with the frontrunners. Paige tried to go for the lead and made a lot of ground in the first lap and faded at the end but still held second place. Ava ran well to close it.’’

Farrell also ran well in the 3200-meter race, finishing in 11:51.

In the 4 x 200 relay, the B-CC team finished fourth in 1:50.26. The runners were senior Nia Harrington (28.9), freshman Caroline Leuba (28.2), sophomore Jasmine Holmes (27.3), and freshman Brittney Wade (25.6).

Wade also ran in the fastest 200 meter heat, finishing in 26.5.

Julia Hardgrove, a junior, qualified for and ran in the finals in the 100-meter hurdles, finishing seventh. ``It’s very difficult to make it to the finals,’’ Young said. ``It’s a very technical run. Any one thing that goes wrong, and you’re out.’’

In the shotput, sisters Ruth and Naomi Orevba both set personal records. Ruth, a freshman, threw it 28.5 feet, while Naomi, a sophomore, threw it 23 feet.

``It was really good for both of them. They are brand new to this and both are learning,’’ Young said. ``They are challenging each other as sisters do. At the end of one meet recently, Ruth got some pointers from the Stone Ridge coach, and I think that carried over to this meet.’’ Ruth beat her personal record by more than five feet.

Reflections on seniors, part one

2010-04-16T00:05:00.001-04:00

During a ceremony before B-CC's home track meet Tuesday, the team and dozens of fans cheered the squad’s 16 seniors. In interviews afterward, Coaches Chad Young and Nathan Herchenroeder gave more personal assessments of the seniors, talking about not just their performance on the track, but their role off it as well.

This is the first of two parts, highlighting the boys team. The post on the girls team will go up on Sunday.

Boys team:

Chuck Banks

Nathan Herchenroeder: ``He has been on team past couple of years, started out as a sprinter, and then we felt like we could have used him as a shot putter or discus thrower. It’s something he took on himself. We have no shot put or discus coach. He’s been very successful in picking up tips at meets. He made it to states in indoor track, and done a really good job this season, taking a lot of the girls and guys who want to throw and teaching them what he has learned. He’s definitely a lively one on a workout, an outspoken person as well.’’

Alex Barrett

Chad Young: He’s our high jumper and also he’s a 400 meter runner. His highlight was qualifying for the states in high jump in the indoor season last year. He is a good leader as well; a lot of kids look up to him. He bridges that gap between sprinters and distance runners. When I started coaching there was a divide -- we had some groups on our team, and Alex has done a good job in bringing the groups together.

NH: ``He has made major strides last four years. In ninth grade, he wasn’t too serious, he probably didn’t attend practice much, and maybe ran one meet his freshman year. Sophomore year, he was a little more serious; he probably ran in two meets. Junior year he realized he did have some talent and he could help the team and he got really successful as a runner. It’s been great watching him develop into one of the leaders of the team now as a senior.’’

Andrew Crouch, captain

CY: ``He’s a very good student, extremely hard working. He hasn’t been happy with what he has done so far, but he wants to continue to improve. He’s making his way to the group of the faster guys. He’s so determined. He does a great job with the boys team in bringing them together for runs on the weekend. Distance guys are a rare bunch, and are more to themselves a bit, and need encouragement to run together on the weekends. If they are going to improve they need to run together, and Andrew does a good job in bringing them together.’’

Eric Damtoft

CY: ``He had that long, long streak of never missing a day running, but he has missed days now. He took time off after the indoor season because he was feeling extremely run down and needed a rest. He loves running, and fully committed to running and help his team and try to improve, but I think it’s smart he took that time off and regrouped and prepared for his senior year. One of top four guys in the 4 x 8, I think he’s going to have a good strong finish to the season. He does a good job keeping things interesting for the guys. He’s very outdoorsy. I was on a run the other day and I saw him climbing a building. Another day at practice they were repelling from the baseball field down to the track. He provides a little bit of excitement.’’

Ben Dixon

CY: ``It’s his first year running track, running shorter distances, 100 and 200 meters, extremely quiet. He was on the football team, and in the past it’s been difficult with the changing of football coaches to get players to come out for track team. He’s part of that group who decided to come out for track and work on their speed. ‘’

NH: ``He’s a hard worker and when we’ve needed him for races, he’s more than willing to step in. That’s a great personality trait – that he is willing to help.’’

Max Dudek

NH: He’s been on the team for three years or so, and I think Max was kind of stuck in between that spot not knowing if he was distance or sprinter. In track, he always liked sprinting events, and he has stuck to running the 200. He has made a lot of personal progress in his 200 time-- probably taken over the past two seasons about five seconds off his 200 time, which is huge. I know he is very vocal about those improvements, he gets excited.

Chris Henderson

NH: ``He had been playing soccer, but he made switch to run cross county in the fall the last two years, and that has helped his track performances. He’s now the top 800 on team, a big improvement from the past few years. He was over 2:20; he has worked his time down to 2:06. You could see something click with him the last year, being a lot more committed to running. He’s developed a passion for running and that has rubbed off on his teammates.’’

Brendan McClafferty

NH: ``He was a soccer player that joined the team last year for indoor track, and this year decided to do indoor and outdoor. He has stepped up to as a leader on the team, and has been leading workouts for the younger kids at practice. He’s had to really switch roles as far as races he is running. He had been running 400, now he is running 200 and 100, and think he has found his niche on the team.’’

Nick Richter

CY: ``Funny story about him -- and he shakes his head every time we tell it: He was a very small freshman. He was with three other guys, also small freshmen, at one big invitational meet, and we had a 4 x 400 team that was really great but at the last minute, somebody couldn’t run and we were going to scratch the relay. So there’s these freshmen out here, and not thinking much of it, and they wound up being in the fast heat in 4 x 4. They looked like little boys running against grown men; they were barely over 5 feet tall. We gave them an award, the Fearsome Foursome. That race they got lapped, and I had never seen that before in a 4 x 4 relay. He still continues to enjoy being on the team – he runs the mile, two mile and 800. Everyone on team calls him `Bonecrusher,’ for whatever reason. Maybe when he was a little freshman, everyone used to call him that because
he was a smaller guy, and so they gave him a name that made him feel bigger than he was.‘’

NH: ``He’s always been quiet on the team, and it’s interesting to see Nick Richter in his senior year really come out of his shell. He’s really outgoing, lively, social. It’s interesting to see, a great thing.’’

David Segun, captain

NH: ``He has run all four years, and I don’t think there’s anyone on the sprinting side these four years who has been a harder worker than David Segun. I think this season, he was finally put in this leadership role as captain and he has naturally fit that role. He is coming out of his shell as a good captain. I can see him pushing himself and leading by example and a lot of freshmen and sophomores are receptive to it. He is encouraging others constantly. Like Alex, he’s kind of a bridge between distance and sprinting. Also get along with anyone on the team. He’s going to be friendly to anyone on team no matter who you are.’’

Casey Shamma, captain

NH: ``He started off as a sophomore with a lot of talent as a sprinter. He really saw when he was a sophomore from the older guys what it is to be successful as a high school runner and has carried that on the last few years. He has fallen in love with running. He was a football player until this year, when he switched to cross country. Now he’s using it in his senior seasion to teach others, whether it is starting off on blocks, or handoffs, trying to demonstrate to others we can be successful but it takes a lot of hard work – all comes from that love of running from his sophomore year.’’

Knees bloodied, finishing first

2010-04-14T18:47:00.000-04:00

In the first race Tuesday at B-CC’s second and last home meet – the girls’ 100 meter hurdles -- junior Julia Hardgrove crouched for the starter’s gun. A slow, steady rain had dampened the track, making the footing less sure. The gun sounded and Hardgrove shot to a commanding lead, but halfway through her leg caught a hurdle and down she went on her knees.

Wobbily at first, then regaining her stride, Hardgrove finished first in her heat – and first overall – in 19.30 seconds. At the finish line, she looked down at her bloodied knees and wondered if her day was over.

It wasn’t. ``She was banged up a little bit,’’ said Coach Chad Young. ``She skinned both her knees and then went and cleaned them up a little bit.’’ And then she kept competing, finishing second in the 300 meter hurdles (56.3); third in the triple jump; and fourth in the high jump.

``She’s tough,’’ Young said.

The meet against Blair, Landon’s boys and Stone Ridge’s girls featured other gritty performances – as well as some hard moments. Overall, the B-CC girls ended up winning the meet, while the boys finished second, behind Blair.

Rain fell intermittently. Temperatures dropped to near 50. Runners and field athletes, many wearing coats, were shivering only minutes after their races.

Among the highlights:

• A 1-2-3 finish in the boys’ 1600 meter race -- senior Chris Henderson (4:54); junior Eliot Gerson (4:57); and senior Eric Damtoft (4:59) – and a 1-2 finish in the boys’ 3200-meter, with Gerson winning in 10:47, and junior Trevor Stephens right behind in 10:56;

• Freshman Brittney Wade finished second in the 100 meters (13.4) and 200 meters (27.8);

• In the high jump winners in both girls and boys: junior Ariana Braganza cleared 4 feet 6 inches, while senior Alex Barrett cleared 5 feet 6 inches. (In a lonely scene with just two officials watching at the end of field, Barrett, the only competitor in the boys event, gamely attempted 5 feet 8 in the pouring rain but nicked the bar.);

• And in the shot put and discus, dual winners for boys and girls: senior Chuck Bank (41 feet in shot put and 94 feet in discus) and freshman Ruth Orevba (23 feet shot put for third and 63 feet discus for first).

In addition, the girls distance runners continued to dominate.

In the 4 x 800, the B-CC `A’ and `B’ teams finished first and second among five teams. In the 1600 meter race, Grace Reingruber (5:44) outlasted Hallie Jester (5:46) to finish 1-2. ``They were pushed by a girl from Stone Ridge,’’ Young said. ``They were surprised when the girl passed them, and so then they put their heads down and got going. Both are very competitive; it’s always fun to watch them race.’’

In the 3,200 meter race, senior Paige Donnelly and sophomore Ava Farrell ran together in the lead by themselves until the very end, when Donnelly held off Farrell. Donnelly finished in 12:18, Farrell a fraction of a second behind.

And in the girls 800, BCC swept the top five places: Reingruber (2:37); Jester (2:39); sophomore Alison Thomas (2:43); senior Darcy O’Connor (2:45); and freshman Laura Nakasaka (2:46).

But the day wasn’t all about wins.

In the boys 4 x 200 relay, senior Casey Shamma, running the first leg, went to ground in pain with an apparent hamstring injury. ``We’re trying to figure out the problem,’’ Young said. Shamma has been a standout sprinter so far this season.

And the B-CC girls 4 x 200 relay team never got to race because one sprinter couldn’t remove an earring. State competition rules prohibit wearing jewelry of any kind, and sophomore Jasmine Holmes couldn’t remove an earring in time.

Afterward, Young was philosophical.

``As horrible as it is not to run a race, it is a lesson learned,’’ the coach said. ``I’d rather learn it here at a dual meet, than at a bigger meet when it will be a big deal. Things are not going to be perfect every time, and so we have to learn these lessons.’’

Team-building: Cheering Laila

2010-04-11T11:12:00.000-04:00

At the Woodward Relays on Saturday at Georgetown Prep – a meet featuring about 25 schools from Maryland, Virginia and District of Columbia – the top scorers for B-CC were an elite group of girls running the 800 and 1600 relays. The 4 x 800 team finished second, while the 4 x 1600 team finished first.

But the most fun of the day, spurring the whole team to gather at the track’s edge, was watching sophomore Laila Shehata compete in the steeplechase. The 2,000-meter, five-lap race features four hurdles on each lap, including one in which the runners try to get over a pool of water (and often don’t succeed).

Coach Chad Young has to find a volunteer for this once-a-year race, and he approached Shehata, a long-limbed athlete who also plays field hockey at B-CC.

``I ran it by her, and I think she was secretly excited, a little nervous about it,’’ Young said. ``It’s brand new and she was a little intrigued and agreed to give it a try. She’s a good athlete and I have a lot of faith in her.’’

Shehata, one of about 15 runners, started out well, nearly clearing the water pit the first few times around.

``Most people get pretty wet, and the some of the competitors in this race were not good at it, almost had to swim out of it,’’ Young said. ``But Laila was a natural.’’

She finished fifth, to the cheers of her team.

In the girls’ 4 x 800 relay, sophomore Ava Farrell went out quickly and put the team in second place. Her teammates – senior Paige Donnelly and sophomores Grace Reingruber and Hallie Jester – kept that position throughout, finishing second in 10 minutes flat.

Later, in the 4 x 1600 meter race, the competition had more drama.

Donnelly led and initially stayed with the pack as a runner from Sidwell Friends went out exceptionally fast. Donnelly broke from the group and closed the distance some, putting the team in second place. Jester followed and lost more ground, staying in second, but the team was 100 meters behind. Reingruber, determined to close the gap, finished her 1600-meter leg just 50 meters behind.

Farrell went out hard. ``She caught the first-place girl after the first lap, and then gave the team a large lead, running away with it,’’ Young said. Their times: Donnelly, 5:30; Jester, 5:46; Reingruber, 5:44; and Farrell, 5:34.

``It was not our greatest performance – they have all run faster -- but they competed well, and came out with a win,’’ Young said.

The boys relay teams did not place in the meet, but Young said one runner – senior Chris Henderson – had a particularly strong day.

Henderson also got a good workout, running four events. He opened the 4 x 800 relay; he then led the DMR with a 1200-meter leg (the DMR is 1200, 400, 800, and 1600 meter legs); he ran the 800 leg of the SMR (400, 200, 200, 800); and he ran a leg of the 4 x 1600. For his 800-meter runs, he finished with identical times, 2:08, close to his personal best.

The last race of the day was a co-ed relay.

The B-CC team consisted of Farrell (400 meters), senior Casey Shamma (200 meters), freshman Brittney Wade (200 meters) and sophomore Julian Dorsey (400 meters).

``Our goal was to medal – finish in the top three,’’ Young said of the race, which B-CC won last year.

Farrell (1:07) put the team in third place, and Shamma (23.9) kept it there. Then freshman Wade (25.7) burst through the field, vaulting the team into first place. Dorsey (55.5) fell back into second, but the team still reached its goal to earn a medal.

The next meet will be Tuesday, at B-CC, the second and final home meet of the year. One special part of it: The school will recognize the team’s 18 seniors in a ceremony at 3 p.m. Competition starts at 3:30 p.m. and will finish at around 6:30 p.m.

Beating allergies -- and her competition

2010-04-09T23:08:00.000-04:00

The temperature had soared past 90 degrees. Pollen dusted the B-CC track. And sophomore Alison Thomas looked in pain, her face red, her eyes bloodshot from allergies. Still, the B-CC sophomore took her place for an 800-meter race against Watkins Mill on Wednesday.

She ran so hard that she won. Finishing second and third were teammates Darcy O’Connor, a senior, and freshman Laura Nakasaka. Thomas’ winning time was 2 minutes, 44.8 seconds, but for Coach Chad Young the most impressive thing was simply that she ran.

``She didn’t look so well because of her allergies,’’ he said. ``But she ran very well – it was maybe the highlight of the meet because she wasn’t feeling so great and still managed to do so well.’’

The meet – the second of the outdoor season, following a competition against Gaithersburg earlier in the spring – produced an unusual result: B-CC girls won handily over Watkins Mill’s girls (111-22), while Watkins Mill boys won just as handily over B-CC’s boys (100-30).

For the girls, the stars seemed endless.

O’Connor, the senior who finished second in the 800, won the mile in 6:08; junior Minna Jacobson was second in 6:15; and Thomas finished fourth in 6:18.

In the triple jump, O’Connor was the only entry in the girls’ competition, netting a first place in a 26 foot, three inch jump. For Young, the result was important for the five points, but also for the point that O’Connor made: She wasn’t afraid to try a new event, especially if it helped the team.

``It’s a technical event, so some people are too scared to try it,’’ he said. ``So because Darcy wasn’t shy, we came out with five points. I credit her for trying something new.’’

In the high jump, B-CC took the first four places: Junior Ariana Braganza, new to the team, won in clearing 4’ 8’’; junior Alanna Diggs cleared 4’ 6’’; junior Julia Hardgrove cleared 4’ 4’’; and sophomore Naomi Orevba cleared 4’ 2’’.

Kate Leuba, a senior, won the shot put with a throw of 21 feet 1.5 inches, while Ruth Orevba came in second with 21’ 1’’.

In the 200 meter sprints, B-CC swept with three newcomers to the team: Freshman Brittney Wade (26.72); senior Nia Harrington (27.88); and sophomore Jasmine Holmes (28:01). The three also joined with Katie Williams, a junior, to win two relay events, the 4 x 100 and 4 x 200.

``The new girls jumped right in and helped our team right away,’’ Young said.

Hardgrove also had a great day, winning the 100 and 300 meter hurdles races.

In the boys’ competition, despite the lopsided overall score, Young saw several positive outcomes.

One was Chris Henderson’s two races – narrowly finishing second in both the 800 and 1600 meter competitions. In the 800, senior Eric Damtoft finished third, close behind Henderson.

``Chris learned a lot about race strategy and tactics,’’ Young said. ``He said the Watkins Mill runner was really skilled in holding the inside of the track. He wasn’t happy that he lost, but he was satisfied with the competitive nature of the race.’’

In the sprints, Watkins Mill dominated – with one exception: Senior Casey Shamma finished third in both the 100 and 200 meter races.

Elsewhere, junior Elliot Gerson, who had not raced since the cross country season, won the two-mile in 11:13, with junior Trevor Stephens finishing second, just a second behind (11:14).

And in field events, senior Alex Barrett won the high jump, clearing 5’ 6’’, while senior Chuck Banks finished second in the shot put (42 feet, one inch) and third in discus (95 feet, two inches).

B-CC now has two meets in rapid succession: a large invitational competition Saturday at Georgetown Prep, and the second and last home meet of the year Tuesday against Blair and Landon.

State Championship: Nerves, then high performances

2010-02-23T23:39:00.000-05:00

Nervous and pumped up, B-CC’s elite track and field team members competed extraordinarily well Tuesday at the 4A state championship at Prince George’s Sports Complex. Each placed in their event.

The girls’ 4 x 800 relay team –sophomores Grace Reingruber, Hallie Jester and Ava Farrell running the first three legs and senior Paige Donnelly running the last – finished fifth overall in 9 minutes, 52 seconds – their best time of the season. Sprinter Terrence James finished sixth in the 300 meter run in 36.71 seconds, close to his personal best. And shot putter Chuck Banks threw the shot put 45 feet, 6 inches – a whopping two feet farther than he’s ever thrown – for seventh place.

Afterward, the athletes were ecstatic.

``I was really nervous, like, oh man, I’m running against the fastest guys, but I’m fast, too, or else I wouldn’t have made it here,’’ said James, a junior, who was competing in his first state championship. ``Before I ran, I did my stretches harder than I have ever done the whole year. I was still nervous at the starting line, but when I started, all that nervousness went away.

``I ran as fast as I could,’’ he said.

Banks arrived with his team at 2 p.m. and then waited five hours before his event. Coach Chad Young told him to stretch. Instead, Banks turned up his iPod.

``I turned to music that would motivate me, and I got pumped back up in time to throw,’’ said Banks, a senior, who also was competing in his first state championship.

Banks had basically taught himself techniques in the shot put during the year (Coaches Young and Nathan Herchenroeder have running backgrounds), and for his throw on Tuesday, he felt all he had learned came together at once.

``I had talked to some of the guys, the other shot putters, and they would tell me to get low, explode, and get your hips around,’’ Banks said. ``It didn’t hit me, it didn’t click -- until today. You need to swing your arm and get your hips twisted and you get more velocity and more strength behind the ball. It was really weird. I was actually kind of like, OK, this is working out.’’

The first event Tuesday afternoon was the girls’ relay. Last week, the girls had run their slowest time of the year for the regional meet, and even though the track was poor, Coach Young said he could tell the relay team was nervous – perhaps laden with a little self-doubt.

The pack started out fast, and Reingruber, mindful of her pace, backed off a little bit. ``She was running her own race and she was smart to stick back a little bit,’’ Young said. She ran a 2:29 leg, handing off the baton to Jester with the team ``in a good position,’’ Young said, in about 10th place.

Jester took off. ``Hallie closed the gap in three laps or so, and surged ahead of a pack of about four girls,’’ Young said. She ran her leg in 2:27. Next was Farrell, who started out even faster, causing Young to become a little nervous.

``I was a little worried she could keep it up,’’ Young said. ``But she did.’’ She ran a 2:26 leg, putting the team in fourth position. Next was Donnelly, ``who ran a great leg also, in 2:27, and made sure she extended the gap with the rest of the field.’’ A runner passed her near the end, giving the team a fifth place finish. Said Young: ``It was the team’s strongest performance of the year, no doubt. They all ran extremely well.’’

James' competition followed the girls' race. He ran in the second of three heats for the 300-meter race, starting in the fifth lane – the far outside – one of four runners. ``He went out a little quick,’’ Young said. ``I’m always a little concerned when they go out too fast, fearful whether they will be able to hang on. He was able to, and he ran extremely well.’’

Last up was Banks. ``He was definitely anxious and ready to go,’’ Young said. ``Each time he throws now it seems it’s a longer distance – it’s a testament to his hard work, talking to other coaches and athletes, and trying to learn as much from them as possible. Nathan and I are clearly not expert shot putters. He’s done a lot of work on his own.’’

The meet marked the end of the indoor season. Outdoor season starts March 1, with the first scrimmage set for March 20.

Young said the indoor season was a big success, and he believes the runners and field athletes will continue to get in better shape for the outdoor season.

James and Banks both can’t wait – and they have already set high goals for themselves.

Said James: ``I feel like I should have prepared more, come to practice more (for indoor season.) If I had a little more practice, I could have done even better. My commitment grew more during the year. I was seeing I could actually be good at this stuff. I started trying harder and I started doing better. Coach always tell me that, come to practice, you have to practice. He’s right. For outdoor, I’m going to get ready. I’m going to all the practices, and I’m just going to run harder. I’m going to go to states, too.’’

Banks: ``I threw my personal best today. But I should do better. You can always do better. I’m definitely doing outdoor. You’ll definitely see me at states. I’m going to be focusing on shot putting and be ready. I can be in top three.’’

Regional meet: `They did a double-take to be sure'

2010-02-18T22:43:00.000-05:00

Both B-CC junior Terrence James and senior Chuck Banks were hoping for the best, but they weren’t sure. They kept walking over to the wall where organizers at the Maryland 4A West regional track meet on Wednesday were posting places. The top four would go to the state finals. The others were done.

Finally, officials posted the results.

James, No. 3 in the 300 meters.

Banks, No. 3 in the shot put.

They had made it – they had qualified for the state 4A finals next Tuesday at 3 p.m. at the Prince George’s Sports Complex. For both, it was the first time making state finals.

``It was a breakout performance for TJ and Chuck,’’ said coach Chad Young. ``They kept walking over the wall, two, three times to check. When they posted the results, they did a double-take to be sure. They were pretty excited.’’

Banks threw the shot put 43 feet, 2.75 inches – just a couple inches from his personal best. ``He brings his emotion and competitiveness to the shot put, and both of those qualities combined helped him in his performance.’’

James ran 38:39 seconds, finishing second in his heat. Twenty-four runners competed in eight heats, and James had to wait until all had finished – and the organizers sorted out the results.

B-CC’s other state qualifier was the girls’ 4 x 800 relay team consisting of senior Paige Donnelly and sophomores Ava Farrell, Grace Reingruber, and Hallie Jester. Their time was 10 minutes, 32 seconds, good for fourth place. The time was much slower than their best races, which Young attributed largely to the poor surface at the Baltimore Armory.

Young also said he expected the girls team to run a better race in the state meet. ``I think the extra week now, and now that the snow is a little more out of the way and less of a distraction, they will do better. They will be running on a nice surface at PG and they will run a lot smoother this time. I think they are ready to roll.’’

Overall in the regional meet, the boys team scored 12 points, finishing 10th, while the girls also had 12 points, finishing eighth.

Four athletes barely missed qualifying for the states, finishing either in fifth or sixth place, just out of the running.

Farrell finished fifth in the two-mile, running 12:27, and Jester finished fifth in the mile in 5:43.

Julia Hardgrove, a junior, finished fifth overall in the 55 meter hurdles, running 9.4 seconds in the qualifying meet, and 9.6 seconds in the final. ``It was a great performance by her on a bad surface,’’ Young said. She was just 0.35 seconds out of fourth place.

And Casey Shamma, a senior, whom Young described as one of his hardest workers on the team, finished 7th in the 55 meter sprint qualifying race, in 6.78 seconds. Young said he finished 5th or 6th in the finals; an error in the official scoring made his time and place unclear. ``It was really impressive,’’ Young said of Shamma’s performance. ``Just like Julia, he really pulled through in a big meet.’’

County meet: `The whole team was cheering'

2010-01-27T00:55:00.001-05:00

All season long, B-CC indoor track and field coach Chad Young was hoping for breakthrough performances. At the Montgomery County track and field championship Monday at Prince George’s Sports and Learning Complex, he witnessed several.

Senior Chuck Banks broke his personal record in the shot put by a foot and a half, throwing it 43 feet, five inches, finishing seventh overall in the 25-team meet. Banks was just two inches out of fifth place.

``I think he got really pumped up,’’ Young said. ``Watching him warm up, you could see he had some adrenaline going. He was excited to compete; he looked really good.’’ Banks scored two of the boys’ team’s six points.

The other four were won by junior Terrence James, who was fifth in the 300 meter race, finishing in 36.93 seconds.

``It really was a bit of a surprise,’’ Young said. ``He hasn’t run the 300 a whole lot, and has not had a lot of experience in big races either, but he was another athlete who was really pumped up.’’

Young said that James approached him and coach Nathan Herchenroeder with his strategy for the race – to go out fast in the first 50 meters, slow a little in the next 50, and pour it on in the last 75. ``He did just that,’’ Young said. ``It was really exciting for all of us. The whole team was cheering him on. I was really proud of the strategy he came up with and that he stuck to it. TJ been up and down, but now he’s turned things around; this may be a turning point for him in his running career.’’

In other boys’ races, the 4 x 800 meter team, which had struggled much of the season and finished many races in over 9 minutes, beat their best time by more than 20 seconds, finishing in 8 minutes, 45 seconds. They were 10th overall; the runners were Trevor Stephens, Eric Damtoft, Nick Richter, and Chris Henderson.

For the girls’ team, sophomore runner Hallie Jester had a banner day.

Jester ran three races: the mile, 4 x 800 relay, and 4 x 400 relay. In the mile, she ran 5:29, easily beating her earlier PR of 5:40 and finishing fourth overall, good for five points. ``She ran a really tough race, and didn’t have a lot left in the end,’’ Young said. ``She ran about the same pace in the last lap as in the first three. She was working very hard the whole time.’’

The girls’ 4 x 800 team finished third overall, winning six points. The team – composed of senior Paige Donnelly and sophomores Jester, Grace Reingruber and Ava Farrell – ran a combined 9:55, or roughly 20 seconds faster than earlier races. All four ran either 2:28 or 2:29 times.

In the girls’ 4 x 400, Hannah Levin, Jester, Caroline Leuba, and Laila Shehata ran 4:25 – their best time this season for a 9th place finish.

In the 3200 meter race, Farrell stayed with the lead pack, which set a fast pace in the first mile, running 5:45. She slowed in the second mile, but still finished in 11:52, or good enough for fourth place, or five points.

In a day of mostly good surprises, perhaps the best was senior Kate Leuba’s performance in the shot put. Leuba, whose strength had been in middle-distance and distance races, has been injured much of the year, and at first tried the shot put for fun.

She threw it 21 feet, 8.25 inches – or 12th overall. ``It was a kind of fun thing to watch her,’’ Young said. ``She has a bit of potential there. One thing is for sure – she’s really a competitor.’’

Overall, the boys finished 15th in the meet, the girls 12th.

On Feb. 3, the team will competed in the 4A West regionals, starting at 4 p.m. in the Baltimore Armory. ``I’m looking forward to it,’’ Young said. ``We are rounding into form.’’

Photographs by by Kevin Milstead, mocorunning.com

Runner spotlight: Darcy O'Connor

2010-01-20T22:59:00.000-05:00

This is one in an occasional series of profiles on B-CC track and field team members.

Darcy O’Connor, a B-CC senior, knows the value of running with teammates.

Without them, she says, she might not get out much.

And without them, she certainly wouldn’t improve her times on the track.

She has run all four years on the B-CC cross country team, and now is in her third year on the indoor track and field team.

When she was a freshman, her top mile time was 6 minutes, 40 seconds, and top two-mile time was over 14 minutes. Now, her top times are 5:50 for the mile and 12:30 for the two-mile.

For Coach Chad Young, O’Connor has been an invaluable member of the track team, both as a competitor and a teammate. He said she has served as a mentor to younger teammates.

``She’s always been one of the hardest workers on the team,’’ Young said. ``It’s not only her improvement in running that is important, it’s the leadership that she shows with the younger girls. Because of her leadership, she’s so important to have on a young team.’’

O’Connor said the team has always tried to support the younger runners.

``I like to encourage the underclassmen because I remember being a freshman on the team and having a great time, which is why I continued to run,’’ she said. ``I know that encouragement from an upperclassman meant something to me, because it was coming from someone experienced in the sport. We encourage the underclassmen to come with us on runs, and join us outside of practice, like for lunch after our weekend runs.’’

She joins a big group of girls on long runs, and on workout days she participates with fellow senior Paige Donnelly and four sophomores – Grace Reingruber, Hallie Jester, Claire Cohen, and Ava Farrell.

``I really like my teammates,’’ she said. ``I wouldn’t go out running every day by myself. I’ve learned a lot about commitment from running.’’

She laughed. ``I learned if you don’t run every day, you will not get faster.’’

Her goal for the indoor mile: 5:40, or 10 seconds faster than her PR. ``It seems like a long ways away, but I’m trying,’’ she said.

Runner spotlight: Eric Damtoft

2010-01-17T21:15:00.000-05:00

This is one of an occasional series of stories on B-CC track and field team members.

In the beginning of 2008, Eric Damtoft made a New Year’s resolution, which was inspired by another B-CC runner at the time, Matt Davey-Karlson: Run every day. Now, more than 740 days later, Damtoft, 17 and a B-CC senior, has kept his promise. He has run every day since.

``A couple of times I was really sick and only ran a mile,’’ he said after a short after-school run with his teammates on the B-CC indoor track and field team. ``I remember one day last year I had to leave school in the middle of the day and couldn’t really stand up, I had so much stomach pain. But a few hours later, it got better, and I ran a mile.’’

``I wanted,’’ he said, ``to keep it up.’’

As the B-CC track team prepares for the county championship races on Jan. 25, Damtoft stands as an example of commitment to his teammates. He has been running his whole high school career, being a member of the cross-country and indoor teams all four years. He also plans to run his fourth outdoor season this spring.

``Eric was on the cross-country team that won the state meet two years ago,’’ said head coach Chad Young. ``He brings some of the spirit of that team to this year’s squad. The younger guys and girls don’t understand that to win like we did it takes a lot of work, and holding each other accountable. He has a lot to share with the younger guys on what it takes.’’

Damtoft said part of his motivation is that he simply enjoys the sport.

``I really like running,’’ he said. ``Once you get into the race, you start out competing against your own time. Then you get to know what the others are running, and you want to keep sort of improving and getting better.’’

So he has. In his freshman year, he ran the mile in about 5 minutes, 30 seconds. Last year, he set a personal record of 4:44. So far, this year, he is running the mile in about 4:50. He also is a member of the 4 x 800 relay team, which has a shot at running in the state championship.

To qualify for the mile, he faces tough odds. He must run about a 4:40.

``It’s going to be a lot to drop,’’ he said, ``but I’m trying.’’

Practice meet: Winning with their legs - and minds

2010-01-12T21:48:00.000-05:00

At the Georgetown Prep practice meet Tuesday, B-CC track and field coach Chad Young thought his team might be tired. Some had participated at the Montgomery Invitational, which stretched for nearly 12 hours on Saturday, and he had pushed them hard during Monday’s practice – a combined five miles with different workouts. But several runners responded with strong performances at Tuesday's meet, impressing the coach.

In the top-seeded girls’ two-mile race, sophomores Ava Farrell (11 minutes, 50 seconds) and Hallie Jester (12:02) set personal records, finishing in the top six overall. In the slower two-mile heat, sophomore Claire Cohen also set an indoor PR, finishing in 13:02. ``Claire led her race from start to finish and paced herself extremely well. She looked really great on the track,’’ Young said.

Senior shotputter Chuck Banks also performed much better Tuesday than in Saturday's competition, throwing the shot put slightly more than 40 feet, finishing second.

And in the girls’ 300-meter race, sophomore Hannah Levin won her heat, finishing in 44:25 – an impressive two seconds faster than any of her teammates. ``She was wearing brand-new spikes, and after the race, she came over to me and saying how light they felt,’’ Young said. ``She was very excited.’’

But for the coach, perhaps the best moment from the practice meet – it drew about 10 teams from the area and no official times were kept – was the last event: the Scramble Relay, a Georgetown Prep special.

It worked like this: Eight runners -- four girls and four boys – per team each ran a 200-meter leg; instead of passing off a baton, they handed off an envelope, each of which contained a letter; at the end of the race, the team ripped open the eight envelopes and spelled an eight-letter word; the first team to guess the correct word won.

B-CC finished fourth across the finish line.

But they won the Scramble. Their word: TEMPO RUN.

``They were really quick to get the word,’’ Young said.

He enjoyed watching the eight, plus a few others, gather around and excitedly try to solve the puzzle. And he especially enjoyed seeing who ran. The team included three runners who have been injured this year – juniors Patrick Frampus and Philip Catterall and senior Kate Leuba.

``They hadn’t been able to participate, but they ran their one lap, and helped their team to victory,’’ he said. ``It was great to see.’’

The next race will be the county championship, held Jan. 25.

Montgomery Invitational: `She hung in there'

2010-01-10T12:24:00.000-05:00

The B-CC indoor track and field season just turned serious.

At the Montgomery Invitational’s meet Saturday inside Prince George’s Sports and Learning Complex, the elite competition drew 70 teams from Maryland, Virginia, and the District of Columbia. Competitors had to meet qualifying times and standards in order to participate.

Coaches Chad Young and Nathan Herchenroeder brought about 15 B-CC competitors (a third of the team) to the nearly 12-hour meet, and both saw it as a good measuring stick for the athletes.

The top performers: the girls’ 4 x 800 relay team, comprised of senior Paige Donnelly and three sophomores -- Hallie Jester, Grace Reingruber, and Ava Farrell. They finished in 10 minutes, 15 seconds, placing 6th out of 45 teams.

``With this elite meet, they had an incentive to run a little faster, and they competed extremely well,’’ Young said. ``Their goal is to get under 10:08, which is the qualifying time for the state meet, and they are on the right track to get there.’’

The girls’ distance runners form one of the deeper parts to the team. Young noted several others not on the A team were just a ``step behind this group, and a couple of them would run on a 4 x 8 team for just about any other school.’’

Three of the four girls on the 800 team ran individual events. Donnelly ran a competitive 5:32 1600-meter race, finishing 14th out of 70 runners; Jester went out aggressively with the top pack in her 1600-meet, finishing with a strong 5:43, 36th out of the 70; and Farrell competed in the championship 3200-meter run, finishing in 12:05, or 14th of the 15 elite runners who finished her heat.

Young said Farrell competed well. ``She was nervous going into it,’’ he said. ``Based on previous times, she was the slowest in the heat, and she was worried she was going to be last. We talked a little bit before the race about hanging in the back of the pack in the first part, hang with three or four girls. A couple of other girls finished only one or two seconds ahead of her. So she hung in there.’’ Her finish was only seven seconds slower than her personal best, set at the end of the outdoor season last year.

For the boys’ competition, shot putter Chuck Banks, also a B-CC football player, threw the shotput 39 feet six inches. He finished 28th out of 34 throwers.

The boys’ 4 x 800 team ``had a pretty good day,’’ Young said. The team – comprised of two holdovers from last year, Chris Henderson and Eric Damtoft, and two newcomers, senior Nick Richter and junior Lucas Morrison – finished in 9:02, placing 36th out of 49 teams. ``They are where the team was at this time last year, and I hope we’ll continue to improve,’’ Young said.

The boys 4 x 200 also competed well, finishing in 1:39, or 41st out of 65 teams. The team consists of Terrence James, Brendan McClafferty, Casey Shamma, and Amin Sijelmassi.

On the boys’ 4 x 400, the team had to adjust to running without top performer Ben Gold, who is out four to six weeks with a torn ligament in his ankle. ``They didn’t run as they hoped,’’ Young said. Their finish: 3:53, or roughly 10 seconds slower than their normal times.

``I know they are missing their top guy, but it shouldn’t be a 10-second difference,’’ Young said. ``I think part of it is having the winter break, and they still are getting their feet back.’’

The effect of the break, he said, was felt team-wide.

``So many people go away, and it’s easy for them not to get out,’’ he said. ``Now they are back, and there is a focus on county championships coming up, as well as regional and states, and we have outdoors after that. Saturday’s meet is kind of a wakeup call. If they are not running well, I hope they get a little motivated and are ready to go.’’

The next competition is a scrimmage at Georgetown Prep this Tuesday. The county championship is Jan. 25, just two weeks away.

Third meet: A `buzz’ around the boys’ 4 X 400

2009-12-15T20:53:00.000-05:00

B-CC track and field team's third developmental meet – held late Tuesday afternoon at Georgetown Prep and including public and private schools in Montgomery County – is perhaps the most informal of the season. Organizers call it a practice. Coach Chad Young allowed the student-athletes to choose the events they wanted to run. ``That’s how this meet works,’’ he said. ``They make it really athlete-centered.’’

But it didn’t mean that his athletes competed with less intensity. The boys’ distance runners were good examples, Young said.

In the boys 4 X 400 relay – without top runner Ben Gold, who sprained an ankle during practice -- sophomore Julien Dorsey joined junior Terrence James and seniors Alex Barrett and Brendan McClafferty to post a 3:46 finish.

``It was the most exciting race – there was a buzz about it,’’ Young said. ``WJ (Walter Johnson) was leading going into the last lap, and Alex caught up to the WJ runner, the WJ runner surged ahead, Alex and he went side by side but Alex couldn’t quite get past him in the end.’’

Young said the relay team has had a great start to the season. ``We have a core group of guys now, all working hard, and they all have a good attitude,’’ he said. ``This year we have something to work with, and the guys are competitive.’’ One example: McClafferty’s time of 57.3 was a second faster than his race last week.

Another bright spot, he said, were a trio of senior boy runners for the 1,600 meter race (a mile is 1,609 meters). Eric Damtoft ran 4:52, Chris Henderson 4:57, and Nick Richter 5:00. ``We should see these distance guys improve this season,’’ Young said. ``They are learning how to race.’’

In the boys’ 800 meter race, junior Trevor Stephens – a varsity soccer player in the fall – ran his fastest time of the year, finishing in 2:08. ``He raced pretty hard, got in there, went out with the top pack and finished well, close to the winner,’’ Young said.

For the girls, Young pinpointed one race – the 200-meter sprint. Sophomore Hannah Levin posted the fastest time, finishing in 28.5. Junior Brianna Vlanton was right behind, finishing in 28.9.

Tuesday’s meet was the last one before winter break. The first official meet, in which times are recorded, is scheduled for Jan. 9, an all-day affair that starts at 8 a.m. at Prince George’s Sports and Learning Complex.

Second meet: `You should have seen the look on her face'

2009-12-09T22:23:00.000-05:00

At B-CC indoor track and field team’s second meet of the season, held Wednesday at the Prince George’s Sports & Learning Complex, one of the most impressive performances came from an unlikely source – the girls B 4 X 400 relay team.

The girls A 4 X 400 team had run well. Paige Donnelly, Hannah Levin, Julia Hardgrove, and Owyn Manson ran 4:37 to finish second in their heat.

The B team’s race, though, had more drama, said Head Coach Chad Young. Alison Thomas, a sophomore, set the tone in her leg of the race, the coach said.

``Another girl was trying to blow by her, but Alison would not let her pass,’’ Young said. ``You should have seen the look on her face. She was so determined.’’

Melissa Jaskiewicz, a junior, ran a similarly competitive race. ``She ran the last leg and from the beginning had to fend people off. Melissa stayed on the inside, and fought off a girl until the last straight away when she couldn’t hold her any longer,’’ Young said. ``They showed more competitiveness today than anyone on the track. When it’s one person against one person, you learn a lot about them.’’

The other two members of the 4 X 400 girls relay team were Ava Farrell and Laila Shehata. Their time was 4:42.

In other highlights, the boys A 4 X 400 team made its debut with a strong race, finishing in 3:43, the school’s fastest 4 X 400 time in the last two years, Young said. The team consisted of Alex Barrett, Terrence James, Ben Gold, and Brendan McClafferty.

Also, Donnelly placed highest for B-CC in the competition, finishing second in the girls’ 3200 meter race in 12:10. She led most of the race, relinquishing the lead in the final lap.

For Young and fellow coach Nathan Herchenroeder, one of the best moments of the competition was senior Max Dudek’s first indoor relay race; Dudek ran on the boys’ 4 X 200 and 4 X 400 teams. ``He was a little anxious about it, but after he competed, he loved it,’’ Young said. ``It was fun watching him.’’

Wednesday’s meet was a developmental competition and the scores were not official. The squad’s third developmental meet is scheduled for next Tuesday at Georgetown Prep from 4-6:30 p.m. It will include several area public and private high schools.

First indoor meet of the year

2009-12-05T16:23:00.001-05:00

With the first snow of the season falling outside the Prince George’s Sports & Learning Complex, the B-CC Barons opened their indoor track season Saturday in a Howard-Montgomery counties joint meet.

Head coach Chad Young liked what he saw in the developmental meet.

``A lot of kids got their first shot today out here – either their first track meet or their first field event,’’ he said from the stands, his stopwatch in his right hand. ``It was fun to watch.’’

The snowstorm forced organizers to cancel the second half of the scheduled events, but many Barons performed well in the morning and early afternoon. Young cited two teams in particular – the 4 X 200 boys relay and the girls A team distance medley relay (DMR).

The boys finished second in a six-team heat. The team consisted of three members of the B-CC boys varsity soccer team – Ben Gold, Brendan McClafferty, and Amin Sijelmassi – and David Segun. Their combined time was 1:42.20; Gold ran the fastest 200 heat in 24.56.

The girls finished third overall. Ava Farrell led off with a 4:11 1,200 meter run, and was followed by Laila Shehata’s 1:13 400, Hallie Jester’s 2:31 800, and Paige Donnelly’s 5:33 1600. Donnelly took the baton in third place, behind by 100 meters. She pulled even with the leader at the start of the final lap, but couldn’t push the pace further.

Young also mentioned several Barons who competed for the first time for the school. One was junior Brianna Vlanton, a transfer from Blair High School, who ran a strong leg in the 55 meter girls dash relay. Another was freshman Abby Stephens, who ran the opening leg in the girls B distance medley relay – the 1,200-meter run.

``She was very nervous, but she did well,’’ Young said. ``Afterward she told me, `I’m so glad you put me in. It wasn’t as bad as I thought.’ ‘’

The team has two more developmental meets at the Prince George’s facility in December. The first one is this Wednesday, Dec. 9, starting at 2:30 p.m. In these meets, scores are not kept for the teams. Young sees them as invaluable experience early in the season.

``After they get these races or events under their belt, they feel like they can do it,’’ he said. ``It’s great for their confidence.’’