County meet: `The whole team was cheering'

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

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

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

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'

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.