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.
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