Girls’ Team Wins Last Track to Philly Invitational

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’

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.