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.
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