Now in my fourth year on the team,
it seems that usually early in the season, runners are starting to gradually
improve, but are still a ways away from the times they hit at the county
championship at the end of the season. So on the cool-down, when I was talking
to the rest of the team about their races and how they ran, I was (and I’m not
kidding) completely giddy with excitement over how well the entire team had
ran. Looking at the final results only confirmed what I had heard, as it seemed
that nearly everyone had run a PR, many runners having huge improvements.
The course was similar to our regular home course, except that instead of turning right at the end of the trail and taking the trail that goes alongside Rock Creek back to Candy Cane (I hope older runners would know what I’m talking about, and I assume parents would have no idea what I am talking about), we simply turned around at the end of the rocky trail and ran single file the whole way back.
The course was similar to our regular home course, except that instead of turning right at the end of the trail and taking the trail that goes alongside Rock Creek back to Candy Cane (I hope older runners would know what I’m talking about, and I assume parents would have no idea what I am talking about), we simply turned around at the end of the rocky trail and ran single file the whole way back.
On the boy’s side, we knew that
Wootton would be a tough team to beat, after they handily beat us in a
scrimmage and again at the Woodward relays. The final score was B-CC 29,
Wootton 28 (lowest score wins). With a goal of winning division 1, after losing
to Wootton it looks like to win our division Sherwood would have to beat
Wootton and we would have to beat Sherwood at our next dual meet, a very
possible scenario that I believe according to the rules would set up a
three-way tie for first place.
On the girl’s side, the final score
was B-CC 20, Wootton 37. The B-CC girls ran impressive once again, and look
like the team to beat in division 1 at this point.
While the team discussed some of
the more impressive performances at practice today, there were some individual
performances on the boys side I wanted to highlight:
 |
| Junior Peter Horton |
When Junior Peter Horton first
joined the B-CC cross country team, he struggled to finish his first ever 5k,
crossing the finish line dazed and exhausted in over 26 minutes. He steadily
improved, and by his sophomore year, with a summer of training under his belt, he
started to show his emergence as an elite runner during outdoor track as he
dropped his times to 4:30 for 1600m and 9:46 for 3200m, good for 9th
place at the state meet.
On Tuesday, at our first home meet
of the season at candy cane city, Peter finished in an incredible 16:16, second
place to only the 800m state champ and 4:16 1600m runner Josh Trzeciak from
Wootton who finished in 16:12.
Frankly, this kind of performance
out of ‘Big Pete’ didn’t surprise me, after we had spent much of the summer
toning our hips, perfecting our arm swing, and running over 50 miles a week. A
16:16 doesn’t come from raw talent or even simply the workouts we run as a
team, it comes from his passion for improving as a runner and from the miles we
ran over the summer.
Alex Riishojgaard ran the first
mile more aggressively than he had in previous races this season, coming
through in 5:13 and finishing in 17:00, good for second on the team and fourth
overall.
Nolan Ebner ran a new personal best
(PR), finishing the 5k fourth on the team in 17:12, 50 seconds faster than he
ran at this course at the same point last year.
After an impressive track season in which he dropped his 800m time to
2:01.51, good for 6th in the region, he seems to be continuing to
improve. In fact, B-CC’s top 4 looked especially good after Tuesday’s meet, and
Peter, Alex, Me and Nolan all are way faster than we were at this point last
year.
Sam Hainbach put in the summer
miles this year, running over 50 miles a week for much of the summer, and it
seems to be paying dividends already. He ran 18:47, an impressive 20 second PR,
especially so considering how early it is in the season.
Leul Assamenew ran outdoor track for the first time last
year, PRing by 18 seconds in the 800 in 2:19. We didn’t really know what we had
with Leul this year in his first year in cross country, but his 19:23 was good for
8th on the team and over 4
minutes faster than his time at Woodward Relays.
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| Juniors Leul Assamenew and Kevin Flores, and Freshman Chris Wilks |
Liam McGowan and Colin Cowie
finished side by side, both coming through the line in 20:03. Liam ran a lot
this summer, and his 20:03 is a 24 second PR from the end of last year and
nearly 3 minutes faster than he ran at Woodward Relays. Though I don’t have the
results from the preseason blue and gold scrimmage, this was a huge improvement
for Colin, at least a two minute PR.
Chris Wilks, also a freshman, ran
strong, finishing in a pack of B-CC boys in 21:29. Chris has shown a lot of
desire to improve, which as a runner is one of the most important things you
can have.
One of the more memorable moments
of the meet for me was watching freshman Philippe Masson chase down a Wootton
runner from behind, gutting out a strong kick to finish in 23:22, a new PR.
Close behind Philippe was Harrison Fang, also a freshman, who cut 6 minutes and
24 seconds off his Woodward relays time to finish in 23:40.
Kevin Flores ran nearly 9 minutes
faster than his woodward relays time in a PR of 24:08. Jason Kohn PRed by 2
minutes and 14 seconds, finishing in 24:34.
Other PR performances: Kyle
Nakasaka, Andrew Witten and Nick Kettler.
Here is a Running Maryland interview with the girls team to
sum up their efforts on the day:
I thought Mara and Amanda Cohen deserved special recognition
because it’s their birthday today. Happy birthday ladies.
Link to results:
Link to Analysis by mocorunning:
Girls race: (short version)
Girls race: (long version)
Boys race: (short)
Boys race: (long)
Thank you for the great article and keeping us B-CC XC fans posted. However, on the boys side you neglected to mention a certain Nicholas McGreivy, who PR'ed by over 4 seconds and was vital to our near victory.
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