by Brad Jaegerbjaeger@digitalsports.comNow for the first meet of the year, you would expect that you would be lining up with one or two teams and just be having a nice little warm up for the regular season. But nooooo....., not Anne Arundel County, they bring all 12 teams in the county together on the county championship course for a cross country jamboree. Well, at least they broke it up into two six-team races.
The course at South River has a little bit of everything for the cross country afficionado. Long flat stretches for the start and the finish, trails through the woods and a couple of short steep hills just to keep you honest. The heavy rain the previous weekend did add some additional challenges. Ed Harte, North County coach commented, "There was some mud on the course from the rain, but the course was still in excellent condition."
The first meet had Severna Park, Chesapeake, Meade, Northeast, North County and Annapolis. Severna Park has one of the better teams in the state for boys this year and Andrew Finlayson with a full season of cross country under his belt is aiming for higher ground this year. Severna Park went and placed six boys in the top 11 with Finlayson winning in 17:03. Teammate TJ Cowing came in third in 17:33.
William Neal of Chesapeake was second in 17:16 and surprising Joe Rosenthal of Northeast (17:51) and Demetrious Anderson of Meade (17:56) were fourth and fifth.
Severna Park boys coach Josh Alcombright said on the team win, "Our main focus today was finidng the things we needed to improve upon as a team in order to accomplish our overall goals." Alcombright was pleased with the way the team ran for September 10th, but said, "We understand this is just the beginning."
The Severna Park girls ran their split squad at this meet and still came away with the win. Laura Blevins of Chesapeake came away with the win in 21:43 and Lindsay Holland of North County was second in 21:55. Severna Park's first girl was Katie Seibel in third at 22:03. They also had Anna Patterson in fifth and also took seventh through 11th place.
The Meade ladies finished third in the team scoring, but coach Nigel Holder believes they have the determination for greater things. "They're looking to break into the Baltimore Metro (Digital Sports) top 10 ranking before the season is over", said Holder.
The second meet had Glen Burnie, Southern, Arundel, Old Mill, Broadneck and South River. The South River boys took first with Nick Walsh (18:15), second with Richard Pineda (18:16) and fifth with Ryan Glynn (18:30), and they just barely held off Broadneck for the win (41-45).
Broadneck was looking at a rebuilding year this year, but with great pack running took seventh through thirteeth place with a spread of 22 seconds. The Bruins were led by Robert Hofer at 19:32.
South River coach Patrick Kiley was pleased with the team's performance, but still believed there was room for improvement. "We looked extremely strong at the top of the lineup with Nic Walsh, Richard Pineda and Ryan Glynn running almost side-by-side at the front for most of the race, but we need support in positions four through seven. That will come as the season progresses", said Kiley.
South River also ran away with the girls race taking 1-2-3 with Hillary Lee, Mary Fromme and Miranda Heater. Lee won at 20:28, 36 seconds in front of Fromme. Kiley was equally pleased with his girls. Kiley remarked, "It was a strong start to the season, and the kind of outing we want to have out of the gates. I knew Hillary Lee would be strong, but Mary Fromme looks like the Mary of 2006. Miranda Heater was her usual steady self, and we got wonderful contributions from all spots in the lineup."
Those other contributions came from Elizabeth Simmons in sixth (22:43) and Haley Kozek in eighth (23:17).
So for anyone who thought Anne Arundel might be on a downswing, they have another thing coming. Ed Harte said when asked about how county's prospects this season, "The County looks as strong as always."