“It was ...a tremendous achievement for our girls to win the city and region,” said Digital Habor cross country coach Lutalo Bakari,
whose Rams are led by Regina Summerville, Ashley McClure and Alyssa McClure. "The results were pleasantly surprising.”
The early prognosis for the Baltimore City girls cross country landscape pointed toward three programs that would vie for the city title.
Mervo, boasting the city’s top cross country runner in Katria Stewart, and Western, with an abnormally talented class of incoming freshman, were considered the definitive favorites. Digital Harbor was another strong contender, though the Rams were considered a dark horse candidate for the city championship.
“We were viewed as one of the top teams, but not the favorites to win the city before the season started,” said Digital Harbor coach Lutalo Bakari.
Led by seniors Shawnita Haley and Ashley McClure, junior Vernesse Thomas, sophomore Alyssa McClure and freshman Regina Summerville, the Rams surpassed the expectations placed on them this year.
“We hadn’t run against Western all season so we didn’t know what to expect from them,” said Bakari. “We ran against Mervo and beat them during the regular season. Katria Stewart is unquestionably the city’s top runner and Mervo has a good, young talent pool but they’re somewhat inexperienced. So we knew that we had a chance to do some things.”
A week prior to the city championships, the schools squared off in the 4x1 mile relay at the Druid Hill Park reservoir.
At the race’s outset, Western’s highly touted freshman Brinae Robinson pushed the Doves to an early 100 meter lead. During the second mile, the Rams Vernesse Thomas made up significant ground and eventually gave Digital Harbor a fifteen meter lead.
Western freshman Syrita Hunt made up five meters on the third mile, but Digital Harbor freshman Regina Summerville managed to keep her at bay.
In the final leg, Rams senior Shawnita Haley maintained the close lead until the last 800 meters, where she opened up with her sprinter’s speed and crossed the finish line 25 meters before the next competitor.
Mervo’s Stewart ran a strong fourth leg for the Mustangs, but couldn’t overcome the demanding lead held by Digital Harbor and Western.
On October 24th, at Herring Run Park, the teams met again, this time to decide the city championship.
“Based on the results from the mile relay at Druid Hill, we knew it would come to us and Western, with Mervo being very close,” said Bakari. “Mervo had the strongest individual runner and the championships would be decided by each school’s top five runners, not four like the relay.”
At the championship race’s outset, Mervo’s Stewart attacked immediately, serving notice to all competitors that the pace would be fast. Lake Clifton’s Katara Logan gamely kept pace, with Western’s Robinson and Samuel Banks’ Christel Mukendi hanging a short distance behind.
“Katria got out like a bat out of hell and those other girls ran right behind her,” said Bakari. “It was the girls running in the second pack that were going to decide the race.”
At the second mile mark, that second pack began to disburse, with the Digital Harbor contingent holding steady. Stewart finished with a city championship record time of 19:51, while Lake Clifton’s Logan grabbed second in 20:25. Logan’s second place time also bested the championships previous record of 20:32.
Western’s talented freshmen, Robinson and Hunt, finished third and fifth respectively, with times of 20:53 and 21:59 to lead the Doves to a second place team finish. Samual Banks’ Mukendi took fourth with a time of 21:29. Mervo finished third in the team standings.
Digital Harbor finished with five of the top sixteen finishers to secure the city title. Freshman Regina Summerville led the Rams, finishing in 22:08 for a sixth place finish.
On Friday, November 2nd, Summerville placed first, Ashley McClure third and Alyssa McClure sixth to lead the Rams past Carver A&T of Baltimore County and Pikesville to capture the 1A North Regional title.
“It was very rewarding and a tremendous achievement for our girls to win the city and region,” said Bakari. “They were dedicated, their work ethic was outstanding and the results were pleasantly surprising.”
At the 3A North Regionals, Mervo and Western placed fifth and sixth.
Katria Stewart came in third behind the Hereford tandem of Kristen Malloy and Marta Randall with a time of 19:58.91. Brinae Robinson of Western placed twelfth.
On the boys’ side, the city cross country scene was dominated by Mervo. Digital Harbor was expected to challenge for the city title, but upstarts Lake Clifton and Poly made their presence known.
At the city championships, Mervo swept the first, second and third place individual finishes with Aaron Moon, Devon Hicks and Anthony Rogers finishing at 17:18, 17:37 and 17:45 respectively.
Surprising Forest Park, with Robert Person finishing fourth in 17:53, was the city runner-up. Poly, whose top runner, Jon Cohen, tied Person in fourth place, finished third in the team standings.
The Mervo boys placed third at the 3A North regionals. Forest Park and Digital Harbor placed second and third, respectively at the 1A North regionals. Poly, City College and Northwestern placed third, fourth and fifth in the 2A North region.
The state championships for all classifications will be run this Friday at Hereford.