Cross country
Howard rolls to boys, girls crowns
Severna Park, Broadneck win titles; Liberty, South Carroll claim top prizes
Howard cross country coaches Zachary Dickerson and Allison Follmer sat down with junior Amanda Eliker on Tuesday to discuss Eliker’s race plan for the Howard County championships the following afternoon. More specifically, they talked about how Eliker would handle competing against River Hill sophomore Faith Meininger.
If Meininger pushed the pace for too long, Dickerson and Follmer recommended Eliker back off for fear she would burn out. Meininger placed second at the league meet a season ago and ran away with the Howard County Invitational in September, making her the favorite for Wednesday’s county race. If Eliker tried to hang with Meininger, she risked falling from second place to fourth or fifth and losing points for her team.
The beginning of the race unfolded as the coaches had anticipated, with Meininger racing ahead of the pack and Eliker hoping there would be an opportunity to make her move. That chance came with less than a mile to go when Eliker, sensing that Meininger was struggling, caught up with Meininger before passing her and eventually pulling away. She finished with a title-winning time of 18 minutes, 51.95 seconds.
Before the race was through, Howard sophomore Sara Kindbom had run down Meininger to take second in 18:59.16, and juniors Emily Gorny and Madison Radford placed seventh and eighth, respectively, to clinch the Lions’ first girls’ team championship since 2007.
“At the [Howard County Invitational] at the beginning of the season, we got second by only one point,” said Eliker, referencing the Lions’ tie-breaking loss to Centennial on Sept. 8. “And from that, we were so determined to win today at counties.”
A dominant Howard squad finished with 40 points, followed by Centennial (61 points), Atholton (77), River Hill (111) and Reservoir (123). Individually, Meininger (19:18.95), Reservoir senior Annabel Cortez and Centennial senior Cora Blount rounded out the top five.
River Hill junior Anish Nanjappa has made a habit out of besting county competition this season. He finished third behind two Anne Arundel county runners at the Seahawk XC Invitational on Sept. 1, then secured runner-up to Loyola Blakefield’s Camden Gilmore at the Howard County Invitational a week later. Most recently, Nanjappa won the Frank Keyser Invitational on Oct. 13 with a season-best time of 15:31.20.
Nanjappa could not match that blistering time during Wednesday’s cross country county championships but cruised past the competition nonetheless, winning the Boys’ A race in 15:54.44, about 10 seconds faster than Oakland Mills senior and second-place finisher Frederick Eiland II (16:04.51). Atholton senior Javon Daniel (16:08.14) placed third.
“It was almost a perfectly executed race,” Hugus said. “From my perspective, [the race] looked a little bit slow, but once he made a definitive move, the runners realized he was the class of the field today.”
On the team side, not even Nanjappa could prevent Howard from securing its second straight county championship after not winning one the previous four decades. Sophomore Kendall Phillips (fourth) and senior Alex Strawley paced the Lions, who put up 68 points to defeat top challengers River Hill (83 points) and Centennial (86 points).
1. Howard, 40; 2. Centennial, 61; 3. Atholton, 77; 4. River Hill 111; 5. Reservoir 123; 6. Glenelg 130; 7. Mt. Hebron 174; 8. Marriotts Ridge 198; 9. Oakland Mills 274.
1. Howard 68; 2. River Hill 83; 3. Centennial 86; 4. Atholton 102; 5. Mt. Hebron 146; 6. Reservoir 192; 7. Glenelg 194; 8. Oakland Mills 199; 9. Marriotts Ridge 215; 10. Wilde Lake 254; 11. Long Reach 266; 12. Hammond 314.
Anne Arundel County
After back-to-back years at Chesapeake High, the Anne Arundel County Cross Country championships shifted back to Kinder Farm Park in Severna Park.
Despite a change in location, results remained the same, as Annapolis’ Anna Coffin and Severna Park’s Garrison Clark repeated as individual champions, while Broadneck’s girls and Severna Park’s boys repeated as team champions on Wednesday.
After her win last year, a Coffin runner had won the girls race for four consecutive years, with Maria doing it three times and Anna once.
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Sitting off the lead group for the first mile, Coffin and South River’s Bronwyn Patterson were even on opposite sides of the chasing group.
Coffin and Patterson are familiar with one another, not only from cross country but also as club lacrosse teammates. Having edged Patterson by only a few seconds at the Boonsboro Invitational, Coffin knew she would have to move early due to Patterson’s closing skills.
“I’ve raced against Bronwyn many times,” Coffin said. “I know she has an incredible kick, she’s super good at sprinting so I knew I wanted to make my move a little bit earlier then I usually would without her in a race. So that’s what I did and I was lucky enough to make some space.”
Coffin made enough space to win her final county championship race comfortably with Patterson taking second.
Including Sarah Sykora’s win in 2012, a Panther has taken the girl’s county title six of the past seven seasons, a special accomplishment.
“It’s awesome,” Coffin said. “I was never planning on running until I saw my sister do it and she was amazing so it kind of always made me want to be as good as her and I think it’s so awesome I was able to follow in her footsteps.”
1, Severna Park, 24; 2, South River, 74; 3, Arundel, 80; 4, Broadneck, 93; 5, Old Mill, 144; 6, Chesapeake, 157; 7, Annapolis, 197; 8, Southern, 249; 9, North County, 264; 10, Glen Burnie, 296; 11, Northeast, 355; 12, Meade, 359.
1, Broadneck, 38; 2, Severna Park, 44; 3, South River, 83; 4, Annapolis, 101; 5, Arundel, 133; 6, Old Mill, 166; 7, Chesapeake, 191; 8, Glen Burnie, 239; 9, Meade, 269.
Carroll County
Rubie Goffena wasted no time merging into the front of the pack at the cross country county meet Wednesday at McDaniel College.
The Manchester Valley freshman controlled the meet at her own pace and kept her head forward as she cruised to victory in her county meet debut in 19 minutes, 24.37 seconds.
Goffena said her adrenaline hit at the start, and she never looked back.
“I was expecting some hills and there were definitely some challenging hills throughout the course,” she said. “It was kind of chilly today, so at the start it was kind of cold and everyone was jumping up and down. I’m very proud of my time and how I placed.”
Winters Mill’s Kathryn Hopkins finished second in 20:09.36, followed by South Carroll’s Danielle Firlie in 20:11.81. The Cavaliers edged Westminster by two points (61-63) to capture their first county title since 2015.
Kelsey Shekore finished ninth while Kate Yokay and Madeline Rathmann came in 12th and 13th for the Cavs.
Led by Daniel Saxon, Woodrow Kashima, and Connor Stewart, the Lions boys captured their third straight county title with 39 points. Saxon, the reigning Times Boys Runner of the Year, defended his individual county title with another first-place finish in 16:30.92.
Century senior Zachary Fenton took second in 16:36.38.
1. Liberty 39, 2. South Carroll 60, 3. Century 61, 4. Winters Mill 94, 5. Westminster 121, 6. Manchester Valley 174, 7. Francis Scott Key 207.
1. South Carroll 61, 2. Westminster 63, 3. Century 70, 4. Winters Mill 75, 5. Liberty 106, 6. Manchester Valley 133.
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