Good weather and good performances prevailed for Harford cross country teams last Thursday when they raced in regional meets to qualify for the Maryland Public Secondary Schools Athletic Association state meet.
The meets proved to be more than merely tuneups, particularly for the Class 1A and 2A teams competing at Cambridge. Four Harford teams won there and five others qualified for the state meet, which will be held Saturday on Hereford High School’s daunting deep-gully course.
Havre de Grace qualified both the boys and girls teams for the first time since 1998.
“It has been a big turnaround,” Havre de Grace coach Ryan Bayne said. “Four all-region girls [top-15 finishers] and two all-region boys.”
The girls placed third behind Adeline Murray (seventh, 21:55), Mackenna Senko (eighth, 22:09), Maren Craig (ninth, 22:13), Natalie Burton (14th, 23:11) and Chloe Eisner (25th, 25:06). The boys were fourth with Robert Davis (ninth, 17:49), Tyler Vandarwarka (10th, 17:51), Jacob Fruchey (20th, 18:48) Eric Cumbie (24th, 19:00) and Andrew Higgins (28th, 19:15) leading the way.
Fallston also had a big day in 1A East. Emily Atha won the 3-mile girls race by 11 seconds in 19:31. Her teammate Gabi Murphy took second, and Patterson Mills’ Abigail Horsman was third. Atha’s win was one of three for the Cougars; both the boys and girls teams won. The scorers behind Atha were Murphy (19:42), Sarah Frist (sixth, 21:49), Francesca Cangelosi (11th, 22:56) and Skylar Brown (17th, 23:36). The boys’ top finishers were Antonio Hernandez (second, 17:04), Eryk Bender (sixth, 17:43), Gavin Kahler (seventh, 17:47), Nicholas Spangler, 16th, 18:18) and Grayson Kasten (22nd, 18:50).
In the 2A East meet on the same course, the Harford Tech boys raced to two victories. John Saltysiak was the individual winner in 16:17. He led his team’s win along with help from Alan Tyo (ninth, 17:34), Benjamin Saltysiak (12th, 17:49), Nathan Deveno (13th, 17:53) and Tanner Carson (20th, 18:27).
The Tech girls finished fourth, qualifying with a top five of Isabel DeVos (fourth, 20:06), Cecilia Kearney (14th, 21:26), Jordan Strang (15th, 21:31), Marley Seaborn (26th, 22:55) and Caroline Bates (34th, 23:50).
Also in 2A, the North Harford girls won with a spread of only 62 seconds in places eighth through 17th. Their top five were Eden Hussung (eighth, 20:56), Ava Carberry (ninth, 20:58), Finley Lavin (11th, 21:05), Kendall Chandler (12th, 21:08) and Sierra Weaver (17th, 21:58). The team scored 52 points to beat Kent Island by four.
James Ortt finished second in 16:51 to lead the North Harford boys to fourth place. The Hawks qualified with Austin Parry (sixth, 17:20), Justin Collins (25th, 19:23), Benjamin Iampieri (33rd, 19:38) and Andrew Robinson (36th, 19:58) in the top five.
The Patterson Mill girls finished second behind North Harford. Abigail Horsmon finished in 19:44 to lead the Huskies. Lauren Lenhoff (10th 22:56), Maie Ikemoto (12th, 22:57), Hannah Ikemoto (15th, 23:12) and Carli Lenhoff (22nd, 24:15) completed the scoring. The Patterson Mill boys placed fifth among 10 teams to qualify with a top five of Mathew Elliott (12th in 18:04), Kaiden Schopf (21st, 18:49); Grayson Criswell (29th, 19:15), Cole Miller (30th, 19:18) and Ian Rapp (31st, 19:28).
Tolson beats the flu, wins
C. Milton Wright’s Ashton Tolson won the 3A North boys race in Timonium. That’s not an unusual result, but he did so after a week of battling the flu, in which his fever rose to 103 degrees. Seemingly unaffected, he led the race from start to finish and achieved the fastest time among all four 3A regionals, 15:51.
Towson High won both team titles. Among the boys’ teams, Bel Air took second and CMW placed third. Ryan Cascone (sixth, 17:02) led Bel Air. Garrett Saboy (ninth, 17:17), Jack Hynes (10th, 17:28), Justin Fleisher (16th, 17:58) and Cannon Mace (28th, 19:01) completed the Bobcats’ scoring.
Behind Tolson, Nicholas Kirkland (13th, 17:40), Luke Puhalla (17th, 18:18), Teddy Casem (21st, 18:40) and Ethan Fox (27th, 18:57) secured third place for the Mustangs, 10 points behind Bel Air.
The Aberdeen boys placed fifth and qualified for the state meet with the top five of Daniel Wilson (fourth, 16:44), Holden Cross (14th, 17:47), Lars Lefkowitz (20th, 18:37), Roman Jasso (35th, 19:25), and Ethan Ryan (39th, 19:57).
Swayne leads CMW girls to second
The CMW girls finished second with all five scorers in the top 13 — Ella Swayne (fourth in 20:20), Cameryn Loper (fifth in 20:24), Ellie Bassham (seventh in 20:49), Lauren Tooman (12th in 21:37) and Morgan Perry (13th in 21:57).
Brielle Whitworth led the Edgewood girls to third place. She placed sixth in 20:39. Abigail Bond was also in the top 10, placing ninth in 21:05. The three other scorers for the Rams were Imaya Edmonds (16th, 22:31), Lya Vent (20th, 22:59) and Linda Dillon (30th, 24:31).
The Bel Air girls placed fourth, qualifying with a top five of Cammille Miller (11th, 21:32), Shaelyn O’Halloran (21st, 23:00), Anna Thompson (22nd, 23:33), Samantha Cuneo (23rd, 23:37) and Meghan Davis (25th, 23:44).
In all, eight girls teams and seven boys teams advanced to Saturday’s state meet. The 3A races are set for 11:30 a.m. and noon, the 2A for 1:30 p.m. and 2 p.m. and the 1A for 3 p.m. and 3:30 p.m.
Brown leads John Carroll in MIAA
Andrew Brown won the B Conference title in the Maryland Interscholastic Athletic Association championships last Tuesday in Cockeysville. He led John Carroll to second place in the eight-team field.
Brown, a senior, toured the Shawan Downs course in 17:06 to win by 47 seconds over his closest rival in the field of 54 runners.
Behind Brown, the Patriots’ scorers all finished in the top 20 — Evan DeVoe (10th, 18:45), Will Root (12th, 19:11), Ryan Frampton (17th, 19:34) and Alex Wohlfort (19th, 19:44). John Carroll finished with 59 points, five behind Severn.