Perry Hall's Megan Makowski never had run cross country until this fall, but she turned in the top performance among Baltimore-area girls at the second annual Harford County Invitational yesterday at Harford Community College.
Makowski, a sophomore, finished fifth in the girls large schools division with a time of 20 minutes, 33 seconds. A swimmer who ran indoor and outdoor track last year, Makowski trained all summer for her first cross-country season, but she never expected to finish so strong at Harford.
"I thought maybe top 20," said Makowski. "But I never thought top-5 in a race this big. I've won a lot of dual meets, but the competition isn't quite like this."
Another newcomer, Hereford senior Marielle Powell, ran the second best time among area girls, 20:44.88 in the girls small-schools division.
Pennsylvania teams dominated the top spots in the team races and won all the individual titles. Governor Miflin won the seeded race, Red Lion took the large-schools title and Manheim Central won the small-schools division.
Miflin's Liz Reeser ran the day's best time, 19:00.66, to win the seeded race by 50 seconds. Cumberland Valley's twins, Dava and Tara Rhodes, finished second and third, respectively, just as they had a year ago.
A handful of Marylanders ran in the seeded race. C. Milton Wright's Stacy Servia finished 12th in 21:10.60. Christy Moon of Aberdeen was 17th in 21:24.85. Bryn Mawr's Chris Maranto was 25th in 21:57.79.
C. Milton Wright was the only local team in the seeded race. The Mustangs, third last year, were sixth.