After a two seasons without a title, the C. Milton Wright cross-country team resumed its conference-winning ways in the UCBAC Championships Thursday in Bel Air.
The Mustangs, who had won almost half the team and individual titles since the UCBAC meet began in 2005, won the girls championship and took the runner-up award in the boys race on a 5K course at Tollgate Park.
Cecil County runners still dominated the event, as they have for the past two years, taking three of the four titles. In the boys race, Bo Manor won its third straight team crown, and Rising Sun's Austin McGinley won the individual title by a 29-second margin in 16:15. Jordan Dodson, of Perryville, won the girls 5K in 19:44. Dodson, an outstanding half-miler and quarter-miler in track, won by 14 seconds over Bo Manor's Diana Curtis. Dodson's teammate Kaylee Haberkam took third in 20:00.
To win the girls team title, the Mustangs edged Bel Air by 10 points, 54-64. Bo Manor, the defending team champion, took third with 86 points, and North Harford was fourth with 112.
Five Wright girls finished in the top 16, with two sophomores leading them: Miriam Silton in fifth in 20:06 and Kelley O'Neill, eighth in 20:24.
Freshman Taylor Walker was 11th in 20:49; senior Kaitlin McCabe, 14th in 20:54; and sophomore Megan Coughlin, 16th in 21:13.
Amanda English led Bel Air with her fourth-place finish in 20:05. Others in the girls top 15 were: Steph McCartney, Patterson Mill, sixth, 20:16; Abbey Cross, Bel Air, seventh, 20:18; Regan Davis, North Harford, ninth, 20:33; Emily Cornieles, Bo Manor, 10th, 20:43, Emma Mattson, Patterson Mill, 12th, 20:50; Grace Lekites, Fallston, 13th, 20:54; and Caitie Ellenby, Bel Air, 15th, 21:06.
Lenier Tucker finished second in the boys race in 16:44. His was the best Edgewood finish in a conference meet since twins Scott and Steve Elwood took first and second for the Rams in the 1988 Harford County Championships.
Ryan Pfarr placed third, a half-second behind Tucker, to lead Bo Manor to its third straight boys title. Jake Trybus finished eighth in 17:17; Jeff Heger, 10th in 17:28; Stan Higham, 11th, 17:30; and Chandler Brooks, 21st, 17:56, to give the Eagles the win with 53 points.
C. Milton Wright was second, 25 points behind Bo Manor, with three runners in the top 20: Matt Hoerr, fourth in 16:59; Dan Fleming, 12th in 17:31; and Max Anderson, 19th in 17:54.
Fallston also placed three in the top 20 to take third place. Frank Abbate was ninth in 17:21, Neil Thompson, 14th in 17:37, and Noah Kudla, 16th in 17:46.
Freshman Nick Fransham placed fifth in 16:59 to pace North Harford to sixth place. Dave Caretti was seventh in 17:17, and his Patterson Mill team placed eighth.
Others in the boys top 15 were Eric Barton, Perryville, sixth, 17:10; Michael Dzambasow, Edgewood, 13th in 17:36; and Tedd Holbrook, Rising Sun, 15th, 17:37.