HEREFORD – At the state championship race last year, Annapolis' Maria Coffin was new to the scene and decided to sit back behind Nora McUmber of Bethesda-Chevy Chase in the Class 4A girls race. Coffin finished 11 seconds behind McUmber in second with a seventh-best time ever of 18:50 at the Hereford course.
This year, Coffin decided to set the pace and it worked to perfection, as the junior cruised to a 34-second win and broke the course record at the state meet that had been set in 2013 by Isabel Griffith of Dulaney. In the process she became the first female individual champion from Anne Arundel County since Lauren Centrowitz won the race for Broadneck in 2003.
"Last year, I tried a strategy where I sat behind and it didn't really work for me," Coffin said. "It worked a lot better for me to get out in front and just keep that lead. When I hit the mile time and it was 5:40 something, I knew that was good. It was not too fast or too slow. I was happy with the pacing."
The obstacles Coffin had to overcome appeared more do with the elements then her competitors, such as Hereford's intimidating hill and a bitter wind in her face. But neither did much to faze Coffin as she increased her lead in small increments throughout the race.
"When I went off I could feel the wind pushing against me and it was hard to get a good start out. So I tried not to focus on my mile- and 2-mile splits but focus on keeping my lead," Coffin said. "The first hill didn't feel as bad as I thought it was going to be, but on the way back it felt pretty rough. I just kept powering through it until I got to the top and then just surged at the top and told myself that it was done."
The Broadneck girls, winners of the county and 4A East region championships, finished in fourth thanks to a ninth-place finish from Natalia Jacobo and the fact they placed all five of their scoring runners in the top 50. With the entire team set to return, the Bruins are poised to make a bigger mark at next year's meet.
"We said let's go out there and give it the best that we have and as long as we know that we can say it was a good day," Broadneck coach Brianna Bostic said. "They did that today and I was very happy with their performance. Everyone is coming back and out of our top seven, five were new to cross country this year. So that's even better for what to train for next year and come in hopefully and be more successful than we were this year."
Kamryn Eveleth of Severna Park also secured a top 20 finish, coming in 17th place to lead the Falcons to a 6th place finish.
On the boy side, Severna Park went into the meet seeking a remarkable fourth straight Class 4A state title. But the Falcons knew they would be challenged by Dulaney of Baltimore County.
Despite a valiant effort, particularly from fourth-place Andrew Forsyth and fifth-place Josh Tucker, who missed the regional meet due to illness, it wasn't enough to fend off the Lions, who won the meet 37-76.
"We went into this race and we weren't focused on any time or any points. We just wanted to run as best as we could," Forsyth said. "It doesn't matter what our competition does. We just wanted to run our race and if we did the best we could, then I am happy with that."
The Falcons have finished no worse than second in the past five state championship races, but coach Josh Alcombright was quick to tip his cap to Dulaney.
"We just got beat by a better team today," Alcombright said. "They gave it all they had and that's all you can ask for. We are proud of them. We were the second best team today, that's just the way it is."
Nick Boogades of South River, the 4A East region champion, finished in 15th to pace the Seahawks, while Kasey Gelfland of Severna Park (16th) and Michael Weber of Broadneck (19th) also finished in the top 20. South River's boys' team finished seventh.
Kent Island came into the 2A meet with second-place finishes in the East region from the boys and girls teams and hoped to place several runners in the top 25.
Mission accomplished, as Emma Tvelia (17th) and Mandy Fine (25th) on the girls side as well as Jose Crosby (23rd) all placed in the top 25. Crosby led the Buccaneers to a seventh-place finish as a team.
"This is what the team trains all year for," Kent Island coach Rick Unger said. "We go over to the Naval Academy and train on those hills in preparation for this race."
In the 3A races, Chesapeake was able to place a runner in the top 30 of both races as Charlotte Bader finished in 27th while Charles Wood finished in 28th.
Southern's top finishers in the 2A races were Mary Kaspryzk (65th) and Anthony Anastasi (25th).
STATE CROSS COUNTRY CHAMPIONSHIPS
GIRLS 4A INDIVIDUALS: 1, Coffin (AN), 18:25.27; 2, Green (WJ), 18:59.35; 3, Taye (PB), 19:00; 4, Neuslein (NP), 19:08.66; 5, Murphy (WJ), 19:14.63; 6, Davy (AE), 19:23.35; 7, Meek (DU), 19:25.49; 8, El-Masry (RM), 19:27.40; 9, Jacobo (BN), 19:42.65; 10, Reicin (WC), 19:50.09; 17, Eveleth (SP), 20:05.17.
GIRLS 4A TEAMS: 1, Walter Johnson, 51; 2, Dulaney, 85; 3, Bethesda-Chevy Chase, 137; 4, Broadneck, 153; 5, Walt Whitman, 155; 6, Severna Park, 222; 7, Sherwood, 224; 8, Richard Montgomery, 225; 9, Winston Churchill, 229; 10, Howard, 240; 11, South River, 247.
BOYS 4A INDIVIDUALS: 1, Walz (DU), 16:06.05; 2, Asfaw (RM), 16:20.81; 3, King (DU), 16:24.96; 4, Forsyth (SP), 16:24.96; 5, Tucker (SP), 16:31.32; 6, Smyth (DU), 16:32.94; 7, Abebe (ND), 16:32.96; 8, Deamer (HO), 16:34.68; 9, Sybing (WO), 16:35.29; 10, Gersh (WW), 16:43.54; 15, Boogades (SR), 16:52.03; 16, Gelfland (SP), 16:53.96; 19, Weber (BN), 16:57.26.
BOYS 4A TEAMS: 1, Dulaney, 37; 2, Severna Park, 76; 3, Bethesda-Chevy Chase, 149; 4, Howard, 167; 5, Wooton, 178; 6, Walter Johson, 216; 7, South River, 220; 8, Northwest, 244; 9, Winston Churchill, 255; 10, Quince Orchard, 268; 11, Broadneck, 273.
GIRLS 3A INDIVIDUALS: 1, Imhof (GM), 19:25.20; 2, Satsangi (PO), 19:45.60; 3, Admiraal (TO), 19:51.80; 4, Delaplaine (DA), 19:53.90; 5, Barrick (NO), 19:55.70; 27, Bader (CH), 21:02.10.
GIRLS 3A TEAMS: 1, Centennial, 68; 2, Northern, 84; 3, River Hill, 128; 4, Towson, 129; 5, Mt. Hebron, 205.
BOYS 3A INDIVIDUALS: 1, Bennett (NO), 16:14.81; 2, Harman (SH), 16:14.89; 3, Rose (RH), 16:25.93; 4, Hewitson (LI), 16:27.34; 5, Newport (BL), 16:41.49; 28, Wood (CH), 17:29.28; 65, J. Daubert (CH), 18:12.18; 72, G. Daubert (CH), 18:16.14; 85, Clewley (CH), 18:29.31.
BOYS 3A TEAMS: 1, River Hill, 58; 2, Atholton, 134; 3, Urbana, 136; 4, Northern, 138; 5, Mt. Hebron, 215; 11, Chesapeake, 307.
GIRLS 2A INDIVIDUALS: 1, Jackson (PA), 18:23.54; 2, Lang (OM), 19:07.67; 3, Coffey (HE), 19:13.19; 4, Shearer (HE), 19:20.02; 5, Gearheart (EA), 19:40.35; 17, Tvelia (KI), 20:36.75; 25, Fine (KI), 20:56.19 ; 65, Kaspryzk (SO), 22;59.33
GIRLS 2A TEAMS: 1, Hereford, 50; 2, Century, 118; 3, Catoctin, 141; 4, Liberty, 151; 5, Calvert, 160; 11, Kent Island, 294; 17, Southern, 389.
BOYS 2A INDIVIDUALS: 1, Cave (SC), 16:33.70; 2, Tilson (LI), 16:39.56; 3, Saxon (LI), 16:48.43; 4, Diehl (CA), 16:51.80; 5, Navarro (OM), 16:53.70; 23, Crosby (KI), 17:49.31; 25, Anastasi (SO), 17:56.61; 33, Nichols (KI), 18:06.18; 62, Hynes (SO), 18:39.82
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BOYS 2A TEAMS: 1, Liberty, 89; 2, Oakland Mills, 92; 3, Winters Mill, 116; 4 (tie), Century, Calvert, 133; 7, Kent Island, 185; 14, Southern, 372.
