4A Girls State Race Recap: Only The Wind Could Possibly Slow Maria Coffin Down

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Recap: The Walter Johnson girls won their third state 4A state cross country title and Annapolis junior Maria Coffin for the second time this season ran away from the field at Hereford.

Coming into the season as the pre-season #1 ranked squad, the Walter Johnson girls started off the season slow not at full strength including several losses to their Montgomery County rivals from Bethesda-Chevy Chase. Their season changed for the better in October including wins at the Manhattan Invitational and taking the Montgomery County title over B-CC.

November was even better for Coach Tom Martin and his Walter Johnson girls as they rolled through the 4A West Regional and on Saturday, crushed the competition in the 4A team standings by a margin of 34 points averaging 19:44 as a squad on Hereford. The Lady Wildcats were led by top five finishes from race runner-up Abbey Green (18:59) and a fifth place run by senior Emily Murphy (19:14).

A team that's depth was questioned early in the season became their strength by season's end as their #3 through #7 runners finished ahead of all other 4A teams' runners in those positions. Rounding out their scoring five behind their formidable front two were Kati Kirsch (16th, 20:04), Jasmine Garrett (18th, 20:08), and Sadie Keller (21st, 20:13).

After setting the course record on the current Hereford High School course with a 18:09 victory at the Bull Run Invitational's large schools race back in late September, there was some discussion if Maria Coffin could become the first girl to ever break 18 minutes at Hereford. Unfortunately the wind (gusts over 20mph) and little more soggy grounds from rain earlier in the week did not allow Coffin to go for another course record breaking performance.

Also, Coffin's ability to separate herself completely from all competition may have played a factor as well in her having to settle with a time of "only" 18:25. Just a time faster than any time previously run in any state meet at Hereford. With another year of high school, next year will be exciting to see Coffin returning to see if she can in fact to break a once improbable time barrier to think about at Hereford High School's challenging 3 mile course in a sub 18 minute race by a girl. She turns her attention next in attempting to qualify for Foot Locker Nationals out of the Northeast Regional in two weekends at Van Cortlandt Park.

The race for second ended up between among Montgomery County's runners early on chasing after Green in the Walter Johnson duo of Abbey Green and Emily Murphy as well as last spring's 4A state 3200 meter champ Bethlehem Taye. Taye closed strong in the final field loop, but Green was able to just hold her off at the finish line for second place with Taye timed at 19 minutes flat for third place.

North Point junior Rachel Nueslein also moved up well in the final mile to move ahead of Walter Johnson's Murphy for fourth place in a time of 19:08 by the SMAC conference runner-up from this fall. In a sport that is often well represented with talented sophomore and freshmen girls near the front, only two sophomores and no freshmen were found in the 4A girls top 15 showing a very strong class of 2016 and 2017 runners among this classification not willing to let the underclassmen just yet own the front of the field.

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