Photos by Tim Dillistin
The Dulaney boys and girls cross country team this past week traveled down to the North Carolina to train in the Blue Ridge Mountains at Appalachian State University Running Team Camp. The camp finished off with a two mile race, which pitted some of the top tier programs in the entire Southeast Region against each other in a mid-season summer test across state lines in Boone, North Carolina.
Considered to be the top returning team in the state of Maryland, the Dulaney boys won the camp over the Chiles boys from Florida by 18 points as well as other quality squads from North Carolina, South Carolina, and Virginia. The Griffins especially put on a dominant display up front with three of the top four individual finishers in the camp race with the race winner in Eric Walz with a time of 9:50. Walz's teammates in seniors Andrew King (3rd, 9:54) and Sean Smyth (4th, 9:57).
Dulaney also had a strong #4 runner performance from senior Elijah Hawkins finishing in the top ten with a time of 10:19.69. One area of weakness to poke at, but hard to considering this still is a late July and at the end of a hard week of training at a summer camp, was the gap to their fifth runner. Nearly 30 seconds separated Hawkins from the team's next finisher and final scorer in sophomore Alex Ozboltz (31st, 10:47). Several other teams in the camp race had a better finish from the all important fifth man.
There is promise though in the Dulaney's fifth runner situation as Ozboltz was well back on the team's JV squad last year as a freshmen and appears to have really improved to move his way up into the top five after having only run 19:34 for 5K last cross country season and over 5 minutes for 1600 meters on the track.
Missing from the camp race too was the team's #2 returnee in Austin Carey, who has run 4:27 for 1600 meters and 15:56 for 5K. Insert Carey back into the lineup, Hawkins goes back to being the #5 runner and Ozboltz becomes added insurance as the #6 runner. Drew Persinger, a junior for Dulaney, also dipped under 11 minutes in the camp two mile race at 10:57. So no need to panic just yet about Dulaney's fifth runner situation, which obviously could impact their chances of competing for a NXN berth and trying to dethrone the 3-time Maryland 4A state champs from Severna Park.
Meanwhile, the Dulaney girls finished third in a very close team race as only six points separated the top three teams with North Carolina's Chapel Hill edging out Florida's Chiles on a six runner tiebreaker (69 points for each team). The Dulaney girls tallied 75 points a group with a tight 26 second spread for their top 5 averaging 12:23 on the two mile loop.
Kristin Meek led the Dulaney girls as last year's 4A North Region cross country runner-up placed 7th individually in a time of 12:04. The rising senior Meek has run 11:05 for 3200 meters on the track, but the tracks in Maryland don't have the hills and elevation that was found in Boone, North Carolina. Meek figures to challenge for the 4A North Region individual crown this year and compete for another All-State honor this fall.
The Dulaney girls fit four more girls among the top 20 running times of 12:30 or faster with Kira Flemke (14th, 12:22), Brooke Ruffin (17th, 12:27), Dorrie Gaeng (18th, 12:30), and Brynn Jones (19th, 12:30). Dulaney's pack running found at two miles in North Carolina should translate well when they move to 5K for cross country races in the fall. Ruffin, only a freshmen, is a nice addition and boost to their lineup as they look to match the success of their male counterparts at Dulaney High School this fall.
Dulaney opens their cross country season officially on September 5th at the Baltimore County Relays, but will face their biggest season tests of the fall at the Great American Festival on October 3rd in Cary, North Carolina along with previewing the state meet course at the Bull Run Invite on September 26th. The boys team also will be looking to defending their team victory from a year ago at the Glory Days Grill Invitational in Virginia on October 10th.
Appalachian State Team Camp #2 Race Results:
