2015 Maryland County XC Championships Coverage Central!

MileSplit Staff

Baltimore County Championships

October 24, 2015 @ Dulaney High School in Timonium, MD

Coverage:

Boys Team Champs: Dulaney 15 pts

Meet Recap: The Dulaney boys had building towards this day over the last couple of years at the Baltimore County Championships. To become the perfect team. Well in the points column that is. On Saturday at the 2015 Baltimore County Championships on their home course, the Dulaney boys were able to take the top 5 places individually to show 15 points only in the points column.

Even a bizarre late race recall 300 meters into the race, which the top half of the field including the Dulaney runners didn't hear until they had raced much of the first half mile of the course before having to come back and start the race all over again, did not seem to able to slow them down.

The top ranked boys squad in the state had two individuals really step up for them on their historic and dominant county meet performance. Their usual senior leaders ran solid as they consistently do with Eric Walz repeating as the individual county champ in 15:43, while seniors Andrew King (3rd, 16:03) and Sean Smyth (4th, 16:14) did their part for Dulaney to roll to another county championship. However, performances of the day had to belong to Elijah Hawkins and Matt Owens. Hawkins in running a lifetime 5K best of 15:48 to finish runner-up to Walz for his first sub 16 minute race and 25 second PR.

Boys Individual Champ: Eric Walz (Dulaney) 15:43

Another PR drop was found by the hero of the day, who saved the day in allowing the Dulaney boys to celebrate a perfect score in sophomore Matt Owens. Owens, an on the bubble varsity runner for much of the season, got off to an aggressive early start and found himself coming down the final straightaway battling with Towson's Vaughn Parts for fifth place. Parts (6th, 16:20) gave Owens all he could handle with a strong kick in the final 100 meters, but Owens was able to hold him off for fifth place and a new PR of 16:19.

With both Hawkins and Owens stepping up at the start of championship season, Dulaney's chances of winning the 4A state title over 3-time champs at Severna Park and also qualifying for Nike Cross Nationals just improved even more.

Girls Team Champs: Hereford 32 pts

The Hereford girls were third in last year's Baltimore County Championships, but returned back to first this year led by their star duo of Sarah Coffey and Kelly Shearer. The two runners dipped under 19 minutes last weekend at the Gunpowder Falls Invite and went sub 19 again, but with even much faster personal best performances for both with Coffey taking the win in a time of 18:25 followed by Shearer in 18:30.

Towson's Johanna Admiraal, who was the top Baltimore County performer back in September on the Dulaney course at the Barnhart Invite, challenged Shearer and Coffey for much of the race before finishing third in a time of 18:34.

The defending county champ Kristin Meek of Dulaney finished back in fourth at 18:43, but actually ran 25 seconds faster than her 2014 win and finally got under 19 minutes for the first time for 5K.

Girls Individual Champ: Sarah Coffey (Hereford) 18:25

To show how exactly dominant that three programs in Hereford, Dulaney, and Towson are in Baltimore County among girls teams and individuals, 14 of the top 15 finishers were from one of three schools. The Hereford girls had 5 runners among that top 15 and all under 20 minutes between Coffey, Shearer, Emily Cause (7th, 19:19), Emily Konkus (8th, 19:23), and Hannah Ace (15th, 19:56) for a total team score of 32 points for the county title.

The Dulaney girls finished 7 points behind Hereford and 10 points ahead of Towson in second place in the team standings. Dulaney averaged 19:15 as a squad on their home course with Meek, Dorrie Gaeng (5th, 18:58), Brynn Jones (9th, 19:24), Kira Flemke (10th, 19:33), and Jessica Meek (11th, 19:36). One of their better team races keeping their spread under a minute at 53 seconds and will not be facing the 2A squad Hereford at regionals or the state meet, but should be in contention with Bethesda-Chevy and Walter Johnson among others for a top 3 state meet finish in 4A.

Schedule:

8:00 a.m. Course reviews
9:00 a.m. Middle School Boys Championship
9:30 a.m. Middle School Girls Championship
10:30 a.m. Middle School awards presentation

9:30 a.m. Final High School coaches meeting
10:00 a.m. JV Boys Championship (10 runners)
10:35 a.m. JV Girls Championship (10 runners)
11:15 a.m. Varsity Boys Championship (7 runners)
11:45 a.m. Varsity Girls Championship (7 runners)
12:20 p.m. Co-ed Open Championship (unlimited entries)
1:00 p.m. High School Awards presentation

Course Map:


Rankings:

Schools:

Back To Maryland County XC Championships Central