Photo by Brandon Miles
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It was an emotional moment for Winters Mill senior Emma Kartalia shortly after she crossed the finish line in first place at Thursday's Carroll County Championships. The win was the first of her career, coming in one of her final cross country races in a Winters Mill uniform, and it helped lead the Winters Mill girls to the team title as well. Kartalia navigated the McDaniel College 5K course in just over 20 minutes (coincidentally running the same exact time she had run just 12 days prior at the Gunpowder Invitational).
Four Winters Mill girls finished in the top ten to secure the team victory over their 2A west rivals from Century. The Winters Mill girls are the fourth different girls team champion in the past four seasons (the last three: South Carroll, Liberty and Century). It is also the first girls county title in the school's 15 year history.
Over on the boys side, Liberty senior Nick Tilson surged in the second half of the race and pulled ahead for a dominant win in 16:35. The Century boys took an early lead on Tilson and the Liberty boys, but they were able to respond and finish 1-2-4 to win their third Carroll County title in the past four years.
Only Winters Mill senior Devon Caples was able to break up the top three Liberty boys at Thursday's race. Tilson further established himself as a frontrunner for this year's 2A individual title, along with Joey Navarro, Justin Diehl and Jay Hall. Meanwhile the Liberty boys have been gathering momentum throughout the past few weeks and should have a good shot at defending their 2015 team title.