Photo by John Roemer
Last year's MD-DC Private School Championship battle between McDonogh's Dalton Hengst and Good Counsel's Jack Wavering was a candidate for the race of the 2015 season. The McDonogh sophomore won the large school race by a mere two seconds ahead of the Good Counsel senior, clocking a season-best 5K time of 15:49. This year, Hengst put a little more distance between him and the field at the private school championships, finishing 45 seconds ahead of Mount St. Joe's junior Hunter Petrik.
Hengst has had his sights set on a top-ten finish at Foot Locker Northeast and a trip to San Diego ever since he first ran at the course last November. Saturday's performance was just another piece of evidence that Hengst may in fact have what it takes to make the exclusive list of Foot Locker National qualifiers. He owns the MD #1 5K mark in 2016 at 15:11, which he recorded in his win at the Third Battle Invitational. His slowest performance of the season to date was his 15:44 victory at the Barnhart Invitational.
Mount St. Joe's Hunter Petrik led the Gaels to their second straight victory (MIAA Championships). It was a surprisingly dominant performance from the Mount St. Joe's team that had lost to Good Counsel just a few weeks before at the Gunpowder Invitational. In the small school boys race it was St. Maria Goretti's William Jones who defended his 2015 title, clocking his first sub-16:00 5K (15:58). He capped off a fantastic senior season in which he ran nearly a minute faster on the same course as he did last year.
The small school team race was a battle between three Montgomery County Private Schools: The Heights, Charles E. Smith Jewish Day and St. Andrew's. The Heights boys, coming off a win at the Montgomery County Private Schools Championships, placed six runners in the top 13 to win their first state title since 2011.
The most impressive individual performance of the day belonged to National Cathedral's Page Lester who won her first MD-DC state title after finishing second in her first two seasons of high school. Her time of 17:59 marked her first time breaking the 18-minute mark and was over a minute and a half faster than any other girl at the meet.
The only Maryland champions in the girls' races were St. Andrews, who won their third straight small school state championship. After the race longtime St. Andrews cross country Coach Gary Wyatt announced his retirement after nearly four decades of coaching at the school. Good Counsel coach Tom Arnold also announced his retirement from coaching after 34 years at the helm of one of the most successful private school programs in the state.