Rubie Goffena rediscovered her winning ways on Saturday at the Gunpowder Invitational. (Photo by Erik Cloyd)
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Manchester Valley sophomore Rubie Goffena picked up her first big win of the 2019 cross country season on Saturday at the Gunpowder Falls Invitational. She had finished no lower than fourth at any meet this year but had yet to capture a victory after winning six major races as a freshman. Goffena also beat 3A rival Madeline Till, who had won their first two matchups this season (Barnhart and Westminster invitationals). Next up? Goffena will try to defend her Carroll County title against South Carroll's Grace Siehler.
It was a good week for sophomores, as Goffena wasn't the only member of the class of 2022 who had a big performance on Saturday. Over at Georgetown Prep, Chopticon's Blair Fowler won the unseeded girls race with a time (20:22) that would have placed fifth in the seeded race. Even on a challenging course over at Georgetown Prep her personal best times ranks eighth among SMAC runners this fall. Meanwhile down in Florida, Maria DiBari led the Stone Ridge girls to a win in the Pocahantas division at the Disney XC Classic. DiBari and the Gators currently rank third in the state in private school 5K rankings.
Youth reigned this week as Blair freshman Alexa Avila ran away with the MCPS Consortia individual title at rival Northwood High School on Saturday morning. She came up just short of her 20:04 personal best (which ranks sixth among freshmen this season), but her 20:18 time was still good for eighth in meet history.
Finally, Sara Jarman competed earlier in the week at the Coyote Run Invitational at High Point Farm in Clarksburg, the site of this year's 4A West regional meet. Jarman broke away from the rest of the field in the final mile of Thursday's race and nearly broke 20 minutes on the new course that features plenty of turns and hills in the middle mile. Next up for Jarman and the Urbana girls will be the CMC Championships on Friday where both she and the team will set out to defend their 2018 titles.