Photos by Dan Loughlin (left) and Craig Amoss (right)
Just because the 2020-21 sports seasons are currently on hold here in Maryland doesn't mean the college application and signing process has stopped. As members of the class of 2021 close in on two full cancelled seasons of running, looking toward the future and the promise of returning to competition is paramount. Recently, seniors Charlotte Turesson (left, Richard Montgomery) and Ella Auderset (Urbana) announced their college commitments, setting the stage for a unique season of signing announcements and decisions. Turesson will be competing at the University of Notre Dame, and Auderset will be competing at the University of North Carolina.
Turesson is a two-time 4A XC runner-up and owns both a county and regional XC title. She continued to improve last year as a junior, dropping her 5K personal best from 18:09 to 17:42. Her 18:23 time from last year's 4A state championship race is the sixth-fastest on the post-2013 Hereford course, behind only Maria Coffin, Jenna Goldberg, Abigail Green and Hayley Jackson. Turesson also ran her first full season of track this past winter and won her first state title in the 3200 (10:53.98).
Turesson will join a Notre Dame Fighting Irish program that has competed at the NCAA DI National Championships in each of the past two years. She will be the first Maryland graduate to compete for Notre Dame since Jessica Harris (Mount de Sales class of 2015).
Auderset has been one of Maryland's top mid-distance stars since finishing as the 4A state runner-up in the 500 meter dash as a freshman in February 2018. Since then she has won two individual state titles, four relay titles (including three this past winter) and helped the Hawks win three 4A team titles. Auderset has excelled in everything from the 200 (25.90) to the 3200 (11:37) and everything in between, and has ranked second in Maryland in the 800 in both 2018 and 2019.
Auderset ran cross country for the first time last fall as a junior and was sidelined until mid-October, though she did clock a sub-20:00 three mile in her first high school cross country race. She joins a North Carolina Tar Heels program that has been making headlines for their recruiting success in recent weeks.