True MD/DC Private School States - Part II

2015

Photo by Kim Panebianco

The Winners - Individuals

Large School Boys: Dalton Hengst (McDonogh)

Small School Boys: William Jones (St. Maria Goretti)

Large School Girls: Taylor Knibb (Sidwell Friends)

Small School Girls: Julia Luljak (Park)

The Winners - Teams

Large School Boys: Our Lady of Good Counsel High School

Small School Boys: Bishop Walsh High School

Large School Girls: Georgetown Day School

Small School Girls: St. Andrew's Episcopal School

Top runners who did not compete:

Kevin Wegner (Loyola-Blakefield) - 16:10 5K, second at MIAA Championships

Frankie Legambi (Loyola-Blakefield) - 15:41 5K

Nathan Jecelin (Archbishop Curley) - 16:19 5K, fifth at MIAA Championships

Judge Russell (Mt. Airy Christian) - 16:19 5K

Emily Craig (Maryvale Prep) - 18:33 5K, IAAM champion

Amy Egan (Bryn Mawr) - 18:57 5K, second at IAAM Championships


The individual matchup in the boys race was one of the best in meet history, pitting WCAC champion Jack Wavering, MAC champion Tristan Colaizzi and MIAA champion Dalton Hengst. Only a sophomore, Hengst pulled out a win over the senior Wavering as both ran well under 16 minutes on the course at the Agricultural Farm in Derwood. There was still some front-end talent from the MIAA that did not compete, including Loyola's trio of top runners. No team stood a chance against the Good Counsel boys in the team standings, one that came within about a dozen points of landing a Team Nationals qualifying spot a few weeks later.

On the girls side, Maryvale Prep sophomore Emily Craig was Maryland's top private school runner throughout the year, running under 19 minutes multiple times. A matchup between Craig and the large school champion Taylor Knibb (who ran 18:25) would have been one of the best races of the year in the DC area. Perhaps even more interesting would have been turning a two-team race between Georgetown Day (44 points) and Good Counsel (47 points) into a four-team one with the addition of Maryvale Prep and Mount de Sales, who raced to their own tight finish at the IAAM Championships and averaged similar times.