Maryland XC Weekend Recap: September 19th

If it felt like Maryland cross country was happening everywhere at once this weekend, that's because it pretty much was.

Barnhart, Chesapeake, Eagle and Georgetown Prep brought together some of the state's strongest programs. Other teams crossed state lines, with Calvert Hall heading to Kentucky, Brunswick and Frederick racing in West Virginia and defending 4A champion Urbana traveling all the way to California.

We previewed many of those matchups heading into the weekend. Now that the results are in, here's what stood out.

One of our preseason teams to watch didn't waste much time giving us something to talk about. Towson won the boys title at the Richard Barnhart Memorial Invitational with 68 points, edging Dulaney by five and Bethesda-Chevy Chase by 16. Towson placed four runners in the top 14, led by Henry Navyac in fifth and Jack Dobrosielski in ninth.

Individually, Hereford's Eli Aitken took the boys victory in 16:38.38, ahead of Bethesda-Chevy Chase's Alec Mostofi.

The girls race gave us an early matchup between two defending state champions, and Hereford came out on top with 34 points, defeating defending 4A champion Bethesda-Chevy Chase's 45. Hereford packed five scorers into the top 13, led by Dempsey Nelson in second.

Severn Run sophomore Adriana Vastag earned the individual victory in 19:29.58, finishing roughly 40 seconds ahead of the field.

The Chesapeake Invitational brought together another strong collection of Maryland programs, and two teams left with convincing victories.

Crofton won the boys title with 45 points, comfortably ahead of Eleanor Roosevelt at 84 and Oakdale at 95. Sophomore Jordan Gelineau led the way with the individual victory, while Crofton put three runners among the first eight.

Oakdale senior Patrick Salter finished second, while Governor Thomas Johnson's Miles Ghim and Dashiell Wexler gave the Patriots two runners in the top five.

On the girls side, Governor Thomas Johnson won with 45 points, beating Archbishop Spalding at 84 and Crofton at 88. The Patriots placed four runners in the top 10, led by senior Salma Mahfoud in third.

Spalding's runner-up finish also gave us another encouraging result from a program featured in our preseason “Teams Ready to Make the Jump” series. The Cavaliers packed all five scorers between 12th and 21st and edged Crofton by four points for second.

Crofton's Katelyn Waters took the individual girls title.

The Eagle Invitational gave us one of the weekend's most intriguing collections of defending state champions, and two of them walked away with team victories.

Centennial won the boys title with 65 points, ahead of Marriotts Ridge at 87 and Severna Park at 137. Centennial placed all five scorers among the top 20, led by Zedekiah Dong in seventh.

Northwood junior Ian Fisher earned the individual victory in 15:41.12 over three miles, with Long Reach's Pierce Eatough second.

On the girls side, defending 3A champion Severna Park scored 38 points to beat defending 3A runner-up Centennial, which finished with 58. The Falcons put four runners in the top nine and all five scorers among the first 14.

The individual title belonged to one of the weekend's most impressive freshmen. Glenelg's Katerina Augustin won in 18:23.19, narrowly beating Centennial senior Kaylee Beal's 18:27.38.

With defending champions and state contenders from multiple classifications sharing the same course, Eagle offered one of Saturday's better early season snapshots of where several established programs stand.

Georgetown Prep won the boys seeded race at its home invitational with 44 points, beating Sherwood's 62 and Montgomery Blair's 101.

Sherwood supplied the low sticks. Junior Dimitrios Rementelas won in 16:26.80, while teammate Avery Smith finished third in 16:40.10.

Georgetown Prep countered with its pack, placing its first three runners fourth, fifth and sixth and all five scorers among the top 15 for a convincing win at home.

That front end strength from Sherwood is worth remembering. The Warriors finished only seven points behind Centennial for the 3A state championship last fall, and Saturday provided another glimpse of what they can put near the front of a major race.

On the girls side, Montgomery Blair continued to give us reason to watch after appearing in our preseason “Teams Ready to Make the Jump” series. The Blazers finished second with 46 points, only five behind Virginia's Washington-Liberty.

Blair was led by Marguerite Mauldin and Marcela Mason-Rodriguez in sixth and seventh. Washington-Liberty sophomore Susanna Richard won the individual race in 18:28.70.

The weekend's longest trip belonged to defending 4A champion Urbana, who traveled across the country to Irvine, California, for the Woodbridge Cross Country Classic.

The Hawks returned with two new names atop their three mile record book.

Seniors Evan Madraymootoo and Simon Lipchock finished nearly stride-for-stride in 22nd and 23rd, running 15:04.3 and 15:04.5. Both performances broke the previous Urbana three-mile record of 15:19.1 set by Joshua Rothery just last year.

Junior Koen Edwards followed in 15:35.9, while sophomore Omar Beraich ran 15:48.7, a sophomore record at Urbana. 

Urbana finished ninth in the Gold Varsity B race with 371 points, just three points behind eighth place Mountain View and 10 behind seventh place Peninsula, both of California.

For a program that spent last November racing Maryland's best on the way to its first state championship in 22 years, Woodbridge offered a very different early season test against unfamiliar competition more than 2,000 miles from home.

The Knights Classic produced two more Maryland team champions.

Albert Einstein won the boys competition with 40 points, placing four runners in the top nine and defeating Middletown's 76. Winters Mill senior Colin Belgrave earned the individual title in 16:56.9.

The girls race was considerably tighter. Winters Mill won with 87 points, only four ahead of Middletown and seven ahead of Manchester Valley. Just 25 points separated first-place Winters Mill from sixth-place Century.

Clarksburg senior Madeline Kelly dominated individually, winning in 18:46.4.

Middletown also deserves a quick check in after both its boys and girls appeared in our preseason teams to watch series. Both squads finished second Saturday, with the girls coming within four points of the team title.

St. Albans won the boys title at the Skip Grant Invitational with 43 points, putting three runners among the first five. Bullis junior Owen Heilman took the individual victory in 16:06.10.

On the girls side, Stone Ridge completed the team and individual sweep. The Gators scored 78 points to hold off Our Lady of Good Counsel at 86, while sophomore Grace Love won individually in 19:11.00.

Frederick and Brunswick represented Maryland at the Berkeley Springs Invitational.

Frederick's girls finished fourth with 113 points, while Brunswick followed in fifth with 120. On the boys side, Brunswick placed fourth with 99 points, just two behind third-place James Buchanan.

Brunswick junior Griffen Adelman had Maryland's top individual finish, placing second in 18:55.61.