The girls’ varsity cross country team is dominating the county with striking longevity and the school is now starting to take notice. The boys aren’t far behind by any means, dominating their competition with their own ferocity. The team started off the season well, but to say that continued in their next three meets would be an understatement.

The middle part of the season kicked off with the Oatlands Invitational on Sept. 24 at the Oatlands Historic Plantation in Catoctin District, Virginia. The girls finished first overall in the Varsity A race, 11th in Varsity B, 20th in JV 11-12, and 16th in JV 9-10. The boys finished 48th in the Varsity A race, 29th in Varsity B, and 37th in JV.
The seven varsity boys finishing times were senior Tyler Sauvajot (17:47 149th place), sophomore Edward Sun (18:11 201st place), sophomore Rendon Yerman (18:23 238th place), freshman Luke Gabrielle (18:49 330th place), junior Troy Bailey (19:11 398th place), sophomore Ellis Eppard (19:40 479th place), and sophomore David See (19:47 498th place). The seven varsity girls finishing times were senior Maya Gottesman (19:37 26th place), junior Victoria Ketzler (19:50 37th place), junior Meilani Rodgers (19:58 47th place), senior Rebecca Vasconez (20:10 53rd place), freshman Charlotte Chang (20:19 65th place), sophomore Aanya Tiwari (21:54 199th place), and senior Julianne Yao (22:41 293rd place). The course was a relatively flat grass field but included lots of twists and turns.

Next on Sept. 28, came the team’s one and only home meet of the season, which also happened to be on senior night. Before the race against Einstein began, all the seniors were called up by name and recognized after the national anthem was played.

Meanwhile, the girls team dominated once again with a first place finish (a 15-48 blowout win, low score wins), while the boys fell short to second by just one point (a 27-28 close loss). The top 10 girls finishers were Maya Gottesman (19:59), Rebecca Vasconez (20:23), Charlotte Chang (20:38), Meilani Rodgers (21:17), Aanya Tiwari (21:48), Julianne Yao (23:08), junior Leia Castro (24:00), senior Jessica Winson (24:12), senior Ella White (24:38), and senior Anjali Gallacher (25:20). The top 10 boys finishers were Tyler Savajot (18:08), Edward Sun (18:12), Rendon Yerman (18:48), Luke Gabrielle (18:48:05), Troy Bailey (19:13), David See (19:28), Ellis Eppard (19:29), Nicholas Wang (20:09), senior Sebastian Lising (20:52), and freshman Kal Yewslew (20:54). The course was the three-loop Frost hill area the team has practiced on several occasions so familiarity played a huge factor.

Finally, the team competed in its final invitational, the Maryland Cross Country invite, at Shawn Downs fields in Cockeysville, Maryland on Oct. 8. The girls varsity team finished 1st overall once again in the varsity black and gold race and JV finished seventh in theirs. The boys teams finished third in the varsity red and white race and 15th in the JV race. Girls varsity completely destroyed their competitors with a season low 67 points while the second place team finished at a distant 128 points. Boys varsity finished just two points below second place at 169 (Linganore had 167).

The seven girls varsity finishers were Maya Gottesman (19:16 10th place), Charlotte Chang (19:19 11th place), Victoria Ketzler (19:27 12th place), Meilani Rodgers (19:29 13th place), Rebecca Vasconez (19:49 22nd place), Aanya Tiwari (20:38 42nd place), and sophomore Annie Sun (21:33 66th place). The seven boys finishers were Edward Sun (17:33 28th place), Tyler Savajot (17:34 29th place), Rendon Yerman (17:38 32nd place), Troy Bailey (17:43 36th place), Luke Gabrielle (17;49 44th place), David See (18:38 83rd place), and Ellis Eppard (19:05 118th place). This course was the fastest one the team will see all year due to the easier terrain and times definitely proved it.

“I think the girls team has done a great job at pushing each other and themselves at practice, and improved so much already. I love how supportive everyone is and I’m excited to see how we do in regionals and states” senior captain Ella White said.

With postseason just around the corner, everyone is trying to run and train at their best, because spots on the final varsity roster are on the line and hard to earn for everyone, including the top performers.

With everyone jostling for position on the team placing charts with the regular season nearing its end, the pressure is on to finish strong.

Junior Mei Rodgers knows this key characteristic of the team will determine how far they go. “I guess the most I can do is to make sure you’re at your most fit and keep training hard because when you do well, it helps the team and then also encouraging your teammates to do their best,” Rodgers said.