2017 Maryland Private School Championship

Congratulations to our two seniors and co-captains. They were our top finishers and they both set course bests, despite the cold, in the final cross country race of their high school careers. Their leadership and reliability was a big part of the team's success this season and was incredibly helpful to me on numerous occasions. I am so excited for the future of this program, but we will definitely miss Matthew and John next year.

Junior Varsity

Here are the results for our junior varsity athletes (70 total large school entries in the race). The number in front of each name signifies their overall place in the large school division of the JV race. In brackets are their first mile, second mile, and last 1.1 mile splits:

47 Keme Gbemiye-Etta (Jr.) - 22:21 [(1) 7:05, (2) 7:03, (3.1) 8:13]

57 Robert Gordon (Fr.) - 23:44 [(1) 7:35, (2) 7:23, (3.1) 8:46]

62 Lucas Arzayus (So.) - 24:25 [(1) 7:55, (2) 7:28, (3.1) 9:02]

65 Nathaniel Ager (Fr.) - 25:34 [(1) 7:43, (2) 8:01, (3.1) 9:50]

69 Bodior Elliott (So.) - 27:16 [(1) 8:04, (2) 8:38, (3.1) 10:34]

Keme and Nathaniel both ran faster times today than they did three weeks ago at the Prep Classic, very impressive for the conditions. While running in the cold beats running in the heat, it definitely affects how quickly you are able to warm up and getting into a rhythm during your race so that's very impressive.

Lucas was not able to run at Georgetown Prep so he has no prior experience on the course, but he ran a very good race just the same.

Robert and Bodior ran slower than they did the last time they saw this course, but this was likely a combination of the weather and it being the end of the season. There's a good chance they hit their peak two weeks ago when they both PRed at championships and we just weren't able to maintain that peak for the extra two weeks. They both put in a great effort today.

Team Results

1. Gilman 19 points

2. Georgetown Prep 65 points

3. Good Counsel 92 points

4. The Heights 111 points

5. Landon 125 points

6. St. Mary's Ryken 168 points

7. Archbishop Curley 196 points

8. DeMatha 221 points

I'll comment on this at the end of the recap.

Varsity

Here are the results for our varsity athletes (69 total large school entries in the race). The number in front of each name signifies their overall place in the large school division of the varsity race. In brackets are their first mile, second mile, and last 1.1 mile splits:

18 Matthew Metz (Sr.) - 18:17 [(1) 5:55, (2) 5:43, (3.1) 6:39]

29 John Ahalt (Sr.) - 19:01 [(1) 6:02, (2) 5:53, (3.1) 7:06]

52 Thomas Parsons (So.) - 20:38 [(1) 6:30, (2) 6:14, (3.1) 7:54]

55 Creedence Jackson (Fr.) - 20:49 [(1) 6:34, (2) 6:32, (3.1) 7:43]

62 Ashby Ervin (Jr.) - 22:04 [(1) 6:50, (2) 6:58, (3.1) 8:16]

63 Manuel Legaspi (Jr.) - 22:20 [(1) 7:13, (2) 6:57, (3.1) 8:10]

65 Steven Camarano (Fr.) - 22:39 [(1) 6:56, (2) 7:07, (3.1) 8:36]

In addition to Matthew and John setting course bests, Creedence beat his time from three weeks ago by six seconds and Steven only missed his Prep Classic time by three seconds.

Team Results

1. Mount St. Joseph 40 points

2. Gilman 77 points

3. Georgetown Prep 88 points

4. Landon 91 points

5. Good Counsel 150 points

6. The Heights 164 points

7. Bullis 188 points

8. Archbishop Curley 193 points

9. DeMatha 208 points

10. St. Mary's Ryken 217 points

Final Thoughts

As far as team scores, my only goal entering today's meet was for us to finish higher than last, where we finished in the varsity race at this meet last season. We accomplished that. Beyond that goal, my only concern was that our guys come away feeling good about their races, regardless of the final results. I can't speak for all of them, but I know most of them seemed at least content with their performances. I have no concerns about our JV team finishing last and our varsity team finishing second to last.

All this means to me is that most other teams have a very cross-country focused group of distance runners. Not that our group isn't, but we have more multi-sport athletes running cross country than most other teams in the area; three of our top six finishers from the WCAC Championship did not run today because they are working with their winter sports teams and it doesn't concern me one bit.

The only result from today that does concern me some is that the first ten non-senior finishers in the WCAC (counting The Heights since they will join next season) were from other schools, including Good Counsel's first four finishers and their seven finisher. Anthony will come in ahead of all those runners next year, and Thomas has an off-race today, so he'll definitely move up in that pack, but after beating Good Counsel in the WCAC Championship this year, I'm in no rush to come in behind them again. Our returning athletes are going to have be dedicated to their training next season, especially during the summer.

Great job to all of our athletes this season! I will be in touch with everyone soon with details on the cross country banquet.