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In one of the rare sub-19 tours of the very hilly Hereford HS 3-mile
course, Tenke Zoltani 18:53 led Dulaney MD 110 to victory in the
big Bull Run Invitational elite division. C. Milton Wright MD 68
won the boys elite team title, with Ryan Blood, E. Pennsboro PA
16:14 the fastest boy of the day.
Results by Western
Maryland Race Timing - photos by Brett Harvey
- Elite
- Boys - C. Milton Wright MD 68; Ryan Blood, E. Pennsboro
PA 16:14
- Girls - Tenke Zoltani 18:53 and Dulaney MD 110
- Large
- Boys - Joe Tyvela 17:14 and Damascus MD 126
- Girls - James Madison VA 61 (Woodbridge VA 70)
- Medium
- Boys - Red Land PA 63; Ryan Cartwright, Eastern Tech
16:58
- Girls - Tricia O'Connell 20:48 and Catonsville MD
70
- Small
- Boys - McDonogh School MD 81; Izudin Mehmedovic,
Oakland Mills MD 16:45
- Girls - Fort Hill MD 93; Maureen Glah, Mercersburg
Academy PA 20:42
- Reunion Run -
Oscar Giron 16:49 MR, Keely Murphy 21:41.
Runners cope with hot day and Hereford hills
story and photos by Brett Harvey
On a day where the combination of Hereford's killer hills and a
rising temperature made the running especially brutal at this years
Bull Run Invitational 8 individuals stepped up to record victories
on one of the most difficult courses in the Northeast. The class
of the field were Dulaney's Tenke Zoltani who came within a second
of the course record with her clocking of 18:53 and East Pennsboro's
lone entrant Ryan Blood who roared to a 16:14 win over C. Milton
Wright's Pat Bailey (16:15). In the other races of the day were
won by Patuxent's Susan Hendrick (Large school Girls, ?/?), Damascus's
Joe Tyvela (Large School Boys, 17:10), Catonsville's Tricia O'Connell
(Medium School Girls, 20:48), Eastern Tech's Ryan Cartwright (Medium
School Boys, 16:58), Maureen Glah (Small School Girls, 20:42) and
Oakland Mills Izudin Mehmedovic (Small School Boys, 16:45).
Following are detailed accounts:
Elite Women:
Bryn Mawr's duo of Laura Drossner and Nyam Kagwima took the pace
out hard with Towson's Cori  Koch
moving up to the lead around the mile mark. Dulaney's Tenke Zoltani
(left) hung about 4 seconds off the pace as they flew past
the mile in 6:10, a very fast opening mile for this course. The
lead pack disappeared into the back section of the woods and when
they emerged at the two mile marker the race was down to Zoltani
and Kagwima who ran stride for stride into the maze with Drossner
and Koch falling to about 50 meters back and Broadneck's Lauren
Centrowitz starting to move through the field. The team race was
looking good for Dulaney with two of Zoltani's teammates Christine
Myers and Dusty Aeiker in the top 15 at two miles.
The race up front was suddenly blown open as Zoltani surged hard
in the maze dropping Kagwima almost instantly. She charged up the
dip, gaining speed with every stride. Once at the top the crowd
went wild sensing that a new course and state record might be in
the cards. Zoltani valiantly gave it her best sizzling an 18:53,
just one second shy of the course and state record of 18:52 set
last year by Footlocker Favorite Karen Pulliam.
It was a 16-second personal best on the course for Zoltani an 8-time
Maryland State Champion in track and cross country. "I wanted
to lay off the pace early because of the heat, but once we were
in the cornfield I tried to take over and Nyam came with me. I kept
surging in the maze and I finally started getting some distance
on her towards the end of it. I was really happy with the time and
where I am at this point in the season," commented the senior.
Kagwima staggered home 2nd in 19:54 just ahead of Towson's Koch
who was 3rd in 20:00. Centrowitz ran a very intelligent race to
take home 4th ahead of Drossner in 5th.
Zoltani doubled her win count as her teammates Myers (7th, 20:25),
Aeiker (15th, 21:13) also charged home in the top group. However,
it was newcomer Natalie Bond that put the lions over the top for
the team title. With several of the girls battling flu she finished
in 37th in 22:23 in her first run at this course. Talented sophomore
Christy Vincent was hit hard by sickness but valiantly finished
in 50th (22:51) to slam the door shut for the lions scoring.
"Our girls are stronger than I would have believed,"
said Coach Chad Boyle. "Tenke was incredible. She went big
in the maze and just really put the hammer down. Christine ran awesome
and Dusty has only been running for about 4 weeks. Natalie really
came through big for us today because Christy and Kim (Cook, 52nd,
22:53) were down with a bug," he added. "Our team ran
great today, we had about a 95% effort…but at States we will
be rocking," said Myers. Dulaney's accumulated total was 110
easily outdistancing North Carroll (139) and Mt. De Sales (157).
Elite Men:
 East
Pennsboro's (Pa) Ryan Blood (right) took off early in the
race before coming back to a large pack that included C. Milton
Wrights Pat Bailey and Jesse Slowikowski, Woodbridge's Mike Lyng,
Mt. Saint Josephs Chris Wright and Dulaney's Will Knox and Billy
Duffy. They headed down the dip in a big group all within a second
of the lead. C. Milton Wright as expected was looking to be in the
drivers seat for the team title with their top 4 all running within
the top 15 at the mile.
Coming into the maze the race was down to Blood and Bailey who
were running stride for stride with Lyng hanging a few seconds behind.
River Hill's track star Shane Stroup (one of the top returning milers
in the country) was moving rapidly up in the pack and had emerged
into the top 8.
The crowd was going nuts as Blood came flying up the dip with about
a 10 meter gap on pre meet favorite Bailey. As they topped the dip
and came into the last 300m Bailey started closing the gap as they
went out of sight behind a backstop. When they reemerged Bailey
had assumed the lead with just over 100 meters remaining. Fans lined
both sides of the finished and were screaming at a feverish pitch
as they charged down the finishing straight. Blood showed tremendous
courage as he pulled even and then slid ahead just before the finish
winning the title in 16:14 barely ahead of Bailey in 16:15. Lyng
held on for 3rd in 16:35 while Stroup kicked his was to 4th in 16:39.
Rounding out the top 10 were Mt. Hebron's Matt Sanders (5th, 16:40),
Wright (6th, 16:43), Slowikowski (7th, 16:46), Duffy (8th, 17:01),
Knox (9th, 17:09 and Gaithersburg's Maksudul Ali (10th, 17:13).
C. Milton Wright absolutely dominated the team competition as Will
Murdoch (11th, 17:18) and Aaron Smith (15th, 17:25) joined Bailey
and Slowikowski in the top 15. 5th man Brian Eagen (39th, 18:19)
and 6th Matt Mccormack (42nd, 18:22) both beat out every other team's
5th man. "Our spread from 1-4 was 1:10 but we want to get our
5,6 and 7 a lot closer then they were today," commented Mustangs
Head Coach Donny Mickey. "We (Mickey and Mustangs other Coach,
Eric Clark) told the guys to watch out for Woodbridge (2nd, 136
points) and some of the other out of state school bccause we really
had no idea what kind of teams they would have. But our guys ran
great. Jesse ran a huge PR for the course. Pat got out a little
slower then we would have liked, he let him (Blood) have a little
too much ground in the beginning…but we had never heard of
the kid, so we didn't know if he would stay out there in front or
die. All we knew was that if he was the only entry from his school
that he must be pretty good," said Mickey.
Large School Boys:
The first race of the day was a clash of several unknowns. The early
lead was shared by Damascus's Joe Pyvela and Churchill's Matt Hard.
Rafaele Simpson of Patuxent shaded them from 4 seconds back. The
race stayed that way throughout as Pyvela gradually pulled away
to win convincingly in 17:10 over Simpson (2nd, 17:18) and Hard
(3rd, 17:24).
Pyvela's win helped propel Damascus to the team title. Ricky Flynn
(15th, 18:23), Andrew Watson (21st 18:34), Trung Nguyen (43rd, 19:02)
and Scott Yanus (46th, 19:05) rounded out the scoring for them as
they held off Neward (De) 126-146.
Large School Girls:
This race was over 100m in. Susan Hendrick from Patuxent flew through
the race unchallenged in 20:31. The runner up spot went to Winston
Churchill's Karen Mayer as she and Annapolis's Rachel Dalby (3rd)
both clocked in at 21:07
James Madison (Va) packed 3 in the top 10 and 5 in the top 30 to
squeak by Annapolis 61-70.
Medium School Boys:
Eastern Tech's Ryan Cartwright took no chances as he took the lead
a quarter mile into the race and never relinquished it, racing to
an excellent 16:58 solo win. "I didn't want to take the lead
that early b/c of the heat but I felt good so I went for it. I was
worried about the guys from Redland because they looked strong.
They started to catch me in the maze but I think I broke them up
the dip the 2nd time. I just kicked and kicked and I hoped that
they were spent by that point," said Cartwright.
The defending Baltimore County Champion credited a hard summer
training with Team Endure (top elite runners Bailey, Duffy, Knox,
Slowikowski also trained with this group) a lot for his dominating
performance.
After Cartwright the story was all about District III power Redland
(Pa). Top runner Chris Robson clocked in 2nd in 17:14 just ahead
of teammate Jeremy Boehm (3rd, 17:25). Robson commented that "Our
district course is very tough and when our Coach (Larry Kell) told
us that Hereford was tougher we didn't really believe him. But when
we walked the course this morning we got a little nervous, this
is a really tough course. My legs were heavy most of the race….I
jus tried to stride out and maintain my pace. The heat was also
really bad out there. It was real humid."
Following Robson and Boehm were Pat Eberly (9th, 17:55), Chris
Doemland (22nd, 18:37) and Anthony Dill (29th, 18:53) sealed the
title up with 63 points, easily outdistancing Linganore who finished
with 115. "This course was really difficult. It was our first
time here. The guys said they really felt it in their legs. After
the fast start some of them said they felt fried a quarter mile
in. This course is all ups and downs, there is really no flat part
at all. I wasn't sure what to expect, but our guys ran great. Our
number four guy had to drop out, so our win is even better considering
that," said Kell.
Medium School Girls
Catonsville's Tricia O'Connell was up 8 seconds as she passed the
mile in 6:20. She poured on the pace as Urbana's Amie Shoemetta
gave chase. With a little less than a quarter mile to go it appeared
as though Shoemetta might have a chance, but O'Connell never flagged
sailing into the chute in 20:48, ten seconds ahead of Shoemetta.
"I felt good, I wanted a comfortable lead right from the start.
Toward the end I was a little worried, but this is my tenth time
racing on this course, I know if you make it up the dip in the lead
its almost impossible to get caught. Previous knowledge of the course
helped a lot. This was a my first big win, its really exciting,"
said O'Connell.
The team race was a mirror image of the battle for the win. O'Connell's
comet teammates and Shoemetta's Hawks waged the closest team battle
of the day. In an absolute war the Comets emerged on top 71-74.
After Catonsville's Ema Gantcheva (13th, 22:30) came Urbana's Emily
Doland (17th, 22:39). Then things REALLY got interesting. Another
Comet Hanneh Pfeifer roared home in 20th, just ahead of Urbana's
Lisa Warwick and Emma Cordani in 21st and 23rd. The comets answered
that with Lauren Land (24th, 23:10). Right behind her came the Hawks
5th, Kaytlin Lapsa (25th, 23:11).
It appeared like a dual meet as Catonsville and Urbana girls seemed
to be the only runners in the race at this point. Impossible as
it seemed, Lapsa was barely ahead of Comets 5th, Chelsea Swimm (26th,
23:12) who finished just two places ahead of Urbana's 6th runner,
Meghan Gannon (28th, 23:22). It was an amazing finishing stretch
watching the two teams go back and forth in this huge pack, bare
inches separating several of the finishes. Without a doubt the best
team race of the day.
Boys Small:
Izudin Mehmedovic wanted to run with the big boys in the Elite Race,
but was slotted in the small school event. Never one to back down
he took off from the gun and never trailed, as he blazed over the
course in 16:45 during the hottest part of the day. He was wobbly
at the finish and had to be held up for several minutes afterwards.
Loch Raven's Paul Hugus was 2nd in 17:07.
"The heat killed me in the maze. I started to get dizzy and
get a cramp. My head was pounding and my body started to shake.
I was real scared b/c I did not know what was going on. Going down
the dip I just tried to relax and it seemed to work a little. I
know this course, I just had to endure the pain. I was really spent
at the end though. It was so hard with the heat and the difficulty
of running by myself. I wanted to run a lot faster," said Mehmedovic.
"I would have been top 3 in the elite race if I had been in
there. I will be running against [Pat] Bailey in three straight
invitationals, I am really excited about that. Give him a lot of
credit though, he has done a lot for running in Maryland. He has
a good chance of getting the course record here. A lot of guys,
[Shane] Stroup, [Billy] Duffy, [Will] Knox, [Matt] Sanders, myself
have a good shot at it. Someone will get the record…I hope
its me," he added.
The team title was won by a great effort from the small private
school of Mcdonough. They squeezed their top 5 into the top 25 paced
by the efforts of Josh Perry (7th, 17:46) and Bobby Singleton (9th,
17:55). Rouding out their pack were Luke Stewart (20th, 18:34),
Jake Holt (23rd, 18:44) and Jamie Kaiser (25th, 18:48). The combined
score of 81 was enough to out duel young and promising Loch Raven
who scored 91 for 2nd.
Small School Girls:
Maureen Glah of Mercersburg Academy (Pa) and Archbishop Carrol's
Imdera Garcia waged a great battle with Glah coming out on top in
20:42, seven seconds ahead of Garcia's runner up effort.
Fort Hill put only one runner in the top 20 but there pack was enough
to pull out the title over Archbishop Spalding 93-136. Fort Hill
was lead by Amanda Griffith (10th, 22:11) and she was followed by
Kaitlin Bensley (21st, 23:09), Stefanie Fleming (24th, 23:19), Brittany
Twigg (30th, 23:36) and Liz Tichnell (34th, 23:59).
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