Charlie Ban is the Editor-in-Chief of RunWashington, the runner's source for the DC area.
Montgomery County once again dominated the D.C. area Maryland suburbs. The boys, particularly, put on a show at their county meet Oct. 21. Walter Johnson won its fifth-straight Maryland 4A title and Walt Whitman edged Bethesda-Chevy Chase for top D.C.-area boys’ team honors at the state meet in third.
Virginia’s 6A classification saw some of its traditions torn in half, as the traditional Northern Region was split and the Occoquan Region was born from it. Northern Virginia teams captured state championships in boys and girls 6A (Lake Braddock), girls 5A (Tuscarora) and boys 4A (Loudoun Valley).
This season saw the ascendance of St. John’s College’s teams, with the girls surging to the lead at the D.C. state meet and the boys into second, behind a young Gonzaga team that ran without top returner John Colucci.
Annandale resident Caleb Hymans ran a 10k single-age world record for 12-year-old boys at the Turkey Trot 10k in Quantico Nov. 18, running 35:34. Fairfax’s Sarah Bishop, who won the […]
Name: Paul Karlsen
Self-described age group: I will be a Masters runner by the end of this year.
Cross country runners aren’t imposing figures, and Peter Morris knows that. The Loudoun Valley guys couldn’t walk up to the rest of the Nike Cross Nationals field, stare everybody down and expect a response, but Morris knew if they could just be themselves on Portland, Ore.’s Glendoveer Golf Course, everyone would have a good reason to be scared of them. Like an alligator’s grin, a Viking’s laugh was a sign of danger to come.
“We just showed up and were united and knew if we ran our best, we’d win,” he said. “The way we’ve bonded has been one of the reasons we’ve run well, and we’ve bonded because we have fun together.”
The Loudoun Valley boys qualified for the Nike Cross National meet with a southeast regional victory powered by Sam Affolder and Peter Morris in second and fourth places, with Colton Bogucki and Jacob Hunter in 14th and 22nd place, and Connor Wells in 49th. LV’s Chase Dawson, running unattached, edged Wells. Thomas Edison senior Yared Mekonnen qualified individually. Loudoun Valley’s Natalie Morris, the Virginia 4A champion, was ninth. Northwood senior Obsaa Feda (30th) and Genevieve DiBari (26th) of the Stone Ridge School of the Sacred Heart were the top Maryland finishers and Gonzaga’s Gavin McElhennon (75th) was the top D.C. finisher. They’ll race Saturday, Dec. 2 in Portland, Ore.
All three local runners to make the Foot Locker Cross Country Championships will return after successful regional races. In New York, National Cathedral School senior Page Lester finished fifth and Walter Johnson senior Abbey Green finished seventh. In Charlotte, N.C., George Marshall senior Heather Holt finished seventh. Last year, Green finished 21st, Holt finished 27th and Lester finished 32nd. They race Saturday, Dec. 9 in San Diego.
Heritage alumna Weini Kelati led locally-connected collegiate runners at the NCAA Championships with a seventh place finish in the Division I meet, where she helped the New Mexico team to the championship. Georgetown individual qualifier Jonathan Green finished 10th. Clarksburg’s Lucie Noall finished 75, running for Queens and George Marshall’s Jenna Robbins finished 201st with her Shippensburg team in Division II. I have very little research on Division II rosters, so please comment if I’m missing anyone. Christopher Newport finished third in the Division III men’s race, and JJ LaPointe‘s (Bishop O’Connell) 14th place finish went a long way to making that happen. Abigail Levine, a Bethesda-Chevy Chase alumna running for Carnegie Mellon, finish 108th.
Photographer Doug Stroud asked runners to do just about the last thing they wanted to do after finishing a race — pose for a photo and talk about themselves. And they obliged, right near the Marine Corps Marathon and 10k finish line. A few came back after accepting awards.
Nobody on the Walter Johnson girls’ team has ever known a world in which they haven’t been defending state champions. That will continue for another year, after the Wildcats won their record fifth straight 4A title.