Courtesy Grant Nelson

Sophomore Evan Silberglied perseveres through a 3-mile race at the Frank Keyser Invitational on Oct. 4. Despite the girls’ team winning the meet, the boys’ team slumped to ninth out of 17, where Silberglied clocked a time of 17:37.

With regionals fast approaching and states in sight, the cross country teams are heading into the final stretch of the season. With their previous mixed results behind them, now is their time to lock in for their most important meets of the season.

On Oct. 18, the team competed at the MCPS Championships, which is more or less for bragging rights among schools in the county and generating fast end-of-season PRs. The boys’ team was humbled towards the bottom, finishing 16th out of 24 teams, while the girls’ team conversely finished fifth out of 22 teams, with sophomore Natalie McCarty finishing eighth overall.  

“I think we worked really well as a team to motivate each other,” McCarty said. “There were lots of PRs, and we were able to place really high, and that sets a really high standard for us going on to regionals. We need to have a good mindset and work together to motivate each other to do better.”

The team took a trip up to New York City on Sat, Oct. 11, for the Manhattan Invitational, where the boys finished middle of the pack, 16th out of 31 teams in their bracket, and the girls placed 7th out of 20. 

“We weren’t expecting to win or place super high because there were so many schools, but we probably should have gone out harder. This meet was also weird because we didn’t know how fast our competition was, so we didn’t know whether we should have gone harder,” senior captain Grant Levens said. “We had a lot of people who were sick or injured, but some people moved up [from JV to varsity], which is important. We’re just going to train hard and work out at the regionals course to get familiar with it.” 

The girls’ team was victorious at the Frank Keyser Invitational on Oct. 4, with five runners in the top 20, including McCarty who finished third. On the flip side, the boys’ team was not as successful, finishing ninth out of 17 teams. 

“We would have liked to place better in terms of schools, but I think we did fine,” senior John Snow said. “I don’t think we did enough mental preparation for how we wanted to run the course. We kind of just went out there and did it, which wasn’t smart. I think we would have placed better if we had more of a plan going into it.”

The teams will have to perform their best against their competition at the MPSSAA 4A West Regional Championships on Oct. 30, where they must place in the top six to qualify for the state championships. This is an all-elusive goal for an already handicapped boys’ team that is currently without half of their top seven runners due to injury. 

“Racing consistently and then also crafting a plan going into the race is huge because we haven’t really done that,” Snow said. “We also need to know our competition and how to get out and respond wherever they place. We have to beat RM, so a lot of guys have to move up in terms of time, but it’s possible. With so many injuries, it’s hard to determine, but I think if we stick with a good training plan the next week or so, we could definitely qualify for states.”