Hereford wins in 2A; Coffin claims another title

Maria Coffin of Annapolis finished her high school cross country career in style at Saturday’s state championship meet.

Coffin won the Class 4A state title for the second straight year, setting a course record at Hereford with a time of 17 minutes, 49.38 seconds, beating out Abigail Green of Walter Johnson (17:54.40). C. Milton Wright freshman Haley Cummins won the Class 3A race.

The No. 3 Hereford girls also repeated as state champions. They won the Class 2A title on their home course, scoring 52 points and easily beating out Catoctin (92).

In Class 4A, Coffin became the first girl to break 18 minutes in the state title race at Hereford. She stayed close to Green early, made her move around the 2-mile mark and stayed in command the rest of the way.

“I was just trying to wait for the right time,” Coffin said. “I felt good then, and I felt like I’d be able to hold on for the last mile.”

Coffin, who will be running at Providence next year, also won last year after finishing second as a sophomore and 26th as a freshman. She hasn’t had too many close races recently, but she came though when needed on a cold and windy morning.

The senior wore a big smile later when discussing what it felt like to be a two-time state champion. “It feels great,” she said. Coffin said she also enjoyed seeing how well her younger sister, Anna, ran. Anna finished fourth in the race and ran strongly throughout this season. She should be able to do even more next fall.

In Class 3A, Cummins, who never really had run before this season, won the race in 18:41.61. She beat Molly Barrick of Northern-Calvert — the eventual team champion, with 72 points — by 11.1 seconds.

Cummins might have surprised the field by racing to the front from the start. After she took off, nobody was able to catch her, and she capped a spectacular freshman season with a state title.

“I wanted to try to get a lead [early], so I would have a little bit of leeway,” she said. “I didn’t think I was going to get that much space.”

Hereford also found plenty of space in the team standings. The Bulls were led by Kelly Wesolowski (second), Emily Konkus (fourth) and Kelly Shearer (seventh). Nicole Burkoski (15th) and Hannah Ace (29th) also helped.

“I let them just use their own racing instincts today,” Hereford coach John Roemer IV said. “I don’t sweat the details. If you get them trained properly, everything will come together.”

Marriotts Ridge took third place with 108 points. Molly Bingham (11th) was the team’s top finisher. Century was fourth with 112 points, with Natalie Poulton (fifth) leading the way.