Severna Park girls win Bull Run Invite
Falcons beat Walter Johnson with 5 finishers in the top 23
The Severna Park cross country teams sports T-shirts that read on the back “We>Me.” A simple slogan but yet one the Falcons girls team may be the embodiment of.
Severna Park didn’t have an individual in the top five of the girls varsity elite race at Saturday’s Bull Run Invitational cross country meet, but had all five scoring runners finish in the top 23 to edge Walter Johnson, 66-69, for the team title. Hereford (98), McDonogh (119) and Walt Whitman (167) round out the top five teams.
“It’s really all about the team and working together,” Kathryn Murphy, who led the Falcons by finishing in sixth place, said. “We train for it and it’s such a fun meet coming out here with all these other schools.”
Jocelyn DiAngelo was close behind Murphy, finishing eighth. Murphy finished in 19:55, DiAngelo in 20:12. Other scorers were Josephine Kamas (15th, 20:39), Sarah Kelly (19th, 20:47) and Natalie Bowman (23rd, 21:08).
“We have a lot of depth on our team,” DiAngelo said. “The way we work together in practices and races [helps us]. Plus, our coaches are amazing and so helpful and a huge part of it.”
Bull Run is one of the few races on the calendar that feature the top programs regardless of class, plus private schools, battling head to head on the course that will later host the MPSSAA state championships.
“It’s really good practice for states,” Murphy said. “It’s such a fun course to come out and do it with everyone. Getting to race against different teams and different people is so amazing.”
Racing against the upper echelon of state runners brings out the best in the individual runners.
“The competition is super hard, but all of our teammates, we all work together to get this win. We put in the work and you see what happens,” DiAngelo said. “It’s really special that we get the chance to race here. We get to see and prepare ourselves for states when that time comes.”
Murphy credits the support amongst the teammates as the key to success.
I don’t think there’s been a race where I haven’t had a team member there telling me ‘You got it, Keep pushing,” she said.
Evelyn Rogers of Elizabeth Seton ran away with the girls elite race title, winning in 18:28. Elena Blodnikar of Leonardtown followed in 19:16. Hereford teammates Sylvia Snider (19:33) and Rebekka Hillier (19:39) took third
and fourth, respectively.
Severna Park’s boys finished third in their elite race team standings. The Falcons had two top-15 runners in Taylor Jarvis, who placed eighth in 16:38, and Caden Lazzor, who was 13th in 16:59.
Other races
Arundel’s Zaiden Lane won the boys large school varsity race in 16:24. Other local runners placing in the top five were Chesapeake-AA’s Alex Paciello (third, 16:46) and Old Mill’s Tsedeke Jakovics (fifth, 17:15). Broadneck placed second as a team behind Montgomery Blair led by Fox Larson (eighth, 17:32).
The top local finishers in the girls large school race were Chesapeake’s Aubrey VanSickle (eighth, 21:42), followed by Old Mill’s Isabel Meadows (ninth, 21:46). Annapolis finished third in the team standings led by Brooklyn Ricker (13th, 22:01).
Southern’s Eric Penkala won the boys small school race in 16:28.