The Rising Sun girls cross country team captured the Susquehanna Division title for the second straight season. The Tigers (47) edged Bohemia Manor (57) in the eight-school competition held Tuesday, October 7 at Edgewood High. North East's Erin Palmer won the race in a course-record time of 20:00.09 followed by Edgewood's Rachel Goldsborough, Bohemia Manor's Elle Meyer, Rising Sun's Alanah Bell, and Aberdeen's Kelsey Dunn. Bohemia Manor's Jamie Brudy was sixth followed by North East's Briana Bruckart, the Tigers' Josie Brown and Emma Wheeler, and Aberdeen's Jordan Bryant. Kiona Brady of Rising Sun was 11th followed by teammates Arianna Wheeler (15th), Autumn Russell (16th), Cate Dymowski (20th), Brinley Farrall (21st), Danielle Lee (23rd), and Heather Marsico (24th).
"It feels pretty awesome, especially being that we had all of our girls come back from last year, so I expected them to do well," Rising Sun coach Jim Burkhardt said. "Plus an additional two that came onto our team, Alanah Bell and Josie Brown, I really thought our team was even better. So did I expect us to win this meet? Yes. There was no doubt in my mind that these girls could do it. And they turned up today and ran really well. And I'm really impressed with them." The Rising Sun boys were third in the team competition. Led by overall winner Langston Gash, Edgewood had the top three finishers. The Rams (129) easily outdistanced Aberdeen (72), and the Tigers (85). Phil Hurm placed fourth to lead Rising Sun followed by teammates Seth McKeown (15th), Matt Childs (22nd), and Spencer Converse (26th). "With the boys, I know Phil's doing an excellent job," Burkhardt said. "He's continuing to do the job, fourth place, ran a PR. So he's running well into the times that should put him in the states as well. Seth McKeown, he should be on his way to states, too. We'll see how he does in regionals. (At the division meet) he ran well, but he could do better. We'll get on him about that. But, overall, the boys did really well, especially being that they're all freshmen and sophomores practically. The next few years are really going to tell us what they're able to do in terms of performance. This year, I'm just trying to get as many kids' time down as fast as possible and them see if we can even contend for that fourth spot (at regionals) to get us into states as a team. I wouldn't mind having both teams go to states again like last year." The Tigers have several meets in the coming weeks including the Cecil County Invitational and the conference championship meet but Burkhardt is keeping his focus on the region meet which is where state berths are on the line. "I'm not entirely concerned about UCBACs," said Burkhardt. "Mainly because I want to make sure my girls and guys are ready for regionals. So we'll see. However we do in the UCBACs is fine by me. It really doesn't bother me. Because with regionals coming up I believe the girls have a really good shot of taking the title if they really work hard. And I believe they can do it." The Tigers' girls team has made great strides under Burkhardt's tutelage. "The boys team has been rather successful for many years," he said. "But with the girls team the last four or five years the numbers have not been on our side. So my first goal last year was to try to get as many girls onto the team as possible and try to keep them on the team. Try to make them feel like they're a part of the team. Sure enough it worked out perfectly. We only had a couple girls drop off. I think only two girls did not return from last year and I think that's a success on its own. Then we had another turnout with some freshmen and a couple sophomores that came on the team and really pulled the team together as a whole. I'm very excited about that. It just comes down to the kids believing in themselves that they can get the wins. That if they work hard they'll get faster times. Then all the faster times come together and they make the wins and successes we're striving for." Comments are closed.
|
Categories
All
Archives
December 2018
|