Bohemia Manor's Zach Laird showed off his sprinting skills when it mattered most. Laird overtook Boonsboro's Henry Schmidt with about 150 yards left in Saturday's MPSSAA cross country meet at Hereford High to capture his second consecutive state title. "I started gaining on him on 'The Dip'," Laird said. "Once we got around on that turn I knew, I'm a senior, this is my last race for cross country, so I knew that last 800 meters was my final chance to repeat from last year. I saw myself gaining on him and it was a mental toughness the entire way of like, 'I can do it. I can catch him,' keeping any doubts out of my mind and just keep on pressing. Because I was hurting bad. Everyone out there would be hurting from back in the woods and I was really hurting but I just had to keep pressing and keep my eyes up on him."
Laird's teammate, Alex Longeway, was third, 32 seconds behind Laird. The Eagles' Ryan Fitzwater was eighth. Schmidt was able to build a lead over Laird as it became a two-man race. "I kind of checked out, not a lot, but just a little bit to fall back, but I quickly got myself back into it and just locked back in on him, try to catch myself back up as much as I could before it was too late," said Laird. After gaining ground coming up the huge hill, Laird trailed by about 25 meters when he made his move heading into the final flat stretch before the finish line. "It helped me a lot because I had the mindset for a few months now that I want to repeat," Laird said. "I did it last year. There's no reason I shouldn't be able to do it this year. That was always in my head is I wanted to do what I did last year. That kept me going, that was grinding my gear to go." Laird finished behind Longeway, a two-time outdoor state champion, in the county and region meets. "It motivated me. It kept me going," Laird said. "Most of the ones I lost were to my teammate Alex. We've grown up together. We've always been able to push each other so I thank him for that, for always being another person to remind me to keep going, to keep pushing for myself and for him." Bohemia Manor was unable to win a third straight state team title and placed second to Boonsboro. Boonsboro placed six runners in the Top 16 positions and prevailed 49-69. "It hasn't really set in," Laird said of competing in his final high school cross country race. "It's in there. The whole time we were talking to our teammates, the other seniors, [saying], 'This is our last one, guys. Do it for your team but also do it for yourself out here.' This was my last race. I was out here to do what I needed to do for my team, but there was a little bit I needed to do for myself, which was just try to get that win again." Perryville placed 10th in the team standings led by a 17th place finish from Brian Keenan. GIRLS 1A RACE Bohemia Manor finished fifth in the team competition. Reagan Goldsmith paced the Eagles with a 22nd place finish and Maya Osborne was 37th. Aubrey Preske finished 41st, one spot ahead of teammate Kelsey Meis. Perryville runners Gabriella Scramlin, Leah Clark, and Abbie James occupied the 45-47 positions. The Panthers were 11th. BOYS 2A RACE Elkton was 17th in the team standings, highlighted by a 50th place finish by Cameron Spaeth. Nolan Cleary placed 66th and Tyler Vega was 73rd. GIRLS 2A RACE Rising Sun placed 13th in the team competition. Emma Cease medaled in 19th place to lead the Tigers. Coach Jess Meisel said Cease's finish is the best-ever for a Rising Sun girl. Elkton's Sadie Marra was 23rd. Rising Sun's Heather Horst finished 32nd, the Elks' Venus Abosede was 45th, three spots in front of her teammate Esther Greenblatt. Comments are closed.
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