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Barnhart Invitational |
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Written by RunMDAdmin
Saturday, 12 September 2009 15:29 |
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 Thomas Johnson girls take 6 of 10, Welday blasts a 15:48
The Thomas Johnson girls cross country team made an impressive showing last week at the Interstate Classic in Clear Spring. Most observers wondered how they could outdo themselves so early in the season. The answer came today at the Barnhart Invitational at Dulaney High School.
 Thomas Johnson placed six girls in the top ten led by Stephanie Bryan's 19:06.1 win. Following Bryan across the line were teammates Savanna Plombon and Annie Powell in second and third place. The only non-TJ runner to crack the top five was North Harford's Megan Schott in fourth place who just held off Kristin Luttrell of TJ by less than two seconds.
Bryan who likes to push the pace at the start admitted that she might have slowed down a bit more than she would have liked today.
"This course was a little flatter than the one last week (Clear Spring)", said Bryan. "I was a lot more aware of my pace and just felt like I slowed down after the mile."
Chris Lewis, the TJ girls coach gave credit to their dedication to running this summer.
"It's all about their summer training", said Lewis. "They got together on their own all summer long, did exactly as I asked them to do and it is paying off dividends."
"Last year, we had never won a county championships before, had a good run at regionals and now we have our sights set on the state meet", said Lewis.
Coach Nick Snyder of TJ said that the real test of their fitness will come Wednesday.
"We run a tough course at Woodsboro with a lot of big hills", said Snyder. "It's one thing for them to be fast on a flat course, but we'll see what they have on those hills."
Bryan went out fast in the race with a 5:45 first mile with Chelsey Bush of Dulaney keeping her close. TJ's next three runners and Schott followed in the pack. As the came up the small hill in front of the football stadium, Bush had fallen back into the chasing pack and Bryan kept up her brutal pace.
At the two mile point passed in 12:05, Bryan had a 30 second lead on her teammates who were running 3-4-5 behind Schott in second. Plombon and Powell passed Schott with a 1200 to go and Luttrell was closing fast in the final 400 meters. The first five girls all broke 20:00 in the muddy course.
In the team race, TJ won with 20 points, and Bel Air edged out Dulaney for second 83-86. Filling out the top five were Hereford and Fallston.
Petros Welday of Archbishop Carroll decided to sit on Loyola's Matt Jablonski for the first part of the race until he decided the pace was not to his liking. After about 800 meters, Welday charged in front and Jablonski was the only runner to make the effort to stay with him.
 Welday and Jablonski had run against each other many times this past summer in AAU 1500 and 5000 meter races so they were familiar with the other runner.
Jablonski though had been feeling the affect of the previous few days.
"I had played 80 minutes of soccer yesterday", said Jablonski who also compete for the Loyola soccer team. "My legs were kind of tired and I just couldn't match his moves."
Welday who is getting ready to run at the Maymont Festival in Richmond in a few week went on to win in 15:48, the fastest time since Matt Centrowitz's 15:24 a few years ago. Jablonski was second in 16:25.
Blake Stein of Pikesville who wrestled during indoor track and was injured during outdoor held third place through most of the race until he was caught on the homestretch by three other runners. Stein finished in sixth place at 16:47.
Loyola won a close team race with 98 points behind Jablonski and Matt Erford in seventh place.
Hereford took the favorite role over Dulaney for the Baltimore County Championship by squeezing out a 126-135 second place finish. |
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Last Updated ( Wednesday, 14 October 2009 18:50 )
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