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Up to this point in the season, the Thomas Johnson girls had proven themselves to be the class of the state with easy wins at the Interstate Classic and the Barnhart Invitational last weekend. Today's race on the hilly slopes of Woodsboro Park in Walkersville was going to be a major test of their conditioning. After two fairly flat courses, the long major uphill at Woodsboro was going to test the legs of the Patriot runners. Bryan took her usual early lead, but this week had Century's Maura Linde chasing her. As they neared the hill, Bryan stride had shortened and slowed, while Linde was using her arms and driving. Linde passed Bryan halfway up the hill and kept increasing her lead through the rest of the race. Linde crossed the finish line in 18:43.2, almost 50 seconds ahead of Bryan. "Every hill I just kill it", said Linde. "That's a good strategy and it's just what I do."  Bryan on the other hand admitted she was a little tired after three hard races in 11 days. "I really felt my legs today", said Bryan. "I felt it in the workouts this week and might need a little recovery time. Bryan's teammates Kristin Luttrell, Savanna Plombon and Annie Powell all finished in the top ten, but had a challenge from Century with less than a mile to go. Allie Dearie, Kirsten McGovern and Rachel Larkin were all keying off the TJ runners, but Dearie dropped out the race with 800 to go and McGovern lost a few places in the final straightaway to give TJ the easy win by a 27-60 score. The Damascus boys team had also run their share of races finishing first at Interstate and second at the Howard County Invitational in the rain last Friday and was looking to come away with their second win. Coach Robert Youngblood said before the race, "We're trying to put it all togetherat one race." The strategy for the Hornets was to have their 5-6-7 runners stay with their first four and through the first half of the race the strategy was working. Thomas Arias was leading and brother Alex, Cecil Jonas, Charlie Ramirez and Ben Constantinides were all running in a pack in the top seven with Acosta Lorenzo and Jon constantinides all within spitting distance. Stephen Keith of Walkersville had a solid hold on second after they exited the woods and Nick Pezza of Century was only a few steps back. As they rounded the final tree for home, the older Arias had a 20 second win over Keith in 16:35.5. In fourth was the younger Arias followed by three more Damascus runners which was more than enough for a 23-84 win over Winters Mill. Alex Arias has been slowing moving up through the pack all season, but remained humble at the end of the race. "My place doesn't really matter to me", said Arias, "but how the team performs is all that matters." Cecil Jonas, who finished fifth, said all the racing has really bothered them at this point in the season. "We've trained well during the summer and this season", said Jonas. "And what we do now doesn't really matter, but that we win states at the end." One of the dark horses in 2A this year is Stephen Keith, who has been improving his placing and timing all through the season. "We really don't get to run against the powerhouses (River Hill, Mt Hebron) during the season, but we see how we stack up against the other teams in our region", said Keith. "If they view me as an underdog, that's fine", said the Walkersville junior. Maryland teams have off this weekend, but most return to action the following Saturday at Bull Run or the Tidewater Classic on the Eastern Shore. |
| Last Updated ( Tuesday, 27 October 2009 07:58 ) |
Damascus Boys, TJ Girls Roll. Linde Takes Win Over Bryan
