Cross Country

Saturday, October 6, 2012 PREP CROSS COUNTRY FREDERICK, Md. - St. Maria Goretti senior Luke Daigneault won the individual title and led the Goretti boys to a successful defense of their team title at the Independent Parochial School League Championships at Ballenger Creek Park on Saturday.  Daigneault, who covered the 3.2-mile layout in 17:28, was joined on the All-League team by teammates Patrick Jones (18:15) and Kevin Proctor (18:22) who finished third and fourth.

Caroline Schemel knew where she was going this time. The Greencastle-Antrim sophomore was the girls champion Saturday at Smithsburg's 23rd annual Don Stoner Cross Country Invitational - a year after she took a wrong turn at the meet, which cost her a second-place finish and cost the Blue Devils a team title. “That was awful. I was pretty upset last year,” she said. “But I know the course really well now. I paid close attention during the (pre-race) course walk.” Schemel passed North Hagerstown's Emily Ward midway through the hilly 3.04-mile race to take the lead, and she held on to win in 19:51.4.

On a day when five of the six champions stamped their superiority with authority at Saturday's 31st annual Washington County Public Schools Elementary Schools Cross Country Run at Eastern Elementary, Old Forge's Bailey Grove and Cascade's Hannah Spinks went toe-to-toe in a dramatic finish to the fifth grade girls race. Spinks led from the start and did her best to hold off Grove over the final 100 meters. But Grove had a half-stride lead when Spinks lost her balance and fell five feet from the finish.

Cross Country Twenty schools are set to compete Saturday morning at the 23rd annual Don Stoner Invitational at Smithsburg, including six from Washington County - Boonsboro, Clear Spring, North Hagerstown, South Hagerstown, Williamsport and host Smithsburg. Other area schools competing include Greencastle-Antrim, Waynesboro and Martinsburg. The girls race starts at 9 a.m. and the boys race begins at 9:40. Following the JV races (girls at 10:15, boys at 10:55), the first Alumni Challenge will be held at 11:30 on the same 3.04-mile course.

Williamsport's boys and Boonsboro's girls won the small school team titles on Saturday morning at the Frank Keyser Invitational. The Wildcats placed all five of their scoring boys in the top 23 overall to win going away. Williamsport finished with 76 points, while Catoctin finished second with 103 points. “As I've said all year, the thing for us is to run in a tight pack, and I think they were all within 45 seconds today,” Wildcats coach Randy Buchman said. Cody Bowman led the way for Williamsport, finishing fifth in 16:07.5.

Saturday, September 15, 2012 PREP CROSS COUNTRY NEWVILLE, Pa. - Williamsport won the boys large-division team title at the 17th annual Bulldog Invitational at Big Spring High School on Saturday. The Wildcats topped the field of 16 teams with 79 points. Exeter Township was second (93) and Chambersburg was third (108). Cody Bowman placed second in the 3.1-mile race in 17:06.9 to lead Williamsport. The Wildcats also got top-25 finishes from Emory Rowland (13th, 17:48.3)

Boonsboro senior Sarah Zielinski learned that slowing down equals speeding up on Wednesday. Facing the challenge of the Mountain Run at hilly Woodsboro Park for the fourth and final time in her prep career, Zielinski focused on running a smart race and pacing herself early, and it paid off with a sizzling time and a victory. In the process, she helped lead the Warriors to their first Mountain Run team title and first victory of the season. Zielinski clocked 19 minutes, 46.0 seconds - shaving 55 seconds of her time last year, when she finished third.

The Williamsport boys cross country team scored another season-opening victory, winning the small-school team title at the Interstate Classic for the third straight year. The Wildcats topped the field of 16 schools with 54 points. St. Maria Goretti was second (80) and Catoctin was third (92). “This was a more worthy one - more teams, better competition,” Williamsport coach Randy Buchman said. Williamsport placed seven runners in the top 30, including five in the top 20 and three in the top 10, in the varsity field of 120. Cody Bowman led the way, covering Clear Spring's 3-mile course in 17:08.8 to place fifth, while Emory Rowland was seventh (17:33.6)

While Boonsboro hasn't won a girls cross country title since 1995, and its boys never have placed higher than second, the Warriors might have the runners to contend for both Maryland Class 1A championships this fall. One thing's for sure, Boonsboro indeed has runners - a program-record 51 of them (25 girls and 26 boys). “There's a lot of bodies working hard,” Warriors coach Becky Walter said. The Boonsboro girls return four of their top seven runners from last year's team that won the Washington County title and finished second at states, including senior Sarah Zielinski, junior Kortney Cunningham and sophomore Ella Hawkins, who took three of the top six places at the county championships last fall.

Tuesday, May 22, 2012 COLLEGE SPORTS Hagerstown Community College won the Maryland JuCo Conference's Men's Presidents' Cup and finished third in the women's standings to rank No. 1 overall for combined programs in the conference for the 2011-12 school year. “It is an honor to receive this award,” HCC athletic director Bo Myers said. “It is a recognition of the dedication of our coaches and athletes and our college administration to be a national program with class.