Cross Country
GM Girls Advance to States Tomorrow
After 2nd Place Finish
at Regionals
By Margaret Lipman (November 11, 2005)
The
girls’ varsity cross country team will compete tomorrow in the Division A State Championship at Great Meadows, the Plains. Seven Mason girls will be striving to bring
Mason the state title -- a goal that may indeed prove to be within reach.
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After
running an excellent season and placing runner-up in last Wednesday’s
Region B Meet at Panorama Farms, Charlottesville, behind victorious Clarke County, the girls’ team is hopeful
about their chances at states. At
the Region B Meet, the team was led by sophomore Susanna Sullivan,
who placed second with a time of 19:23, a personal best of three
seconds faster than her time at the Bull Run District meet. Her sister, senior Sarah Sullivan, also put
in a stellar performance at regionals,
placing 13th with a time of 21:07. The Sullivan sisters’ top-15 finishes gave
them spots on the All-Region team. Just
shy of making the All-Region team was senior Kaity Hauter (18th, 22:17.) Freshman Leidy Baldwin
(25th, 22:43), junior Elizabeth Fortenberry (27th, 22:46), freshman Haley Turner (36th, 23:17), and junior Emma Goetz (61st, 24:52)
also represented Mason at regionals. All seven runners will be competing at States. Senior
Emily Walden, sophomore Nikki Williamson and junior Catherine
Duarte will be the alternates for the race.
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| Juniors
Elizabeth Fortenberry, left, and Emma Goetz will be part of the
girls’ cross country team that will challenge for honors
tomorrow in the state meet. (Photo by Margaret Lipman) |
The
boys’ varsity team also made it to the Region B Meet after tying for fourth
place at the Bull Run District Meet. The boys’ team was led by sophomore
Josh Jenkins (31st, 18:21). The rest of the boys’ team consisted of freshmen
Colin Lauer (41st, 18:54), Louis Henninger (44th, 18:59), Carlos Clark (45, 19:01), Daniel Benn (52nd, 19:15), and seniors Bryan Collins (53rd, 19:17) and Ben Greenberg (64th, 19:37). Unfortunately, though, their eighth place finish
at regionals did not qualify them for the State
Meet. Clarke County’s boys’ team joined their
girls’ team as the winners of the Region B meet.
The
Mason girls acknowledge that their stiffest competition tomorrow will come
from the Clarke County team, which won the 2004 Division A State meet to
Mason’s fourth place, as well as last Wednesday’s Region B meet. But
this year, the Mason team will be very competitive; at Regionals,
Susanna Sullivan placed ahead of 2004 Division A State champion Danielle
Moyer, improving her time from last year by well over a minute.
“The
girls look strong going into the state meet,” commented head coach Julie
Bravin. “Finishing runners-up was
outstanding. Region B is the toughest
region, so it just shows that we’ll be competing for the top spot in the
state.”
Tell us what
you think. E-mail lassogmhs@hotmail.com
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