County XC: Stine, Mason, Smithsburg girls and North boys are champions
WILLIAMSPORT — North Hagerstown junior Lauren Stine and sophomore Walker Mason ran to Washington County Public Schools cross country championships Thursday afternoon.
Smithsburg's girls won the county team title by one point over defending champion North Hagerstown. The Hubs decisively repeated as the boys team champion.
Stine, who won the Central Maryland Conference girls overall title last week, was largely in cruise control on Thursday, clocking 19:35.7 on the 5K course in temperatures reaching an unseasonably warm 80 degrees.
"I definitely did try to push it, but with the heat, I wasn't gunning for a PR (personal record)," said Stine, who said she feels ready for the state meet in two weeks' time. "I'm honestly exceeding expectations with my performance at CMC. It will obviously be tough competition with the Hereford (state meet) course."
Mason, who finished third overall and was the top county finisher in the CMC boys race last week, pulled away from Smithsburg's Michael Wynkoop over the final mile to win his first prep title in 16:56.4. Wynkoop took second in 17:01.9.
"My legs felt a little heavy. I expected to go through that first mile a lot quicker, and the hills in the second mile really catch up to you," Mason said. "It's my first cross country win, though, so it feels good."
"Walker got first, I got second, he's a great runner and it was a good battle," said Wynkoop, who posted a personal-best 5K.
"Walker's been working hard all season," said Hubs coach Marc Abe. "As a freshman, he had a great group of upperclassmen to work with and learn from. Now as a sophomore, he's blazing his own path."
The girls team race was decided by the narrowest of margins.
Smithsburg finished second (Cora Gentzel, 20:19.4), fourth (Michaela Gross, 20:51.6), fifth (Kayla Hawbecker, 21:55.4), ninth (Ella Fisher, 23:53.2) and 10th (Claire Bono, 25:43.5) to score 30 points.
North placed first (Stine), third (Anna Chamberlin, 20:22.7), seventh (Rian Johnson, 23:01.4), eighth (Ella Hajel, 23:14.1) and 12th (Abigail Call, 26:42.9) to score 31 points.
"It's a blessing to us to have a team as great as North in our county, because they push us to do our best, force us out of our comfort zone and make us a better team," said Leopards coach Ray Shriver. "Their girls are pushing our girls, and our girls are pushing their girls. To walk out of here with a narrow victory is fantastic, but it's even better that they made us a better team."
"Smithsburg is always very a talented team, and Ray is a Hall of Fame coach who's been getting consistent results for years," said Abe. "Their goal is to win the 1A state title and our goal is to be competitive in 3A."
Boonsboro's Caroline Matthews (sixth, 22:18.8) was the county's other top-10 girls finisher.
North's five scoring boys all finished in the top seven as the Hubs scored 22 points, well ahead of runner-up Smithsburg with 53. North placed seven runners in the top 10: Mason, Rishi Bhat (third, 17:10.4), Bradley Helman (fifth, 17:54.1), Landon Call (sixth, 18:20.4), Adam Mustafa (seventh, 18:25.1), Carson Wilt (eighth, 18:37.0) and Nicholas Smallwood (10th, 18:52.8).
Up next for the Hubs is the 3A West region meet.
"There's some very good teams in 3A West," Abe said. "We were hoping to be the favorite, but with reclassification, that's just not the case. We need to qualify for states first and keep improving on our times."
Boonsboro's Jakob Davidson placed fourth in 17:16.2, and Smithsburg's Tyler Younker was ninth in 18:39.7 as the county's other top-10 boys finishers.
This article originally appeared on The Herald-Mail: County XC: Stine, Mason, Smithsburg girls and North boys are champions
