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Off to states
Cross country's elite ready to shine at this weekend's competition
Friday, Nov. 13, 2009
 Click here to enlarge this photo File photo by DARWIN WEIGEL
Great Mills' Peter Offenbacher, left, will be among 90 SMAC runners competing in Saturday's state cross country meet.
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Hereford High School in Parkton is the place to be Saturday for the state cross country meet.
Some 90 runners from the Southern Maryland Athletic Conference are scheduled to compete in the event, with all hopes that Mother Nature will cooperate.
Northern's Ryan O'Connor and Chopticon's Tyler Ostrowski will highlight the locals in the Class 3A boys race, a race scheduled to begin at 11:30 a.m. The 3A girls will run an hour later.
The two swapped places in the previous two postseason meets.
O'Connor won at the SMAC meet on Oct. 28 at Greenwell State Park in Hollywood with a time of 16 minutes 29 seconds, while Ostrowski (16:46) finished second, 17 seconds behind.
They would meet up again eight days later at the Class 3A South region meet at Oak Ridge Park in Hughesville. This time, Ostrowski got the best of O'Connor in dominating fashion, finishing in 16:16, some 69 seconds ahead of O'Connor.
"Losing to him by 17 seconds [at the SMAC meet] just gave me that extra of a drive to come back and beat him," Ostrowski said after last Thursday's region meet. "At [the SMAC meet], it was a little muddy and flatter too. Here, it was a whole lot hillier and the weather was perfect. I passed [O'Connor] at the end of the two-mile. It looked like he was hurting really bad –– he was grabbing his side. The fact that [O'Connor] was the best 800 [-meter] runner last year in the state as a sophomore –– his speed is that much better, but I just had a feeling that my endurance was stronger than his.
"I wanted the SMAC championship just as bad as he did, so coming out here I wasn't going to make it easy for him to win it. It feels great to have the [individual] regional championship."
Leonardtown can't be counted out either. The Raiders boys and girls claimed the SMAC meet titles and both finished second in both boys and girls in the Class 4A East region meet last Thursday at Baybrook Park in Baltimore. The 4A state run will go off at 10 a.m. for girls and 11 a.m. for boys.
"We hope to finish in the top five for both boys and girl," Leonardtown head coach Jamie Copsey said. "Everyone is healthy and ready to run."
Just like Northern in the 3A, Leonardtown is sending seven boys and seven girls to compete at states.
Jessica Gass leads the girls contingent. The senior crossed the finish line first at the SMAC meet (20:12) and, despite bringing that time down almost a full minute at the region meet (19:14.9), placed sixth overall. Gass will be joined by Jaime Branaman, Cali Copsey, Kate Finkelston, Anna Frowein, Rachel Labatt and Samantha Zarzaca.
Sean Hageman leads the boys headed to states. Hageman has finished in the top 10 in the two postseason meets, seventh at SMAC and eighth at regions. Hageman will be joined with Tyler Blake, Tim Carey, Brian Oechsel, Chris Padgett, Ryan Ponse and Mark Sweet.
Huntingtown will also send 14 runners. Hannah Weis finished 15 seconds behind La Plata's Emma Bahneman and took second at last Thursday's 3A South meet (21:07) after placing 10th at SMAC.
Bahneman looks to continue her postseason success at states Saturday.
She earned second place individually at SMAC, finishing in 20:29, improving upon her 13th-place finish at last year's SMAC meet. Then, a week later at the 3A South meet, she claimed the individual girls title in 20:52.
Chopticon's only female to compete at states will be junior Mary Reed, who placed 15th at regionals. Joining Ostrowski on the boys side will be Robert Binger, John Edelen, Taylor Konyk, Sean Purdy, Cody Trahan and Kyle Vines.
Great Mills is sending junior Peter Offenbacher and sophomore Conor Smith to the 4A event.
Staff writers Dallas Cogle and James A. McCray III contributed to this story.
