Blair wins 5 of 6 in multi-school meet

Both the girls' and boys' cross country teams did extremely well yesterday in their first Quad meet of the season. Their competition included Wooten, Northwood and Seneca Valley. All together, the Blazers won five of the six events that they ran in. Their excellent record was partially due to the fact many of the opposing schools were not able to field a team, lacking the number of runners needed to compete. This gave the Blazers three automatic wins.

The boys' team lost to Wooten 20-38, but managed to beat Seneca Valley 24-35 and then Northwood 15-0. Northwood could not field a team with enough runners to score and was forced to forfeit.

The girls also did well, winning their race against Wooten 24-31 under the leadership of Halsey and Ashlyn Sinclair. The Blazers won their other two races 15-0 against Seneca Valley and Northwood because the teams were not large enough to compete. The girls' team showed the potential to have a winning season. Coach Carl Lewin commented that the team has much talent. "This girls team has a potential to reach the state competition," Lewin said.

The boys' team was led by Josh Uzell, who ran 17:29 at the meet. Halsey Sinclair ran a time of 18:36 and her sister, Ashlyn, finished close behind at 18:51. The Sinclair sisters also won the Woodward relays at Walter Johnson earlier in the season.

Many on the team believe that future seasons may show even better performances. "This team is really young," said Lewin. "Most of runners are freshmen and sophomores. I see this year as a developmental year."

This is a team with mostly young athletes, but it seems ready to succeed. Last year both the girls and boys had sub-par records and this year hope to field a more competitive squad.

Their next meet is away at Quince Orchard when Blair faces Bethesda-Chevy Chase, Gaithersburg, and Quince Orchard at 3:30 P.M.