Cross Country stumbles at regional meet

The girls' and boys' cross-country teams finished ninth and eleventh respectively out of 12 teams at the 4A Maryland Regional meet today at Watkins Mill High School. Neither team qualified for the state championship races, but three juniors finished in the top 25 percent and qualified individually.

On the 5K course, junior Ashlyn Sinclair came in third out of 80 girls with a time of 19:53 and her sister Halsey finished tenth with a time of 20:23. Junior Joshua Uzzell came in tenth out of 83 boys with a time of 17:39. The three runners will compete in the Maryland Cross Country Championship meet Nov. 12.

Both the girls and boys faltered during the races, receiving higher times than usual. The girls lost to Magruder High School by three points with a score of 194, which was a disappointment after the team defeated Magruder at the county meet. The boys finished close to last with a score of 292. Realizing that the team did not have a chance to qualify for states, junior Tuynh Nguyen ran slower than normal and came in second to last in the race. Senior Katy Lafen, one of the top girl runners, was also recovering from a cold.

Uzzell made an exceptional leap today after finishing twentieth at the County Championship meet. "I reached the point where, even when I wanted to stop, all I could do was keep going," he said, "I needed to achieve my goal of qualifying for states." Uzzell estimated that he defeated five or six boys at the regional meet who had beaten him at the Oct. 22 county meet.

Despite the losses, team spirit and support for the qualifying Blazers radiated throughout the team. Several junior varsity runners attended the meet to cheer on the varsity teams and to record times.