Ravenscroft boys, girls take edge in regular-season cross country meet
In a Triangle Independent School Athletic Conference cross country meet on Thursday, the Ravenscroft girls took a close win over North Raleigh Christian Academy and Saint Mary’s School.
The Ravens’ boys team beat the Knights by 11 points.
The Ravens girls scored 35 points, edging the Knights’ 37, while the Saints finished with 61.
Frances Margaret Gehrke was the key for Ravenscroft, winning the girls race with a 19:43 mark. She held a lead throughout and increased it as the race wore on.
Bella Church and Maggie DeLeonardis finished seventh and eighth overall but second and third for the Ravens.
“Our team is not particularly deep this year,” said Ravenscroft coach Mike McConeghy. “But with cross country, it’s very important that you train and have your runners where your 3, 4, 5 runners are moving up and making the passes off the other team’s 3, 4, 5, 6, 7 runners, and that kind of makes the difference in the score.”
The NRCA girls had a strong finish at the top with Kate Meares, Brooke Robinson finishing second and third, though NRCA coach Alan Young wanted more from the girls behind them.
“A little disappointed in (runners) three through six’s times,” Young said. “I thought they were a little slow today.”
Although the Knights lost a tight race, there is promise for the future with their top four runners, including twins Christa and Caroline Dutton, being just eighth-graders.
The top three for the Saints included Mary Hunter Russell (fourth overall), Ella Bristow (sixth) and Sophie Burkhardt (16th).
In the boys race, Ravenscroft won 27-38 over the Knights. Top Ravens runner Brett Haensel led his squad with a second-place finish. Ben Kasierski and Camilo Corrales followed with fourth- and sixth-place finishes.
McConeghy said Haensel and Kasierski tempo ran the race more as a workout to conserve energy for a the next race.
The Knights, already shorthanded with just five of the 26 runners in the race, were without their top runner, Miller Meares.
Justin Schmidt stepped up to pace the Knights and won the boys race with an 18:03 time, 25 seconds ahead of Haensel.
“Justin has a nice kick, and he’s come a long way in maturity,” Young said. “He’s still got a lot of potential. I expect him to hopefully be breaking 17 (minutes) by the end of the year.”
Though NRCA took the loss, it had an impressive race from its No. 4 finisher Sam Szuchen. After pushing through to the finish, Szuchen couldn’t help but collapse to the ground.
His 12th-place finish and 22:21 time may have seemed out of place, but it was a personal record for Szuchen, 3-4 minutes ahead of what he usually runs.
“Sam is new to the sport, and he is learning as we go along,” Young said. “He and I had a little talk last week about mental philosophy of how he approaches his race. I think that paid off for him today, gave him a little more confidence.”
This story was originally published October 9, 2015 at 12:45 AM with the headline "Ravenscroft boys, girls take edge in regular-season cross country meet."