Boys and Girls Cross Country Qualify for States

by Tommy Johnson ’19

 On Friday, November 2, both the boys and girls cross country teams competed at the 4A North Regional meet in Hunt Valley, Maryland. This meet put the strongest teams of the region against one another in order to determine who should be allowed to continue to compete in the upcoming state meet.

 There was some doubt leading up to the region meet as to whether the boys team would be able to qualify for the upcoming state meet (only the top 5 teams qualify, and the boys teams was predicted to come in 6th). However, the boys team had a stellar performance last Friday, and were able to place 5th in their region, with sophomore Jack Anderson and junior Sean Enright placing 11th and 6th place, respectively.

 The division champion girls team was expected to qualify for the state meet. Even so, they exceeded expectations by placing 3rd in their region. Freshman Katie Kaneko had her best race to date, coming in first place for the region with a time of 18:58. Additionally, sophomore Emily Gravel also medaled for the girls team with a 12th place in the region.

 The focus of the athletes and coaches has now shifted towards the upcoming state meet to be held the Baltimore County Agricultural Center on Saturday, November 10. This meet will mark the end of the 2019 cross country season and will be the last chance for athletes to compete until next year.

 Pressure is sure to be high going into Saturday’s meet; the competition Sherwood will face will be tougher than any meet thus far. Kaneko, Gravel, Enright, and Anderson will all have a chance at medaling on Saturday, but they’re going to need to perform. “I just want to go into Saturday’s meet and enjoy it. Top 25 or top 10 as a team would be nice, but not necessary. The team has worked really hard this year to make it this far, so I just want us to have fun” said Anderson.