By Jack Armstrong ’15

The cross country team held their first home meet on September 23 against Clarksburg, Northwest and Georgetown Prep. On the boys’ side, Northwest placed first, followed by Sherwood in second and Georgetown Prep in third. On the girls’ side, Northwest placed first, with Sherwood closely in second and Clarksburg in third.

 Senior Jefferson Ruiz led the boys’ team, finishing second with a time of 16:58.00. Senior Owen Miller and Sophomore Reese Brenner stuck together most of the race, finishing sixteenth and seventeenth with times of 18:28.00 and 18:30.00. Junior Amanda Hayes-Puttfarcken finished second on the girls’ side with a time of 20:13.00.

It should be noted that this meet took place just three days after the Adidas Cross Country Challenge in Cary, North Carolina, where both Ruiz and Hayes-Puttfarcken ran personal best times. Ruiz finished fourteenth out of more than 300 other varsity runners in the boys’ race, with a personal best time of 16:36.30. Hayes-Puttfarcken finished third out of more than 200 runners in the girls’ race, with a personal best time of 19:19.10.

The Warriors will compete again on October 2 against Quince Orchard at Sherwood. This is the last home meet before they will prepare to compete at the County Championships in Gaithersburg on October 18.