STEVENSVILLE — A slightly longer distance, lots of water on the course and intermittent rain produced mixed results for the Trojans last week in a cross country meet hosted by Kent Island High School.
“I had some [runners] that improved their times and some that did not. It was a tough race but the kids were happy to have gotten it over with,” KCHS coach Patrick McColigan told The Evening Enterprise.
As an aside, he noted that the Trojans will return to the Terrapin Nature Park in Stevensville on Oct. 9, which will be an opportunity to gauge their improvement.
The Sept. 25 meet was another large one — 83 boys and 59 girls from the Mid-Shore, in addition to schools from Washington and Carroll counties.
For the third meet in a row, freshman Kato Swanson was the Trojans’ front-runner. He toured the 5,000-meter course in 19 minutes, 45 seconds, and was 24th overall.
On the girls side, Kent County’s top finisher was sophomore Janey Depp. She stopped the timer in 24:57, and placed 16th overall. Depp has lopped a full 4 minutes off her time from the first race Sept. 11 on her home course.
Manchester Valley senior Elizabeth Szybalski won the girls race in 19:44, and was the only girl to break 20 minutes.
Runner-up was Smithsburg senior Cora Gentzel (20:17), who is the defending Class 1A state champion.
The first seven girls into the chute were from western Maryland schools Manchester Valley and Smithsburg.
In the team scoring, Smithsburg, the 2023 state champion, led the way with 31 points. All five scorers finished in the top 14, and four of them were in the top seven.
With three runners in the top six, Manchester Valley was a close second with 45 points.
Queen Anne’s was third with 63 points, with Addison Holden (23:05), Riley Coleman (23:22), Faith Gordon (23:24) and RJ Ensor (24:18) following one another into the chute in 10th, 11th, 12th and 13th.
Kent Island (105) was next, boasting the top Mid-Shore performer in sophomore Olivia Redgraves (eighth, 22:35).
Cambridge-South Dorchester (130) and Kent County (148) completed the scoring for schools that brought full teams.
Manchester Valley seniors Logan Amis (16:42) and Gavin Boer (16:44) battled for first in the boys race. Teammate Jackson Zahn was fourth in 17:33, helping the Mavericks (40) to the team victory.
Led by seniors Giovanni Aguirre (18:06, eighth) and Caleb Heater (18:18, ninth), host Kent Island was second with 53 points.
Cambridge-SD (72) was third and Smithsburg was fourth (78), followed by Clear Spring (137), Queen Anne’s (166) and Kent County (172).
Cambridge senior Tekai Drummond (17:34, fifth) was the top finisher from the Shore.
Printed here are Kent County’s results
GIRLS: Janey Depp, 24:57, 16th; Alden Swanson, 26:07; Jordana Capp, 32:08; McKenzie Smith, 33:01; and Sydney Bortz, 44:28.
BOYS: Kato Swanson, 19:45, 24th; Ashton Dean, 21:34; Andrew Buckel, 22:47; Lynden Saunders, 23:48; Dalton Smith, 28:14; and Austin Sengprasert-Galan, 29:20, who was making his cross country debut.
This week the Trojans travel to Winter Place Park in Salisbury for the Tidewater Fall Classic.
