XC finishes near bottom at regional meet


Nov. 8, 2002, midnight | By Zach Mellman | 21 years, 4 months ago


The girls' cross country team finished ninth and the boys finished tenth out of the 11 teams in Division 4A in the regional meet at the Rockville Civic Center on Oct 31, Blair's last meet of the year.

With a score of 242, the girls' team defeated Watkins Mill and Springbrook high schools. The boys had a comparable score of 243 as they defeated Springbrook. Quince Orchard High School placed first for girls, and Damascus High School placed first for boys.

The meet was highlighted by the performance of senior Laurel Jefferson, the girls' top runner. Tied for first place at the 1.5 mile mark, Jefferson dropped to fifth place by the end of the race but still finished with a spectacular time of 20:43. Jefferson qualified for the state meet on Nov 9 at Hereford High School in Baltimore County. She finished third overall when she ran in States as a sophomore and hopes to do well again at the state meet this year after finishing poorly last season.

Junior Matt Sheldon earned the boys' best time of 18:29 and placed 25th overall, only six positions behind the score required to qualify for States.

Sheldon was disappointed with the season as a whole. "Earlier in the year we had a lot of promise, but we never fulfilled our potential," he said.

The area sniper shootings forced the cancellation of all meets and practices over a three-week span in October. Due to the location of the shootings and Blair's proximity to the Beltway, many Blazers were also deterred from practicing on their own. "They lost some conditioning," said Coach Angelique Bosse.

Bosse believes that the future of the team looks bright because of Blair's large number of underclassmen.



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Zach Mellman. Zach Mellman was born on October 18, 1956 (he was held back once or twice). He has lived in Takoma Park, Maryland his entire life. He is currently a senior at Blair enrolled in honors classes. He is also a member of Blair's golf team, … More »

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