Alexandria City Cross Country Championships Recap
Devin Kohout
Saturday, October 12, T.C.’s performance was entirely dominant as they came out victorious in all races as a team at the Joe Halm Memorial City Cross Country Championships, which took place at Episcopal High School.
Four races occurred: Boys Junior Varsity (JV) at 8:00am, Girls JV at 8:30am, Girls Varsity at 9:30am followed by Boys Varsity at 10:00am.
Prior to the boys JV race, T.C. sophomore Cameron Riccio was expected to come out on top.
“I knew I was favored to win, but victory wasn’t going to come to me easily,” said Riccio.
The race was lead by three of T.C.’s runners, junior Zach Fuhrman, freshman Malik Kunata and Riccio. The three of them ran side by side, stride for stride, up until about the last 200 meters of the race. Riccio pulled away and took first with a time of 18:17 followed closely by Kunata and Fuhrman.
“I felt as if I had accomplished something meaningful, something significant …I felt powerful, fast,” says Riccio.
All of T.C.’s top 7 runners finished in the top 11 overall in the Boys JV race.
The Girls JV race was dominated even more so by T.C. athletes with the top 7 overall being from T.C. The winner of the race was freshman Sophie Moran with a time of 22:01. Moran was head of the pack for the entirety of the race, and maintained a comfortable lead throughout.
The Girls Varsity race came next. None of the 7 runners from T.C. were individually victorious, however as a team they won the race with all of their runners finishing in the top 12 overall. Sophomore Grace Glade crossed the finish line first for T.C. and third overall, with a time of 20:15.
The runner finishing in first was senior Alli Boehm of Episcopal. From start to finish it was evident that she would come away with the individual win as she finished with an astonishing time of 18:58 and was nearly an entire minute faster than second place.
The Boys Varsity race turned out much like the girls varsity did, with T.C.’s team winning the team championship, but none of their runners winning the race individually. Junior Nathan Bezuneh of Saint Stephens Saint Agnes, finished first overall in the boys varsity race with a time of 16:59.
Sophomore Eyosyas Damte finished first for T.C. with a time of 17:17, faster than any T.C. competitor from the previous year. All of T.C.’s runners finished in the top 14, solidifying the win for the team and the complete sweep in all races.
Due to current construction on the campus, the course had to be changed. The lack of elevation allowed runners to finish at a faster pace. Roughly half of all competitors in all four races at the event achieved a personal record (PR).
“… Getting a PR felt great because I pushed myself and worked hard for it.” said T.C. senior Evan Larsen.
Larsen improved his time by just over a minute, which is massive in cross country.
“… It felt so good to be able to be part of the top 10 in my race,” said Larsen.
Runners who compete in the city championships feel as though this event stands out compared to others. Runners from T.C. especially take pride in competing as the only public school and dominating the event on all fronts so consistently.
“City [championships] is a lot smaller than most invitationals since it’s local, so there are more friends and family members cheering,” said T.C. senior Eliza Medearis.
There are also plenty of memories people have made through this event.
Overall, this year’s Cross Country City Championships were very exciting and full of great performances and experiences to remember.
T.C. Varsity boys and girls will be competing at the Regional Championships at Burke Lake Park on Thursday, November 7. Girls at 1:00pm and boys right after at 1:30pm.
