Maryland State XC Championships 2010 Northwest’s Miller, Whitman’s Ryba take individual titles

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Northwest’s Miller, Whitman’s Ryba take individual titles
Walter Johnson tops boys’ standings, Whitman No. 1 among girls’ teams

Results Boys Girls Photos Boys Girls More Photos By John Roemer

By Kevin Spradlin
TriStateRunnur.com

PARKTON, Md., Nov. 13 – If there is a push to change the location of the Maryland high school cross country state championship, the effort has one less advocate in Anna Ryba.

The Whitman junior dominated the girls’ Class 4A state title run on Saturday at Hereford High School. The course is well-known due primarily to its infamous down-and-up dip early in Mile 2 and again towards the end of Mile 3. And Ryba liked it just fine.

“I love this course,” Ryba said after posting a winning time of 19 minutes and 16 seconds. Walter Johnson senior Anna Bosse was second in 19:39, followed by Thomas Johnson senior Savanna Plombon (19:51), Walter Johnson’s Camille Bouvet (19:52) and Whitman junior Alexandra Phillips (19:53).

Ryba led Whitman to the team title with 70 points. Northwest was second in the 17-team field with 84 points. Severna Park took third place with 104 points, followed by Broadneck (135) and Dulaney (162).

Anna Ryba Anna Bosse Savanna Plombon Camille Bouvet

Ryba said she didn’t spend much time over the past week developing a race strategy. Running is a rather simple sport, she said.

“I guess, (the goal was to) start like this,” Ryba said while demonstrating the motion of one foot forward at a time with a fluid, in-sync arm motion.

The dip, which runners go down and up early in the second mile and then again toward the end of the third and final mile wasn’t a concern to Ryba even though “it’s a scary hill.”

“I like hills,” the Whitman team leader said. “It’s a scary hill, but it felt good.”

Northwest senior Chris Miller ran a strategically sound race. Miller was in a group of four runners, along with Walter Johnson senior Nick Regan, Sherwood senior Kyle Tockman and Old Mill senior Cody Vernon to go through the 1-mile point in 5:13 – two seconds behind leaders Shane O’Donnell, an Annapolis senior, and North Point senior David Dickshinski. Westminster senior James Beacham, the Class 4A North Region champ, was in between the two packs in 5:12.

But by the 2-mile checkpoint, Miller trailed only Regan (10:49 to 10:50). Beacham was three seconds behind Miller while Churchill junior and Richard Montgomery senior Sam Martin hit the 2-mile mark in 11:06. O’Donnell had fallen another second behind the pair.

Regan led late in the third mile, even maintaining a 5-meter gap over Miller as the two worked their final ascent up the dip, covered the short ridge and turned left on a short downhill before heading behind the athletic fields. That’s when Miller took off.

“At the hill, I could tell he was starting to get tired,” Miller said. “I’ve been telling myself all week, ‘this is my last chance. I’ve got to give it everything I’ve got.’”

And he did, passing Regan with just a few hundred meters to go in the 3.0-mile event.

Miller’s Northwest team placed sixth among 21 complete teams with 216 points. Regan led Walter Johnson to the team title with 74 points. Churchill was second with 86 points, followed by Severna Park (171), Chesapeake-Aa (198) and Richard Montgomery (215).

Chris Miller Nick Regan Kyle Tockman Will Conway