Rams miss out on state championship

Rams miss out on state championship
Bad weather prevented team from competing in Class 1A West Region meet
Coach Steve Cosner: ‘This was a tough season’

By Kevin Spradlin
TriStateRunnur.com

OAKLAND, Md., Feb. 22 - The Maryland High School Indoor Track Championship meets begin today with 1A and 2A classifications.

The competition typically includes a few athletes from Southern Garrett High School in Oakland. But as the westernmost high school in the state, inclement weather has prevented the Rams roster of 14 girls and 12 boys from even being considered.

Southern Garrett was unable to complete the 123-mile trek from Oakland to Hagerstown Community College to compete for the Class 1A West Region Championship on Feb. 17 - its final date after three postponements due to bad weather. The meet originally was scheduled for Jan. 30 - a day the Rams’ team bus had gone as far as Cumberland, roughly the halfway point - before the meet was canceled because of several inches of new snow.

“We turned around at Willowbrook Road,” said veteran Southern Garrett coach Steve Cosner. “I thought when we hit the Allegany County line, the weather’d get better. I called (the meet director). He said we’re going to have to cancel” because officials in multiple jurisdictions across the state had implemented the snow emergency plan.

Being in far Western Maryland, “that’s something we go into (the season) quite aware that it might happen,” Cosner said of the Rams, who have competed during the indoor season for just three years. “Of course, there was some disappointment, but they seemed to take it well. It wasn’t really a surprise. This was a tough season.”

The Rams turned around, about 60 miles from the first chance to compete since Dec. 30 at the Mountain Express Holiday high school meet, also in Hagerstown.

On Feb. 17 when the Class 1A West Region meet was finally contested, Cosner said there wasn’t much hope for Southern Garrett to travel.

“We decided the weather was too bad for us to go,” Cosner said, noting it was a joint decision between school and board of education officials. “We had to leave too early in the morning … we didn’t want to risk those kids’ safety.”

Teams from Frederick County received special permission to compete despite not being in school that day. Washington County schools opened two hours late that day - which, according to coaches from two schools there, gave student-athletes “only three minutes” at school before getting on a bus to travel to Hagerstown Community College.

If the times from the Dec. 30 and Dec. 18 meets are any indication, at least a couple of Southern Garrett athletes stood a reasonable chance of being good enough to advance to the state meet.

“Our best chance for a person to go to state,” Cosner said, was senior Samantha Taylor. “I think she would have made it.”

Taylor had drawn praise from friends and rivals alike in the Dec. 18 meet when, competing against larger schools from Washington and Frederick counties, she placed second in the 55-meter hurdles in 9.74 seconds. Walkersville’s Chelsea Young won in 9.73.

Twelve days later, Taylor slipped to a third-place finish - but lowered her time to 9.64 on the HCC floor. Cosner said Taylor also would have had a shot at qualifying for the state meet in the pole vault.

Other than Taylor, Cosner said junior Lindsey Smith stood an “outside chance” at qualifying in the 1,600-meter run. Smith’s best time - of only two performances measured this season - was a 6:09.25 on Dec. 30. It might have been an interesting qualifying race for Williamsport junior Ashley Goge, who, by finishing fourth in 6:02.9, wrapped up the final qualifying spot from Class 1A West in the event. Goge began the day with a seed time of 6:11.

Cosner said Sunday the Garrett County public school system had been closed for nine consecutive days and that he hadn’t seen his athletes much since the Dec. 30 meet. In the six weeks since, his athletes had been dedicated to completing his workouts - be it yoga, treadmill running or Wii Fit video game - and marking their time on a web-based training log.

“(Monday) may be the first day I get to see ‘em,” Cosner said.

The longtime cross country and track coach said his thoughts already have turned toward the outdoor track season. The start of practice is just a week away on March 1.

“I can’t wait,” Cosner said.

Email Kevin at run@mountainMDmarathon.org.