Printer-Friendly
Email this Story
Post a Comment (0)
Tiger girls hoping for national bid in cross country
There is something on Brentsville District’s side.What else explains the fact that the girls’ varsity cross country team lost its two best runners from last season, filled their gaps with runners who did not even compete on the team in 2007 and are now setting their sights on the Nike national championship meet in Oregon?
Call it a combination of ambition and talent.
Take lead runner Maggie Gentry. The 17-year-old senior ran cross country for head coach Rob Dulin as a freshman and sophomore but opted to concentrate on track in her junior year. Now she’s back to help claim the state title that eluded the girls by a mere two points last season in their silver-medal appearance.
“I think she ran in the shadow of some other girls,” said Dulin of Gentry, referring particularly to alums Becky Stewart (Class of 2007) and Amelia Emerson (2008). “She was just a little kid kind of along for the ride. Now, it’s the other way around.”
Make no bones about it: When asked if the 2008 team is Gentry’s team, Dulin simply hummed, “Mhmm” as he sipped water out of a plastic bottle during team practice Monday in Nokesville.
“I’m not trying to be Becky. I’m not trying to be Amelia,” reckoned Gentry, adding that she’s not a “team-hugging, huggy-best-friend” type of person like her predecessors.
Not that the old approach didn’t work out; second in states is no small accomplishment. But this year’s ace simply wants to set “good examples by working hard,” like running 70 miles in a single week as part of her training regiment.
She’ll be joined on the varsity A-list by Allison Bartels, Lauren Bussian, Sarah Earman, Caitlin Hoffman, Kelsey Ostergren and Morgan Price when the season begins next month.
The junior Bartels, who is so far the second-fastest on the team, has noticed this year’s leaders run consistently well with each other.
“I actually think it’s the fact that the top five are a lot closer together in times,” she said, noting her teammates do not split up by large distances too much.
Dulin can attest to that claim. For 17 years, he has had his teams run intra-squad races during the pre-season and said his 2008 girls just set a record with the fastest girls’ time by five seconds, “which is a pretty substantial amount of time,” he said.
And that includes times made by eight state championship teams.
But what makes the current Brentsville crop stand out is its depth. Even the team captain, senior Ashby Gaines, is among other A-listers like Jessica Gausmann, Jill Marianos and Courtney McGowan still competing for a spot on the varsity team.
Price, a sophomore, and junior Caitlin Hoffman have been two of the biggest surprises of the pre-season, according to Gentry and Bartels. Price’s strength has improved greatly since her rookie year, the two reported, while Hoffman has “worked real hard this summer and she’s keeping up with us, even,” said Gentry.
She and Bartels concur with Dulin’s assessment that the 2008 Brentsville team has potential to strike it rich on a national level.
“I don’t know about you, but I want to go to Nike,” said Bartels to Gentry.
“Personally, I want to win states,” said the senior about her personal and team ambitions. “There’s no reason we shouldn’t. We have the talent.”
You must be logged in to post a comment.