IAAM Preview: Sept. 23, 2008

By: Jeff Seidel

The IND cross country team will have a chance to make some noise in this weekend’s Bull Run Invitational at Hereford.

They are scheduled to run in the Small Schools division on Saturday and, led by Sarah Steinmetz, Maddy Jackson and others, could make a good showing in one of the season’s toughest races. Since they’re an IAAM B Conference school, they sometimes get overshadowed by A Conference teams, but the Indians have depth.

They ran their best race of the season last fall at the right time and pulled out the B Conference team title. This year, IND still has a lot of talent left and should do well again.

But they’ll be running against some good schools, like McDonogh and Spalding. McDonogh is led by Jo Baird, one of the area’s top runners, and the Eagles have plenty of talent.

Maryvale and Annapolis Area Christian School also will be running in this division.

BOUNCING BACK

Garrison Forest is trying to recover from last week’s tough 3-1 loss to Class 3A state champion Fallston--and the Grizzlies took a good first step on Monday.

They pulled out a 1-0 victory over Spalding; the first part of a busy week where Garrison Forest is set to face Bryn Mawr and Notre Dame Prep.

Injuries have slowed the Grizzlies in the early days of this season, but they’re off to a 7-1 start and were perfect in the conference (5-0) after the Spalding victory.

Now the Grizzlies will look to regain their health and get a few more victories.

KEEPING BUSY

McDonogh soccer coach Maurice Boylan, Jr. has always wanted his Eagles to play a tough schedule. Unlike some coaches of good teams, Boylan feels that the more his team is tested, the better it gets.

The Eagles will run into a few more of those exams this week. McDonogh (7-0) is scheduled to play Archbishop Spalding (6-0-1) in an IAAM A Conference battle on Tuesday down in Anne Arundel County.

McDonogh then hosts Mount de Sales on Thursday before taking on a tough Severna Park team at home on Saturday.

The stingy McDonogh defense has led the way so far this season, and the Eagles will continue to rely on them throughout the fall.

Posted September 23, 2008