Calvert Hall, AACS Win Cross Country Titles

By: Zach Seidel

Archbishop Spalding's Zach Sullivan repeated as Maryland Interscholastic Athletic Association A Conference individual champion, and two of his teammates also finished in the top 10, but it wasn't enough to hold off Calvert Hall from winning a second consecutive conference championship Wednesday at Oregon Ridge Park.

Calvert Hall ended up with 42 points to beat Spalding (51). The Cardinals also had beaten Spalding in a recent head-to-head duel.

Sullivan finished the course in 15:55, easily beating out Calvert Hall's Chris Swisko, who ended up 16 seconds behind at 16:11. The Cavaliers made a good push as J.R. Spencer finished third, five seconds after Swisko, in 16:16, and Ryan Topita finished sixth (16:44).

But it was depth that hurt Spalding. Dean Mertz finished 14th (17:23) and Damian Garcia rounded out the Cavaliers' Top 5 in 30th (18:03). However, the Cardinals' lowest finisher was A.J. Velletta (17th), and Calvert Hall had Nick Rowe end up fifth in 16:35, Sean Caskey took eighth (16:49) and Kenny Motsay was tenth (17:16).

The B Conference also featured another repeat winner as Annapolis Area Christian School easily handled St.John's to run away with the title.

St. John's was led by B Conference individual champion Taylor McDowell who finished in 16:55. Four of the Eagles' five scorers finished in the top 10 to give them the easy victory.

David Crout was the top scorer for AACS (fourth, 17:59). Other Eagles in the Top 10 were Shawn Kauffman (sixth, 18:26) Austin Hankinson (eighth, 18:30), Will Kang (10th, 18:37) and George Yates (11th, 18:41) to give AACS the title with 39 points.
St. John's took second with 75 points.

Posted November 7, 2008