Words: Sarah Paz

On Saturday, November 10, the Centennial Boys’ and Girls’ Cross Country teams raced in MPSSAA 3A State Cross Country Championships.

The Centennial Boys’ Cross Country team won first place, ending with a score of 87, which is determined by adding the places of the first five runners. They crushed the second place team, Linganore High School by 39 points and the third place team Towson High School by 52 points.

Senior Justin Ziegler crossed the finish line in 17:21, earning 12th place. Just three seconds later, sophomore Jacob Cole earned 14th place, followed by seniors Chris Bieberich, David Riina, Jason Kraisser, Zachary Deming and Ryan Erle. Ziegler, Cole, Bieberich, Riina and Kraisser won a medal signifying that they placed in the top twenty five.

The Centennial Girls’ Cross Country team won third place, dominating other Howard County schools such as Atholton High School and Mount Hebron High School. Northern Calvert High School won first place.

The team consisted of seniors Alison Betler, Cora Blount, Christina Stavlas, Caroline Shimeall, junior Apoorva Ajith and sophomores Katerina Talanova and Michelle Weaver.

The Centennial Girls’ Cross Country team ran around 10am, while the Centennial boys ran around 11am. The race was on a sunny but cool morning, which is often considered as the ideal weather for running a successful race. Though Hereford’s course is known for being extremely difficult, all runners persevered and contributed to the success of both teams.

For the seniors, many are sad that this is their last cross country race and they celebrated their successes at the cross country banquet that occurred on November 12.

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