Centennial Cross Country Races at the State Championship

Words: Jeramy Stavlas

Photos contributed by: Matthew Bryman and Madelyn Mielke

After outstanding performances at the county and regional championships, the Centennial cross country teams raced at the 3A Maryland State Championship on Saturday, November 9. The boys’ team placed second, while the girls’ team placed fifth.

Outstanding performances by freshman Antonio Camacho and junior Jake Cole, who placed sixth and seventh respectively, helped put the Eagles at the top of the 3A division, finishing second to River Hill High School. Joining Camacho and Cole, juniors Matthew Thomas and Andrew Bank both placed inside the top 20.

In the girls’ race, juniors Michelle Weaver and Katerina Talanova placed 24th and 25th respectively, to help the girls finish within the top five of the 20 schools who competed.

“We did very good,” Camacho said. “We really stepped up. Last year, nobody expected us to be all the way up here.”

In accordance to the girls’ fifth-place finish, sophomore Madelyn Mielke thinks the team will continue to get better year by year. “I expect us to continue to move up the ranks,” she said.

Coaches Robert Slopek and Kevin McCoy believe the program’s legacy will live on in the coming years. “We’ve set the precedence that we want to be one of the top two teams in the state,” Slopek said.

Despite losing two seniors on the boys’ Varsity team and three on the girls’, McCoy does not think that filling the gaps will be an issue. “The program, it just reloads year in and year out.”

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