Zooming through competitors, our cross country team sought to continue to push themselves, and prevail in the Montgomery County Championship yesterday, after striding hard at the Coyote Run on October 15.

The Mills’ top seven boys had a strong showing yesterday in the Montgomery County Championship, all setting new personal records. Sophomore Harris Malik finished with the fastest time of all Watkins Mill boys, with a time of 18:54.

“I knew our top runner, [senior Rasheed Gaal] wasn’t going to run today, so I had to step up my game to fill his shoes,” Malik said. Prior to the race, Malik said that he wanted to run under 19 minutes, and that is exactly what he did.

The Lady ‘Rines had a strong showing as well, all setting personal records also. Senior Lisa Franco finished with the fastest time of all Watkins Mill girls, with a time of 21:06 and juniors Rhoda Miller, Shinel Mullings, Sara Durr and Marian Sankoh weren’t far behind, all finishing with times under 27 minutes. Freshman Jessica Cruz finished with a time of 25:44, showing that girls cross country seems to have a bright future, only losing one senior.

The boys suffered a tough loss in the Coyote Run, but finished strong with integrity.  Gaal, Malik, and sophomores Saul Flores, Selom Kalin and Joseph Clark did not want to stop short of their goals, all setting personal records. “We all ran competitively,” Clark said, “[The Coyote Run] went pretty well for us.”

Before the meet, Gaal said that he wanted to beat the school record of 17:00, and in the Coyote Run he got closer to his goal. Gaal ran a time of 18:36, 13 seconds faster than the previous meet. Although he was not able to run in the Montgomery County Championship, he will be back for the 3A South Regional meet.

The Lady ‘Rines did pretty well, they also set personal records. Franco was ahead of the pack with a time of 21:23. Miller wasn’t far behind with a time of 25:28. “What motivates us to keep running well is that we all continuously push each other,” Miller said, “ We all know it’s only going to help us in the long run once track season starts.”

The entire team will eventually go from setting personal records to breaking school records. Everybody come out and support ‘Rines cross country on November 5 here at the Mill as they will try to have another record breaking performance at the 3A South Regional meet!

Keep moving ‘Rines.

Gallery • 10 Photos

Selom Kalin

Girls cross country runs at the Coyote Invitational on October 15