This past Saturday, Richard Montgomery Cross Country had their second invitational meet of the season at the Maryland Track and Trail meet in Elkton, Maryland. Although the intense heat was not in any way ideal, and both the girl’s and boy’s teams had to deal with missing key runners, this meet showed that RM Cross Country will have a season worth watching.

The course, run at the Fair Hill Racetrack, hosts a 5,000 meter race that is composed of mostly flat land with two significant downhills and a few gradual uphills. Athletes run mostly on the racetrack and surrounding grassy areas, but there is also a portion of the course run through a path in a forest. However, this typically easy course proved to be difficult due to the extreme heat and lack of cloud cover. Runners competing from all schools had trouble dealing with these conditions, as the extended exposure to direct overhead sunlight made dehydration a common problem. The conditions of the race likely attributed to the varied performance of RM athletes in this early meet.

Aside from the conditions, the RM Cross Country team also took a hit, having lost some of its best runners. The girls team, still coping with the losses of Sophie El-Masry and Cynthia Kipserem, was also missing its best runner on the team this year, junior Nefret El-Masry. Despite remaining healthy, Nefret El-Masry was unable to attend for personal reasons. Still, the RM girls were led by freshman Michelle Campano and junior Jasmine De La Vega, both of which medaled. Managing to finish as the sixth school overall out of the 14 schools comprising the large school girls race, the team demonstrated their depth despite their recent setbacks. The top five finishers for Richard Montgomery included Michelle Campano (20), Jasmine De La Vega (22), Emma Bassett (36), Madeline Cheng (38) and Alena Spencer (41).

The boy’s team has also had its own share of issues coming to this season, as promising sophomore Mark Unger is out for the season with an injury. Showing off his incredible potential during the outdoor track season this past spring, Unger’s entrance into cross country was highly anticipated. However, while training for nationals he was injured. The team was also missing junior Joachim El-Masry, who, along with his sister, could not attend. The boy’s team still had their leader, star senior Rohann Asfaw. He once again won this race in dominant fashion at 16:10.60, 21 seconds ahead of the second place finisher and 35 seconds ahead of third place. The boy’s team also produced encouraging times from freshman Garrett Suhr and senior Philip Miljanic. Both Suhr and Miljanic medaled, finishing in tenth and fifteenth place, respectively. The top 5 finishers included Rohann Asfaw (1), Garrett Suhr (10), Philip Miljanic (15), Nicholas Olano (41) and Nathaniel Stucky (50). In the past few weeks, Miljanic has emerged as one of the team’s best distance runners after starting his high school running career as a hurdler for the outdoor track team. Suhr, on the other hand, has been expected to be a significant member of the cross country team since his days as a middle schooler. He, along with Unger and Joachim El-Masry, seem to be the leaders of Richard Montgomery boy’s Cross Country for the coming years.

Despite the poor conditions of this meet, the tough, gritty performances of all the runners on both of Richard Montgomery’s Cross Country teams showed that this season will be one to keep an eye on.