Richard Montgomery’s cross country teams raced hard on Wootton’s tough course this past Wednesday. The final divisional meet of the season for the runners was a tri-meet, featuring runners from RM, Wootton and Churchill. Although the results did not seem desirable on paper, this was another meet in which runners succeeded through strategy.

Looking back to the Track and Trail Invitational meet on September 10th, this was the cross country team’s’ fifth race in just over two and a half weeks. Therefore, Coaches Davy Rogers and Dave Warren understood that the team’s key runners needed rest if they were to perform well in the quickly approaching championship season (starting October 22nd). In order to ensure enough rest days, the coaches opted to pull the varsity runners out of the races altogether, instead sending them on a lighter workout in the area surrounding Wootton High. This also meant that runners who had not been competing with varsity athletes this season would have a chance to step up and race the best runners from the other schools. Despite the brave effort of these athletes, the other schools dominated this race as expected. However it sets RM up for a deep run into championship season, while also allowing the coaches to scout talent for the years to come.

Wootton’s 5,000 meter course is arguably the most difficult course Richard Montgomery’s cross country team has raced this season. The course is comprised of a tough loop which runners complete three times. The loop features a daunting hill that can easily throw off any runner’s race, and is then followed by a small, but steep, uphill towards the end that can catch runners off guard. The lone downhill of the course can be extremely beneficial to an athlete’s race, but is also very dangerous. The downhill runs through a wooded area full of exposed tree roots and significant ditches. In addition to the difficulty of the course, it was not helped by the fact that it had been raining the entire day and was still drizzling during the race. These conditions, both of the weather and of the course itself, made it clear to all runners that one wrong step and their season could very easily be over.

The girls, who were without junior Nefret El-Masry, freshman Michelle Campano, Jasmine De La Vega, and the rest of their varsity runners were instead led by senior Madeleine Cheng (6) and freshmen Deeksha Sesha (32) and Aral Markert (35). Cheng has been recognized as one of the focal points of the girls’ team by Coach Rogers in the past few weeks. Sesha and Markert have both been pleasant surprises for the team, as Sesha has cut an incredible seven minutes off her 5000 m time since the start of the season in order to put her on the fence between varsity and junior varsity. Markert has battled her way back from an ankle injury in order to become competitive, even after only starting her season about a month late in mid-September, and ran a powerful race.

The boys team was also without its usual varsity runners, including senior Rohann Asfaw, freshman Garrett Suhr, junior Joachim El-Masry, and senior Philip Miljanic. They were therefore led by junior Ian McBain, senior Amit Koppel, sophomore Del Wood, and freshman Sresth Viswanathan. McBain has worked hard to be consistently at the line between varsity and JV, while Koppel is still trying to return to his varsity form after missing the start of the season with an illness. McBain, who finished first for RM, commented: “I felt sick in the morning because of my allergies, but once I got to the meet, I was ready to run.” He attributed a large portion of his success to his race mentality, “I just try to keep a positive mindset and focus on running the best I can.” In addition, Wood and Viswanathan, both underclassmen, seem to have potential to be significant pieces of RMXC teams in years to come. Viswanathan has made notable improvements from the start of this season, dropping nearly three minutes from his time at RM time trials at BCC last week.

Richard Montgomery’s cross country teams were planning to run at the Octoberfest Invitational this Saturday, but that meet was canceled due to the same weather issues that made running even more difficult at the Wootton meet. Therefore, the Rockets and their rested legs will next be competing Saturday, October 8th, in the Glory Days invitational meet at Bull Run Regional Park in Virginia.