On Friday, Oct. 15, the boys and girls cross country teams traveled to Boonsboro for the CMC Championships. The meet featured all of the teams in Frederick County in addition to several Washington County schools.

The meet was held at Boonsboro High School which many athletes consider to be a ‘fast’ course. This effectively means that competing athletes run some of their fastest times on this particular course.

It was a warm afternoon for a race and some of the athletes believe the 80 degree temperature impacted how they ran in the race. Middletown’s Quinn Sullivan said that he “felt the heat but there were largely good conditions otherwise.”

Sullivan ran his fastest time ever by a whopping 30 second margin. His previous fastest mark was set in their last meet at MDXC at Shawan Downs. He ran an 18:49 in the three mile race, placing 46th overall and 12th in the Gambrill division.

Giovanni Rossi also posted a personal best time in the CMC meet with a 19:37. Rossi also finished notably in 18th place amongst the Gambrill division. While he was largely happy with his own performance and that of his teammates, Rossi was “a little disappointed we weren’t announced in the top three teams.”

MHS has a lot of young athletes making major contributions to the team. One of the most notable young runners on this team is freshman Asher White. It is White’s first season ever participating in cross country, and he has managed a rather successful campaign on varsity. His performance at the CMC meet was the highest on the depth chart that he’s been thus far this season, and he looks to climb further with the county meet coming up Thursday, Oct. 28.

Middletown was just six points away from placing second in the Gambrill division. Brunswick, Boonsboro, and Catoctin were the three teams that were able to edge the Knights. 

Boonsboro and Catoctin tied for second in the meet with 80 points each. Middletown was close behind them with 85 points.

The Knights have felt the loss of senior Luke McLister due to injury by way of stress fractures in both of his shins. He had been running some great times earlier in the season that likely would have positioned him well in this meet. 

The boys team placed fourth of six teams in the Gambrill division and had some great season record times for several of their runners.

The girls team was led by Campbell Caldwell and Erin McQuitty in fourth and fifth places respectively. Both Caldwell and McQuitty were able to finish in under 21 minutes despite the race conditions being less than ideal.

Breanne Vandre and Emma Brull were the third and fourth runners for Middletown in eleventh and twelfth place respectively for the Gambrill division.

The girls were dominant over the competition, out dueling second place Boonsboro. They had 35 points, sweeping the Gambrill division by 12 points.