On Saturday, the first cool morning of autumn, 3,000 cross-country runners from Maryland, D.C., West Virginia, Pennsylvania, Virginia and Delaware attempted to tame the monster hills at the 11th annual Bull Run Invitational. Held at Hereford High in northern Baltimore County, home of the state championships, the three-mile course is known as one of the hardest around due to its steep inclines.
Kristen Malloy, a sophomore at Hereford, had the best day of any female runner at the prestigious meet. Malloy?s time of 18:40 smashed the previous record of 18:52 set by Karen Pulliam of Quince Orchard (Montgomery County) in 2000. After leading her team to a fourth-place finish in the elite race, Malloy was still all smiles after the awards presentations.
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“It feels awesome,” Malloy said. “Nothing could upset me now. I?m on cloud nine.”
Rounding out the rest of the elite top five were Blair?s Halsey Sinclair (19:25), Severna Park?s Kelsey Hill (19:34), Mount Hebron?s Liz McCarter (19:41) and Centennial?s Angeli Sivaraman (19:51).
In team standings, Severna Park finished first with 72 points, while C. Milton Wright(108), Dulaney (125), Hereford (147) and Seton Keough (158) followed.
“We are fortunate,” Severna Park coach Ed Purpura said. “We have a great amount of talent, and they are great and wonderful kids. And none are seniors.”
In the elite male race, Archbishop Spalding senior Robert Wetzel won easily in 16:03, finishing 20 seconds ahead of the runner-up and just two seconds off the course record. Wetzel led his team to a third-place finish with 121 points.
“Tough,” Wetzel said. “[The course is] very, very tough mentally as well as physically. We ran hills all summer to get prepared.”
The rest of the elite top five were Atholton?s Andrew Revelle (16:23), Archbishop Curley?s Erick Anderson (16:23), Atholton?s Graham Bazelle (16:37) and Bethesda-Chevy Chase?s Elias Towsley (16:41).
In team standings, Gaithersburg finished first with 99 points, followed by Loyola-Blakefield (112), Archbishop Spalding, Mount St. Joseph (156) and South River (157).
