The Cardinals return to EHS next week vying for the 2010 City championship
The Bishop Ireton cross country team took to the hills of the Oatlands Plantation this past weekend as they competed alongside 80 plus teams from the DC metro area and beyond. This huge invitational, always a highlight of the season, drew a huge crowd of spectators as runners faced a beautiful course peppered with huge hills and stream crossings. Times were much slower this season due to the warm temperatures but the races remained competitive as the Cardinals battled it out with some of the area’s heavyweights.
The morning session was reserved for the JV races which were split into an upperclassmen race and an underclassmen race. In the JV underclassmen girls race the Cardinals were led by sophomore Katarina Frustaci who ran her way back into the top seven with her strong performance. She was followed by Loren Gant, Kelsey O’Hern, Riley Lopez, Catherine Schreiber and Maria Manzek. Jack Leyden led the Cardinals during the underclass boys race and he was followed by Steven Gottlieb, Michael LoGrande, Sean Pili and Conor Padden. The boys finished 18th out of 61 teams while the ladies finished 20th out of 31.
In the JV upperclassmen division, the Ireton ladies were led by Erin Beckman. Filling out the top five were Mary Johnson, Eva Irwin, Emily Georgieff, and Katarina Axenfeld. In the boys race Arthur Stier led the way as he and both Kevin Corcoran and Sam Ferrara ran their way back onto the varsity roster for the City Championship. Filling out the top five were Alex Carpenter and Chris Adelson. The ladies finished 20th out of 31 teams and the boys finished 4th out of 54 teams.
In the final races of the day, the top seven racers from Ireton’s boys and girls squads dealt with the midday heat as they squared off against the likes of crosstown rival TC Williams and Bishop O’Connell. In the ladies race the Cardinals were led by Aubrey Gartlan once again as she was followed by Alex Georgi, Shannon Gordon, Marin Nolan, Sarah Fyffe, Margaret Nealon and freshman Annie Barletta. The Ireton ladies finished 28th out of 46 teams. In the boys race, Liam O’Connor paced the Cardinals with his 22nd place finish. He was followed by Mike Andersen, Nick Manzek, Murphy Costigan, Dan Burns and Conor Pearson. The varsity boys finished 9th out of 57 teams.
Next Thursday, October 7th, is the date for the annual Alexandria City Championship held at Episcopal High School. The Ireton harriers will be facing off against their neighborhood rivals TC Williams, Episcopal and St. Stephen’s/St. Agne’s. Since the meet is much smaller than the large invitationals most schools have attended so far this season, the action is a little more intense and placing plays a large role in the outcome of the meet. “This isn’t a meet where you can fall into the pack and hold back in order to finish strong at the line” explains Coach Brad Byrnes. “From the sound of the gun until the finish line these athletes will be fighting for position as the team results can come down to one or two racers and two or three points can separate first and second place. I predict some great racing next Thursday and I expect a large group of loud spectators. The best part about this championship is the atmosphere and how intense it can get…it’s going to be a lot of fun”.
The varsity races kick off at 4pm so if you’d like to see some great racing between these Alexandria city schools, swing by Episcopal HS next Thursday afternoon and support your Cardinal cross country team.
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