On September 7, the boys and girls cross country teams competed in their first meet, the Spiked Shoe Invite at Stevenson University. A total of seventeen Linganore athletes competed. Overall, the Linganore girls team placed 10th out of 22 female teams and the Linganore boys team placed 16th out of 27 male teams.

All athletes ran five kilometers, or 3.1 miles. Most events are 5K races or three mile races. There were four races total–one for boys varsity, boys junior varsity, girls varsity, and girls junior varsity. After these four races, there were several college cross country races.

Caroline Perrone placed 14th out of 162 female varsity competitors, and was the only Linganore runner to receive a medal.

Ten girls competed in the varsity race: Abigail Parker, Caroline Perrone, Kelly Safsten, Mary Schmidt, Megan Plazinski, Molly Anderson, Nivea Logan, Olivia Myers, Rachel Hall, and Abby Hall.

Alex Kullgren, Class of 2023, had a surprisingly successful novice race, posting 18.45.  Any performance under 20 minutes is excellent for a first race.

Six boys competed in the varsity race: Carson Buck, Zachary Hunsaker, Jack Sears, Alex Kullgren, Marty Ratchford, Eli Etzler, along with Isaac Hanson who competed in the junior varsity race.

“I’m glad that this could be my first race with Linganore,” said Kullgren. “I’m definitely looking forward to the rest of the season.”

The cross country team started practice on August 14th, running on weekdays and Saturdays. Steve Musselman is girls head coach, and David Bly is assistant coach. Andres Wright is the boys head coach.  The boys were second in the state last year.  The girls were in the top 20 teams.

The next cross country meet will be at the Blazer Invite takes place on September 14 at Hood Utica Park at Hood College.