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Boys and Girls Cross Country Win Small Schools State Champs
The St. Andrew’s boys and girls’ cross country teams had a banner day on Saturday at the Maryland Small Schools State championship held at Georgetown Prep as both teams took home state titles. The girls’ team, led by sophomore Ally Mitchell, defeated runner up Rockbridge Academy by eight points to earn their title. Mitchell was also the girls’ individual champion. In the boys’ race, St. Andrew’s placed its top four runners in the top ten to defeat Jewish Day School and five other schools.
It was the girls’ first state title since 2017 and its 14th since 2002. For the boys, it was their first title since 2013 and its seventh over the course of the past eighteen years.
Senior captain Thomas Casasola paced the Lions to their first state title since 2013 with a personal best. His third place finish in 18:00 for 5 km also earned him All-State honors for the second time in three years. Sophomore Harrison Kehler was next across the line in 18:08. His fifth place showing added All-State to his running resume along with his All-MAC accolades from earlier in the season. Sophomore Charlie Ryan finished eighth overall in 18:18 in the 50 runner race to take home All-State honors in his first season competing for St. Andrew’s. Sophomore Jack McCloy joined the All-State party as well with his 10th place run in 18:33, a personal best time.
Freshman Alex Myler, after struggling at the MAC Championship two weeks prior, notched a personal best time of 19:20 to round out the scoring for the Lions. Freshman Tyler Povinelli (18th – 19:24) and senior captain Nick Tsintolas (20th – 19:51) were the final varsity finishers for St. Andrew’s.
In the Varsity B race, junior Stephen Speyer earned medalist honors with his 13th place finish in 20:08 to lead St. Andrew’s to a fifth place team performance.
The girls’ team, which had finished fourth last year at the State meet, was propelled to the 2019 title by Mitchell, who was the Maryland Small Schools individual state champion for the second year in a row. Mitchell finished 26 seconds ahead of her next competitor to take home the victory.
The Lions were helped by All-State performances from sophomore Shannon O’Grady and senior Annabel Resor. O’Grady’s sixth place finish in 22:50 and Resor’s seventh place showing in 23:04 combined with Mitchell’s individual victory secured the title for St. Andrew’s despite Rockbridge placing its top four runners in the top ten of the 26 runner race.
Sophomores Jennifer Kitchen (12th – 23:46) and Caroline Hundley (14th – 24:05) were the final two scorers for the Lions. Senior Sarah Schwartz (20th – 26:11) and junior Michelle Qin (24th – 28:20) were the other varsity finishers for the team.
St. Andrew’s Episcopal School is a private, coeducational college preparatory day school for students in preschool (Age 2) through grade 12, located in Potomac, Maryland.