The Wootton boys ran hard, ran smart, and truly gave Richard Montgomery a scare in an effort to defend their home turf today, but the RM boys collected themselves late in the race and got the victory. The race was not nearly as easy as the score of 23 to 33 indicates.

It was fantastic fun to watch this race unfold from atop the Frost Middle School athletic fields. I've long heard about the brutal Wootton home course, but I never made my way out to a dual meet there until now. With a pretty big hill that is repeated twice and a very large hill that is repeated three time, there's no doubt about the course's brutality, and with the heat and humidity today being worse than it has been in several days, no outcome would have surprised me.

The RM boys pulled the pack out hard early, taking all of the top seven spots when they first hit the large hill. Over the course of the first mile, RM's Sam Martin, James McNamara, and Jeremy Batt had the top three spots with Luke Smith of Wootton close behind in fourth.

Entering the large hill for the second time, Jack McCullough of RM had the fifth spot followed by four Wootton runners. As the runners crested the hill, a shift occurred and the race changed in the blink of an eye. Around a field of practicing football players, Smith moved into third place ahead of Batt, breaking up the potential 1-2-3 sweep by RM. Two Wootton runners, and then four Wootton runners swallowed up McCullough for fifth, sixth, seventh, and eighth places.

The runners looped around the middle school and back down to the field level where the coaches were. If the RM runners were unaware of how the race was unfolding, their coaches let them know about it when they passed by. This may have "woken up" the RM guys.

With less than a mile to go, Batt worked his way back up to Smith and passed him. He worked his way back up to his teammates and the three cruised home to take the 1-2-3 sweep of the top spots. McNamara edged out Martin 18:02 to 18:04. McCullough also regained his composure on the final mile, putting most of the Wootton runners behind him and only losing to Smith and Will Severynse.

Wootton showed some heart, but RM flexed its muscles and got the win.

The Wootton girls did what they were supposed to do. They defeated RM 15 to 46. Jessie Rubin won in 19:52.

Girls:  Wootton 15  RM 46
1.  Jessie Rubin       W       19:52
2.  Andrea Maxwell   W       21:40
3.  Amy Levine         W       22:05
4.  Madeline Rico     W       22:29
5.  Karen Cohen       W       22:37
6.  Fatima Resendiz     RM     23:22
7.  Abby Titmas       RM      23:34
8.  Abby Peller         W       23:44
9.  Emma Tolerton    RM     24:15
10.  Cara Lahr          W       24:22
 
Boys:  RM 23  Wootton 33
1.  James McNamara      RM    18:02
2.  Sam Martin                RM    18:04
3.  Jeremy Batt               RM     18:10
4.  Luke Smith                 W      18:27
5.  Will Severynse            W      18:38
6.  Jack McCullough        RM    18:46
7.  Kenny Wohl                W      18:50
8.  Christian Haudenschild W    18:54
9.  David Levine                W      19:16
10.  Handson Wu             W      19:26