With his 11th place finish at the 3A state championship meet, Nick Simpson solidified himself as the best Einstein High School cross country runner in the last 20 years. Einstein was the punching bag of Montgomery County for quite a long time until they qualified for the state championship in 2007. Things will continue to get better for Einstein as Simpson and his teammate Ben Withbroe develop into experienced varsity runners. The talent was obvious from the beginning of the season when he ran 18:31 at the Magruder Invitational and 17:54 at his first home meet. He clocked a season best time of 17:12 to lead his team in a dual meet at Clarksburg. He was the runner up at the first ever Down County Consortium Championship in 18:36, 28th at the county championship in 17:21, 8th at the 3A West Region championship in 17:32, and 11th at the state championship in 18:03.
Ben Withbroe did not start the season nearly as fast as his teammate Nick Simpson, but he was right there with him at the end. He was 11th in the freshman race at the Magruder Invitational and did not break 19 minutes in a race in September. He had a break through race in a dual meet at Clarksburg, running under 19 minutes for the first time with a time of 17:54. He was fourth at the Down County Consortium Championship in 19:01 and then led the team at the county championship with a 26th place finish in 17:19. He and Simpson finished side by side with another runner at regionals in 17:32, taking 6th and 8th places. At the state championship, he finished 23rd in 18:17.
Aiden Pongrace did not appear on the scene until the end of September when he ran 18:19 at the Oatlands Invitational. Aside from the Georgetown Prep Fall "Mud" Classic which was contested under treacherous conditions, he ran the rest of his races under 18 minutes including 17:58 at Octoberfest, 17:35 at the IAC Championship where he placed 10th, and 17:19 at the MD-DC Private Schools State Championship where he placed 33rd. He was consistently the #2 runner on his team for the second half of the season.
Adam Brill was fifth on his team in 21:17 at the Musselman Invitational in late August. He steadily progressed in September before dropping times of 17:47 and 17:53 on some fast courses at the Tidewater Invitational and Glory Days Invitational. He was 13th overall and 2nd on his team in 18:20 at the IAC Championship. He was again second on his team in 17:58 at the MD-DC Private Schools State Championship where he placed 56th overall.
David Levine began the season with a win at the Magruder Invitational freshman race. He ran on his varsity top 7 the rest of the season. He dropped a time of 17:59 at a dual meet at Gaithersburg in mid-September and ran 18:33 at the Oatlands Invitational. He was 64th in 18:09 at the Montgomery County Championship and 39th in 18:17 at the 4A West Region Championship.
Wootton failed to qualify for the state championship meet for the sixth consecutive year. Like Einstein High School three years ago, the Wootton boys have seen better days, but with four boys from Wootton on this year's all-freshman team, the school's state championship meet drought could be in jeopardy.
Joshua Trzeciak missed some time in September due to illness, but debuted at the Oatlands Invitational with a time of 18:49. He was the seventh man on his team at the county championship meet where he placed 86th in 18:30. He moved all the way up to 2nd on the team at the 4A West Region Meet where he placed 37th in 18:16, making him one of the very few runners in the whole county who ran faster at the region meet than the county meet.
The freshman talent is truly spread out to every corner of the county this year. Poolesville is yet another team that has not been very strong for the last five or six years, but they picked up a few juniors from the track team and found the talented freshman, Joey Werble, on their roster. The result was a fifth place team finish at the 2A state championship. After 20:02 in a dual meet and 19:51 at the Bull Run Invitational, he got a crack at some faster courses: 18:56.7 at the Don Stoner Invitational, 18:54 at the Montgomery County Championship, and 17:36 on a very fast 3 mile 2A West Region course. He backed up his fast region time with 52nd place finish at the 2A state championship in 19:19, the 3rd fastest MoCo freshman time of the meet in the 8th race of the day on the torn up Hereford course.
Michael Pasti was counted on as a varsity runner throughout the duration of the season. He debuted with an 18:57 5k at the Magruder Invitational. He steadily improved and ran 18:05 to finish 62nd at the Montgomery County Championship Meet. He placed 49th at regionals in 18:45 to help his team qualify for states. He was the 5th scoring man on his team at states with an 83rd place finish in 19:22.
Drew Smith began the season with a modest 7th place finish in the freshman race at the Magruder Invitational. He placed 15th in the freshman race at the Glory Days Invitational with a time of 18:28 on a short course. At the WCAC Championship Meet, he became the 2nd Good Counsel runner in as many years to win the freshman race when he covered the difficult course in 19:40, over thirty seconds faster than the next runner. He was the top placing freshman in the junior varsity race at the MD-DC Private Schools State Championship Meet where he placed 12th overall with a season best time of 18:17.
It was sad to see that there was no more all-freshman race at the county championship meet this year, but if there was, Ben Crites most likely would have won it. He was the top freshman in the freshman/sophomore race as he outkicked freshman Rustin Tashayyod of Churchill for 7th overall in 18:42. He found himself near the front of several JV races this season including 6th at the Georgetown Prep Classic and 24th at the Octoberfest Invitational in 18:51.
