David Fitzgerald was known to the Churchill cross country team for his running talent before he entered high school. He solidified his rising-star status by holding a top-five spot on the Churchill roster from the beginning of the season until the end. There was a mid-season stress fracture scare which forced Fitzgerald to back off on his training, but he came on strong at the end of the season to finish fourth in the 4A West region in 16:29.2 and 11th in the state in 17:10.5. His season-best time came at the Great American XC Festival where he ran 16:26.5. It was the fastest 5k cross country time by a Montgomery County freshman in at least nine years**. He will play ice hockey for Churchill's club team.
The son of a successful runner from the University of North Carolina, Evan Woods was a dominant runner at Pyle Middle School according to Coach Steve Hays. This year he ran almost all of his freshman races under 18:00 and was second on the team all year after the first race. The fastest race came at the 4A West Regional Meet where he helped his team move on to the state championship with a 22nd place finish in 17:19.8. He was the subject of an unfortunate disqualification at the Georgetown Prep Classic after it was determined that he unintentionally cut off a segment of the course, spoiling what might have been the first major win of his high school career.
Rory Lewis is a big time swimmer who came on strong as the season progressed. A season highlight came when he finished 46th at the county championship in 17:23.71, the second fastest freshman time of the day. He was also 12th at the Consortia Championship, 18th at the 3A West Regional Championship, and 44th at the 3A State Championship. Coach Eric DaSilva says we probably will not see him on the track due to his swimming focus.
Sam Baker was a big part of the youth movement which saw B-CC transform from a non-qualifier at the 2010 regional meet to the fourth place team at the 2011 Montgomery County Championship. He was 51st at the county championship in a season-best time of 17:29.62 and 32nd in the 4A West Region in 17:40.5. According to Coach Chad Young, he began running at Westland Middle School and was born in Hawaii.
At the 4A North Regional Championship, Lorenzo Neil clocked 17:19.68, the fastest time by a Paint Branch runner of any grade since 2008. He was the top Montgomery County freshman at this year's Consortia Championships in 18:35 and also placed 70th at the Montgomery County Championship in 17:52.37. According to Coach Dessalyn Dillard, Neil is not a fan of getting dirty while running and was voted runner-up by teammates as the runner with the least sense of direction.
When all of the dust settled after the Georgetown Prep Classic Freshman Race Fiasco, Patrick Munro was reinstated with a winning time of 18:54.0 after wrongly being disqualified for cutting the course. He ran a full minute faster at the Montgomery County Championship Meet to finish second in the freshman/sophomore race in a season-best time of 17:54.5. The fourth Munro sibling to come through the Wootton program according to Coach Kellie Redmond, Patrick was born in California, began running when he was three years old, and can unicycle.
In the midst of all the chaos with Evan Woods and Patrick Munro getting disqualified from the freshman race at the Georgetown Prep Classic, Alex Roederer was pulled on stage to do an interview with the Pacers media team. Roederer only accepted credit reluctantly and expressed his regret that the race turned out the way it did. Roederer finished 75th at the county championship with a season-best time of 17:58.16 and 41st in the 4A West Region in 18:10.0.
Itai Bezherano was the second freshman and fifth overall finisher in the Montgomery County Championship freshman/sophomore race where he clocked a season-best time of 18:06.1. A potential contributor for the team in years to come, Coach Tom Martin said that Bezherano did exactly what the team wanted him to do as a freshman: get excited about the sport and become willing to do the work it takes to be a competitive runner.
Nobel Girmay joined the cross country team to stay in shape for basketball, but found himself as the #2 runner on the team and occasionally the #1 runner. He ran a season-best time of 18:10.87 at the Montgomery County Championship Meet where he finished 88th overall. It was the fastest time by a Blair freshman in at least five years.
Lyle Wilson ran 18:28 at the Paul Short Invitational and dropped down to 18:11.1 at the Montgomery County Championship Meet where he was the 3rd freshman in the freshman/sophomore race and 9th overall. According to Coach Eric DaSilva, Wilson is recognized by members of the community while on team runs moreso than anyone else on the team.
**16:26.5 is a split-second better than Andrew Palmer's best freshman time from 2006. Steven Duplinsky may have been faster as a freshman nine years ago in 2002, but verification has not been obtained. Palmer and Duplinsky were voted by coaches as the #2 and #3 best county runners of the decade on Mocorunning's All-Decade Cross Country Team.
