Senior wins cross country state championship

Mia Ferraro
CHS Class of 2022

(12/2022) Catoctin High School runners have completed another extremely successful season after the boys cross country team claimed the titles of Central Maryland Conference (CMC) Gambrill Division champions and runners-up at the 1A west region and state championships. The success of the runners this past season is consistent with the past two CHS sports seasons, following the boys indoor track and track and field teams’ state championship titles in 2021. The CHS boys cross country team placed first at the CMC championship Oct. 21 at Boonsboro High School. On Oct. 27 they competed at Middletown Park for the Frederick County tournament at which they placed fifth. The team then went on to place second at the regional meet at home Nov. 3, where they set nine personal records. Finally they took to Hereford High School on Nov. 12 to take second place in the state. One CHS athlete, senior Alex Contreras, won first place for the boys in the entire state.

Contreras won first place at the states in 17 minutes, 7.54 seconds for the three mile run, more than 40 seconds faster than the second place finisher. His personal record in the three mile run, however, took place in this year’s CMC championship where he took first place with a time of 16:17.9 -- ranking him as fifth in the CHS top 20 all-time rankings for the three mile run. The previous week, Contreras won first place at the cross country regional championship by roughly 40 seconds with a personal record of 16:13.0: the fastest CHS 5,000 meter run since Zach Gascho’s time of 16:12.0 in 2014. This ranks Contreras as fourth in the top 20 rankings for 5,000 meters in CHS history. Prior to regionals, Contreras finished in second place in the Frederick County cross country championship with 16:49.04 in the 5,000 meter race. Contreras currently holds the record for the fastest 3.04 mile run in CHS history, which he set last year with a time of 16:54.5. He broke the record 11 years after it was set by David Dorsey by more than 40 seconds. The senior has participated in the CHS cross country and track teams since ninth grade, and plans to continue running in college.

Junior Santiago Canadas Fraga finished in fourth place at the state championship’s three mile race in 18 minutes, 3.22 seconds. He had finished with a personal record of 17.38.0 at the regional championship, putting him in fifth place. Along with Contreras, Canadas Fraga’s performance in the regionals placed him in CHS’ top 20 scores for 5,000 meters with the rank of 16th. He finished in 13th at the county meet, with a time of 18:07.47. Canadas Fraga also set his personal record when he won third place in the three mile race at the CMC championship earlier in the season with 17.20.0, ranking him as 16th in CHS’ top 20 scores. He is also currently ranked eighth of the CHS top 20 scores for the 3.04 mile run from the 2021 season. The junior has been a part of the cross country teams since ninth grade.

Junior Gabriel Riling finished in 18 minutes, 24.97 seconds at the state championship, ranking him in ninth place. He had taken sixth place at regionals with a personal record of 17 minutes, 49 seconds. His time also ranked him 19th in CHS’ all-time top 20 for 5,000 meters. Riling had finished 23rd at the Frederick County meet with a time of 18:44.37 in 5,000 meters. He also made the top ten at the CMC meet with 18:02.5, placing him in 10th. He follows Canadas Fraga in the CHS top 20 scores for the 3.04 mile run since he earned the rank of ninth last year. The junior has also been a member of the cross country and track teams since ninth grade.

Junior Jenna Conley finished 12th for the girls at states with a time of 22 minutes, 26.85 seconds. She had led the CHS girls team in eighth place at regionals with a season best of 21:08.0 in the 5,000 meter run. Conley also placed 12th at the CMC tournament with 21:53.3. Alongside Contreras, Conley also set a record last year as the fastest time in the girls 3.04 mile run (20:25.1) since Kristen Myers set the record in 2010. Conley currently holds a CHS top 20 ranking in two other races from previous years: 11th in the three mile run (20:32.0) which she earned in 2021, and fifth in the 5,000 meters (20:11.5) as a freshman in 2020. The junior is another committed runner who has been on the CHS cross country and track teams since her freshman year.

The cross country team’s performance has evidently been improving steadily over the past year, having placed fourth last year in regionals and sixth in states. At the 2021 states meet, Contreras (18:01.30) led the boys team in sixth in the 3.04 mile race; Canadas Fraga (19:25.31) placed 30th and Riling (19:25.92) followed in 31st. Conley (21:16.21) placed fourth for the girls. While the cross country team will lose Contreras and four other team players when they graduate in the spring, next year looks promising with fourteen members to hopefully return to the track, including star players Conley, Canadas Fraga, and Riling.

As the cross country season comes to a close, there is much to look forward to as winter sports begin. The winter sports teams began their season with try-outs commencing Nov. 15 through 17, with the exception of the try-outs held for unified bocce Nov. 21. The winter sports consist of basketball, coached by Amy Entwhistle (girls) and Zach Woodward (boys); unified bocce, coached by Charmane Nesbitt; winter cheerleading, coached by Stephanie Munday; swimming and diving, coached by Justine Wantz (girls) and Will Warram (boys); wrestling, coached by Rick Reeder; and indoor track, coached by Robert "Trey" Davis (girls) and Dave Lillard (boys).

Winter competitions began Nov. 28 with the boys basketball team’s first scheduled game. Indoor track begins competition on Dec. 9 with the Terry Baker Invitational at Hagerstown Community College. Several runners on the cross country team hope to carry their success over into the indoor track season. The indoor track team had to send off a handful of players to graduate last year, but many return for another exciting season, with others joining for their first year on the team. The boys team, for instance, has 16 returning players, and 12 newcomers. Last year’s 1A state championship victory was the first ever claimed by the boys indoor track team, and the accomplishments of the cross country team this past season further supports an optimistic outlook for the winter.