After opening the season with a first-place finish at the Lake Braddock Relays last week, the St. Albans cross-country team members tested themselves at the Oatlands Invitational, one of the largest and most competitive meets on the East Coast, with 90 full teams entered in the boys varsity A race and more than  2,000 runners total across all races. The Dogs didn’t just pass the test, they aced it with what longtime head coach Jim Ehrenhaft ’83 called “the most impressive team performance in the program’s history.” A team’s overall score is calculated by its top five individual finishers. Four STA runners finished in the top-15 of the 610-runner field and the Bulldogs’ five scorers each finished in the top 50. All seven STA runners entered in the Boys A race finished in the top-100.

 

Seniors Sebi Hume and Will Strong set the pace for STA finishing third and fourth, respectively. Hume’s 15:35 was just four seconds off the winning time. Strong crossed the line in 15:54. He was followed closely by classmates Liam Quinn (16:10, 11th place) and Laszlo Wolfe (16:14, 15th). Junior Charlie Palmore rounded out STA’s scoring with a strong 16:47 (47th). Sophomores Thomas Power (17:06, 79th) and Rafi Hume (17:10, 95th) also had outstanding races. The final team scores left no doubt that the Bulldogs are serious about defending their 2023 IAC championship and competing for the DC State championship in November. Their team score of 80 was 40 points ahead of second-place Blacksburg High School (120 points) and 239 points ahead of third-place Woodbridge (319 points). Only four schools finished with under 400 points.

The Bulldogs will stay closer to home next week as they host the fourth annual Skip Grant Invitational at the Maryland Agricultural Farm Park in Derwood, Md. More than thirty teams are entered in the race, including some of the top teams in the area. Races start at 9:00 am.