Calvert Hall captures fourth straight MIAA A Cross Country title
Cardinals win their 10th overall crown; McDonogh wins the B Conference; Key take the C title
by Nelson Coffin
Calvert Hall’s bid for a perfect score at the A Conference cross country championship meet on Friday afternoon at Shawan Downs came slightly short of 15 points.
The Cardinals still totaled an impressive 19 points — tying their 2023 mark — to run away with their fourth straight title under coach Scott Baker.
Calvert Hall’s Kaden Omopariola claimed the individual crown, rallying past Loyola Blakefield runner-up Liam Stappert’s estimated 12-yard lead heading into the final leg of the 3.1-mile course in Cockeysville
While Omopariola’s 15:43.01 was 11 seconds shy of a personal-best 15:32 he set a couple of weeks ago, he still prevailed despite fall-like temperatures in the upper 50’s on a sunny and breezy day.
“Personally, I don’t like the cold,” he said. “I like the heat better, and I do better in the heat. But I persevered.”
Tough training and hard work keyed the triumph, the 6-foot-3 junior added.
“The last K(ilometer) was my best part,” he said. “I typically have a pretty good kick.”
Stappert (15:44.45) prevented the Cardinals from perfection, considering that junior JD Hughes (15:47.26), senior Lucas Archer (16:10.13), junior Aiden Heinbaugh (16:12.15), senior Blake Wancowicz (16:13.96) and senior Jack Walsh (16:15.89) were next to cross the finish line.
John Carroll sophomore Elliott Russell (16:17.48) and Gilman freshman Leo Bowen (16:21.60) snapped Calvert Hall’s streak before senior Cameron Parker (16:44.20) was the final Cardinal in the top 10.
Despite Stappert’s big lead, Baker said he thought that the Loyola standout could be reeled in.
“I thought someone from our top-three would be able to do it,” Baker added “JD (Hughes) had been our No. 1 for a bit and Kaden has come on at the end of the season to be our No. 1.”
Baker said that the season went about as well as it could for his team, meeting expectations and beating every league foe along the way.
“I think we checked most of the boxes,” he said. “We wanted to put seven in the top-10. We had never done that before, and we did that. And we had six guys all-conference, so that was pretty close to perfect. So that was cool.”
Gilman (94), Mount St. Joseph (101), Archbishop Spalding (118), Loyola (137), Archbishop Curley (142), John Carroll (146) and St. Paul’s (150) followed Calvert Hall.
McDonogh and Key Capture B and C Conference titles, respectively
Annapolis Area Christian School senior Jack Nebbia (15:52.89) took individual honors in the B Conference by a healthy margin over Boys’ Latin senior Wynn Waters (16:45.58).
McDonogh senior Carter Lin (17:27.48) was first in line for the Eagles (36), who also received top-10 performances from freshmen Hank Sheehan (17:55.32), junior Robert Heavers (18:05.06), sophomore Lucas Aron-Ortiz (18:05.72) and senior Callum Bullers(18:07.40).
AACS (69), BL (82), Park (85), Friends (128), Severn (147) and St. Mary’s (173) trailed the Eagles, who earned the program’s first-ever banner.
Key had the narrowest margin of victory among the three team victors, edging Chapelgate Christian Academy, 67-75. Beth Tfiloh (117), Indian Creek (138), Jemicy (149), Gerstell Academy (162), St. Vincent Pallotti (173), Saints Peter & Paul (209), Gunston (242) and St. John’s Catholic Prep (251) were next in line.
Senior Charles Iliff (17:48.54) paced the Zags while finishing behind Beth Tfiloh individual champ Abraham Gross (17:29.73) and Chapelgate junior Dylan Reisig (17:39.79). Junior Logan Bayne (18:33.46) was the other Key athlete to finish in the top 10.
