Boys Finish 2nd Overall and Girls 3rd at the Braddock Relays

The Wolverines had a number of exciting finishes at the Braddock Relays against 24 other teams.  All runners competed on a 1.5 mile loop either in a 5-person relay format or in an open Extras race.  In the overall results, scored by the places of the A, B & C relays, the boys team tied for second place with Good Counsel (16 points), while the girls were third (7 points) just behind top tier teams in Lake Braddock (5 points) and Colonial Forge (6 points).

The afternoon started off with the boys B, C & D relays, who all placed in the top 10.  The Boys B relay was 8^th in a time of 41:25, Cullen O’Boyle had the fastest split of 7:57.  The Boys C relay the team moved up to 6^th place after a strong lead leg from Leonard (8:26).  The Boys D relay finished 5^th with John Whitney (8:41) and Jeff Ryscavage (8:43) posting solid times.

It was the Girls B relay that brought home the only relay win for the Wolverines.  Melanie Bomberg kept contact with the top group and posted the fastest split of the relay in 9:26, followed by a strong second leg by Kristi Snow.  Senior Allison McNulla ran a gusty third leg to not only move the Lady Wolverines into first, but to open up a lead on the field that Gabby Bomberg continued.  Nikki Amico ran tough to hold off Colonial Forge and Lake Braddock in a time of 48:33. 

Both the C & D relays placed in the top 5.  The Girls C relay had two very strong legs from Lauren Airey (9:59) and Natalie Babiuch (9:51) as both split under 10 minutes and the relay placed third.  The Girls D relay was 4^th after a very nice lead leg from Kelsey O’Hern (10:15).  Overall the Lady Wolverines showed off their depth by keeping all four relays in the top 4 out of 25 teams.

As the temperatures dropped the Wolverines enjoyed competing ‘Under the Lights’.  In the boys Extras race West Potomac was in the 4^th section and had four in the top 15.  Phillip Lincoln led the way for West Potomac and was followed closely by a fast closing Luke Pinney, Peter Stamos and Brian Cash also came in strong.  In the third girls section Carolyn Murphy was the Lady Wolverines top finisher and placing in the top 15 of her race.

In the Boys A Relay the top 5 boys showed off their depth in a very close runner-up finish.  Leadoff Corey Rosenberg posted the fastest split for the team in 7:36, but ran smart as he picked up competitors throughout his leg.  Luca Halladay ran an aggressive race to catch up to the lead pack and put the Wolverines in contention and splitting 7:41.  Sophomore Nick Cucinotta continued with his breakthrough performances to put the team in second, only being outpaced by All-State runner Nick Tuck (7:13 split).  Eric Turner kept the team in the top 3 with a very solid 4^th leg.  Then Crispin Bernier moved the Wolverines way up and closed a major gap on the leader with his strong leg (splitting 7:38) and the boys (38:47) were just two seconds off first place Lake Braddock (38:45).

For the last event of a very late night the Girls A relay stood up well to top level competition.  Sophia Passacantando ran an aggressive lead leg to put the Lady Wolverines in the mix and set up Katie Genuario well.  Genuario had the fastest split for the team (8:48) and moved the team up into second place.  Senior Lauren Price caught up to the leader and then took the lead in the final stretch.  Varsity newcomers Katie Murray and Maura Finn ran well to keep the team in 3^rd place with an overall time of 46:08.

A link to individual splits at the Braddock Relays is included in Team Links. 

Photos for the earlier races are posted on the West Potomac Sports website.

The Wolverines certainly showed off their depth, but also had a lot of fun in this different format.  While the team enjoyed the change of pace, we are also looking forward to getting back to racing the full 3 mile distance at the next meet on Wednesday at Franconia Park!