The 2022 Cross Country campaign was quite a memorable one for the Cardinals. They were undefeated during the MIAA dual meet season, and they won Barnhart, Bull Run, MDXC, and the MIAA championships very convincingly. Unfortunately Great American was cancelled for them, which was their chance to showcase the team to a different audience. Still the Cardinals were by far the number one team in Maryland last season.
With the same returning core of runners this season, the Cardinals look to develop beyond last year’s success. Their goal is to race at Nike Cross Country Nationals. Coach Baker states, “All last year’s success does for us this year is allow us to dream bigger goals that were not possible last year. It also allows us to have a higher floor, therefore we can train a tad harder and try to reach new heights.”
The Cardinals are headed to Cary, NC twice this season to get a feel for the course where they will race Nike Cross Regionals in November. At that race, the Cardinals will need to finish second overall to advance to the national championship; at last year’s race, the Cardinals were fifth. Cam Davis, the team’s top runner, however, did qualify as an individual.
Every runner on the team seems to have the same goal this season. It seems anything less than a national bid would be a disappointment. Baker continues, “Our expectations are to hold on to the #1 state ranking from last year, but really our goals are beyond the state of Maryland. We want to try to do something special this year. We have a great group of kids, so we want to see where the limit is with this group and we hope that may end in a trip to a distant state come December.”
The Cardinals are led by Cam Davis, Cort Schroder, Stephen Gonzales, Ryan Warner, Luke Doetschman, Lucas Archer, Rei Nettey, and future star in Caleb Mincey. The group realizes the challenge of attaining a national bid, but they know their best chance of attaining that goal is to work together during the long season. These runners touch on that in their interviews below.
Cam Davis
Stephen Gonzales and Cort Schroder
Ryan Warner and Luke Doetschman
Lucas Archer and Rei Nettey
Caleb Mincey
1K Repeats
2 Mile Time Trial
2021 MIAA XC Championships
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vetvdzM0UTc&t=20s
2020 MIAA Championships
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FmVgAULBC9c
2012 MIAA Championships
2007 MIAA Championships
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