B-CC boys run to Class 3A state title

‘‘It was great,” said B-CC coach Chad Young, whose team won the title despite graduating its best two runners from a year ago, including 3A individual state champion Chris Bowie. ‘‘Actually, I knew we would be one of the top 3-4 teams but I didn’t know how we’d do. Every time I saw one of my runners a Wilde Lake runner would be in front or behind my runners. It was pretty interesting to watch.”

So was the scene among the B-CC runners roughly two minutes before the start of the race. That’s when junior Alex Prevost, one of the team’s top five runners, made a startling discovery — he had forgotten his jersey and would not be able to start the race without it.

Instead of panicking, Prevost sprinted back to his team’s designated area, grabbed the missing attire and returned to start the race.

‘‘He went out a little slow but he wound up having a really good race,” Young said. ‘‘He told me he was still breathing hard when the race started.”

Prevost overcame that extra mileage to take 21st in a time of 17 minutes, 38 seconds and beat Wilde Lake’s No. 4 runner, Evan Anderson, by three spots, a theme that made the Barons’ state championship possible

‘‘We made at least one place in front of the Wilde Lake guys,” Young said. ‘‘Wilde Lake was in front the whole time but we kept chipping away.”

Like Prevost, junior Dylan Straughan (17:03, 5th place), senior Kyle Short (17:10, 7th) and junior Matt Davey-Karlson (17:34, 18th) placed ahead of their counterparts in Jonathan Sham (17:08, 6th), Derek Lange (17:12, 8th) and Johnny Henderson (17:37, 19th).

‘‘It was our last race of the season so if there’s any energy left after the race, it’s in vain,” Straughan said. ‘‘We did really good out there. It was our best race.

‘‘I feel terrible for Wilde Lake. Losing by one point is never fun. They put up a really good fight. We were really lucky to pull it out. We knew it would be close.”

The victory was extra sweet for Straughan, a soccer convert, who missed the tail end of last year because of a stress fracture in his foot. His healthy return this year was one of the big reasons B-CC won both regional and state titles this fall.

‘‘I’m pretty prone to injury,” he said. ‘‘Hopefully, I’ll pull it through this year. We were hoping to have a season like we did. We were kind of a darkhorse. Nobody expected us to win. The greatest pleasure is doing what other people say you can’t do.”

Damascus senior Will Zahorodny had the county’s best finish in the race, placing fourth in a time of 16:59. Einstein senior Alex Bodaken finished 17th with a time of 17:32.

On the girls side, Damascus placed fifth as a team as well, finishing behind Howard (69), Hereford (73), Bel Air ( 125) and Centennial (144) behind the running of junior Taylor Colbert, who placed eighth in time of 20:56. B-CC’s Addie Tousley had the county’s best finish, placing third in a time of 20:10.