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Going for seconds was in vogue at the Maryland Cross Country Championships at Hereford High on Saturday, as the Gov. Thomas Johnson girls and Glenelg boys both locked up second-place team finishes.

The Gladiators' junior Robby Creese won the boys Class 2A race, finishing the 3.0-mile course in a time of 17 minutes, 30 seconds, while junior Savanna Plombon of Thomas Johnson finished second in the 4A race, finishing the 3.0-mile course in 20:19.

"My goal was just to get in the top 10 in the race," Plombon said. "I don't know what motivated me. It was more like halfway through the race; I still had a lot of energy."

Plombon finished the race as the fastest girls' runner from Frederick County, with only Wootton's Jessie Rubin (19:48) and Century's Maura Linde (20:07) getting faster times in all of the four different girls races.

That surprised her, as she didn't win at the 4A North Region meet, where the Patriots turned in a perfect score of 15 points. For that matter, Plombon didn't win at the Frederick County Championships, and hadn't ever beaten her teammate, Stephanie Bryan before Saturday.

Bryan did her part, though, taking fourth in the 4A run in 20:37, which was the sixth fastest time of the day. Still, the senior runner wasn't happy with her time.

"I have a problem at states," Bryan said. "I just don't run well here. I'm already in track mode, I guess."

Thomas Johnson finished with 95 points, with senior Kelsey Igo, senior Kristin Luttrell, and junior Kristen Galligan finishing in 20th, 28th and 41st, respectively. They were edged out by Severna Park's 89 points.

Also in the 4A race, Urbana was 11th with 286 points, led by freshman Sarah Askine in 21st.

The Glenelg boys' key to success was Creese, a first-year cross country runner and track and field standout.

"I was racing for time," Creese said. "The first mile, I wanted to run really fast to tire everyone out, and it tired me out too."

He ended up clocking in the 14th-best time overall out of the four meets, while teammate Austin Clark, a senior, was only five seconds behind him.

With senior Doug Goodwin in 24th, junior John Bosse in 30th and junior Sean Coffey in 32nd, the Gladiators were only 22 points behind Winters Mill for the 2A boys title.

Walkersville stormed into third in the 2A's with 109 points, with solid showings by Stephen Keith (fourth), Christian Blackner (11th), Jacob Myers (28th), Hugo Morales (31st) and Neil Rasband (35th).

Middletown took 10th with Andy Drum in 26th place.

The 2A girls race had a surprise leader for at least the first 300 yards. South Carroll freshman Samantha Bingaman sprinted out to the front of the pack.

"I knew I wanted to go out fast, because I didn't want to be stuck in the middle of the pack," Bingaman said.

Bingaman stayed with the lead pack for the rest of the race, taking fourth in 21:13. Teammate Cody Mezebish, a senior, was ninth. The Cavaliers finished in sixth with 178 points.

Glenelg was in eighth place, as juniors Kirby Taylor and Maddie Henry took 30th and 36th. Erin Hub of Walkersville placed 16th, and teammate Megan Kaczor was 33rd.

Bridget Nolan finished her cross country career at Linganore by taking sixth in the 3A race. The Lancers finished 12th as a team, while Frederick was 17th. Urbana senior Jimmy Miller also wrapped up his prep cross country career, taking 10th in the 4A boys run with a scorching 17:35. Teammates Garet Strouse and Austin Hayslett, a junior and a senior, took 35th and 46th.

Linganore had a youth movement growing in the 3A boys race, as sophomore Braden Bruning was seventh and freshman Patrick Duboyce was 27th. The Lancers were 10th, while Tuscarora took 13th with top-25 showings by senior Tyree Smith (18th) and sophomore Logan Jones (19th).

Catoctin finished fifth in the 1A boys race, as junior Brandon Humerick was 17th. Senior Chad Ammenheuser placed 27th, and junior Nick Trapane finished 34th.