Local Athletes Help CCBC Essex in Cross Country

Article by Emily Vetri of CCBC Essex

Knights cross country traveled Oct. 2 to its fourth meet of the season, the Don Cathcart Invitational, hosted by Salisbury University, as both teams featured runners shattering their personal best times.

“Both the men and women had big personal bests today and ran great races on the super flat and fast course” said head coach Noah Hutton.

Freshman Madison Magaha (Patapsco) led the ladies with a time of 27:49 in the women’s 6K, finishing #7 overall. This moved her into the seventh fastest time at Essex for the women’s side.

Natalia Johnson (Sparrows Point) ran a swift 31:04 in the women’s 6K, moving her to the 14th fastest time at Essex.

Both Magaha and Johnson ran the first 5K of the race faster than any other 5K time this year, with Johnson (Sparrows Point) cutting almost two minutes off her 5K best.

On the men’s side, freshman Braden Berkey (Loch Raven) led the men with the third fastest freshman time and the sixth fastest 8K time in school history, finishing at 29:30.

Berkey now sits within 25 seconds of the third fastest 8K time at Essex.

Sam Smith (Eastern Tech) ran a 30:53 in the 8K, shattering his personal best by nearly two and a half minutes. He has moved up to the 13th fastest 8K in school history.

Patrick Bennett (Patapsco) ran a 35:04 and knocked eight seconds off his personal best. With this time Bennett moved up to the 20th in school history.

Isaiah Halley (Overlea) dropped 40 seconds off his personal best with 35:09 in the 8K.

“Hopefully the fast times will help to build confidence and provide extra energy to finish the season strong” Hutton said.

Both men’s and women’s cross country will finish out the regular season at the Hood Invitational on October 16th, before heading to the Region 20 and Maryland JUCO Championships at the end of the month.