After most races, Gonzaga senior Harry Monroe's name can be spotted near the top of the leader board with an impressive time next to it. It wasn't until Saturday at the WCAC cross-country championships, however, that he made the top of the list.
“This is my first time winning,” Monroe said. “To come and do it here at the WCAC — it means the world to me.”
The leading pack, mostly populated by Gonzaga and Good Counsel runners, stuck together through the undulating hills that make up the first half of the course before Monroe and teammate John Colucci pulled ahead on flatter ground.
Colucci crossed in 17:40.3 for second place, holding off a charging Jimmy Vazzana from Good Counsel (17:43.6). The senior was the first of six consecutive Falcons runners to cross the finish line after Monroe and Colucci. The first 13 runners to finish hailed from either Gonzaga or Good Counsel.
At the beginning of the season, Vazzana was accustomed to running with a sizeable gap between him and the rest of his teammates. But the Falcons grew stronger as a team, culminating Saturday in what was “undoubtedly the closest” the group has been all year crossing the finish line.
The Falcons' team effort was enough to bring home their fourth straight WCAC title with 25 points. Gonzaga (35) finished second, followed by O'Connell (111), which won a tiebreaker over St. John's.
On the girls’ side, St. John’s freshman Cady Hyde “got off to a pretty bad start” after getting penned in by some of her teammates, but after weaving through the early congestion on the steep incline that starts the race, Hyde found that she was well equipped for the terrain.
“I really liked the course,” Hyde said. “Rock Creek Park [the location where St. John’s trains] is really hilly, so I’m used to that.”
Hyde cruised down the final hill to finish in 20:39, 30 seconds ahead of the rest of the field, to claim the girls’ individual title.
“It feels really good,” Hyde said. “I had a big lead, which is nice, too. I was pushing and everything, but I was comfortable.”
Senior defending champion Isabell Baltimore (21:09.2) finished second and paved the way for O’Connell’s 10th consecutive conference title under Coach Cindy Walls with 56 points.
When Walls first joined the team as a volunteer coach, the notion that 10 straight championships would soon follow would have seemed preposterous.
“Twelve years ago, there were maybe seven girls [at the school] that were interested in cross-country,” Walls recalled.
“And what a wonderful day that five of the girls on that first championship team that started the streak were in attendance,” she added.
Good Counsel senior Ellen Tuttle clocked 22:10.1 for third place and paced the Falcons (88) to a second-place team finish, just ahead of third-place St. John’s (89).
