Falcon Girls Win Another Cross Country County Title

Despite the two-time reigning county cross country champion coming across the line second, Josie Kamas couldn’t hide her excitement.

After the Severna Park senior crossed the line just short of a personal three-peat on October 24, she turned and saw her six white-and-pink-clad teammates come home within 86 seconds and 13 places.

The Falcons’ five scoring runners all finished in the top 9, and all seven runners overall placed in the top 15, as they breezed to another girls cross country team county championship, their seventh on the trot.

Kamas tried to hang with Severn Run’s Adriana Vastag before the sophomore pulled away to win by 17 seconds.

“Today I feel like my focus was more on embracing everything my body allows me to do. In the past I’ve been a really anxious person, but going into this I just wanted to stick with her and go out with her, and at some point in the race she was just stronger than me, and that’s OK,” Kamas said of Vastag after the race. “I just reached a point in the race where it was going to be me versus me and I started … reflecting and realizing that there’s so much value in being able to do this, and I have so much gratitude for the people in my school and my community. When I run this race, I can hear people shouting my name and my teammates behind me, and relishing that was more important to me than winning.”

Right behind Kamas was Siena Pegues in fourth, with teammate Mari Matthews in tow. Caitlynn Nunn and Lexi Fitzsimmons rounded out the scoring runners, placing eighth and ninth, with Ella Daniels and Lucy Crawford also placing in the top 15.

“Seeing them coming in behind me, I feel more happy seeing that than I would my own personal success, and I’m so grateful to have that connection with the team,” Kamas said. “I can’t even put it into words. We have built up such a strong team, and I’d do anything for these girls.”

On the boys side, Broadneck senior Evan Whitford placed second, leading his team to a second-place finish in the team standings. Whitford finished ahead of Severna Park’s Brenden Woods in third, who led the Falcons to a third-place finish.

Severna Park’s Anton Sifuentes was ninth overall, while Broadneck’s Matthew Parker was 10th.