Cross Country Conversation Starts With Severna Park

Anne Arundel County should have some of the state’s best cross country teams again this year, with two defending champions leading the pack.

Severna Park

Championships are etched in the minds of Falcons coach Josh Alcombright and his runners.

The girls team has won three consecutive state championships and six county titles in a row.

The boys have won 13 straight county titles, five consecutive Class 4A state titles from 2017 to 2022 while placing second in the state the past two seasons.

“It’s not a secret that we have had the most successful program in the state in recent years — for sure,” Alcombright said. “That’s pretty undisputed.”

The Falcons boys and girls squads have the talent and depth to capture a county or state title.

Junior Josie Kamas is the runner to watch on the girls side. She placed third in the 2024 Class 3A state championships and improved on her 2023 time by about 25 seconds when she finished fourth overall.

Kamas, the last year’s Capital Gazette girls cross country Runner of the Year, also has a 2024 county championship on her resume. She beat out teammate and defending champ Kathryn Murphy, a junior at the time, by about 15 seconds.

“She is definitely Division I level material,” Alcombright said. “This will be a big year for that.”

Another potential county champion is sophomore Lexi Fitzsimmons. She took a respectable seventh in the state and third in the county last year.

More importantly, Alcombright knows he could have a stellar one-two punch in Kamas and Fitzsimmons for 2026.

Alcombright gets excited when he talks about the potential of the rest of Severna Park’s starting lineup. The Falcons boast Murphy and senior Sydney Davis.

Brenden Woods is the top boys runner from a team that finished second in the Class 3A state championships last year. The junior is a great athlete to build a team around. He helped the Falcons to a 2024 county championship.

“He is open to becoming the best he can be,” Alcombright said. “He is very coachable.”

The runners that comprise the rest of the lineup have excellent experience.

Seniors Colin King and Tariku Maddox will battle for the No. 3 position and senior Rielly Caldwell earned a spot in the middle of the lineup.

Alcombright also has a lot of confidence in junior Jared Briczinski and junior Evan Tarsi.

Broadneck

It’s all in the numbers for the Broadneck girls.

The Bruins jumped from 11 runners in 2023 to 31 this season.

The expectations have been raised.

“I think they will finish among the top two or three in the county,” Broadneck coach DeWitt Kneass said.

Senior Annabelle Hall and Jeannette Manseau, along with freshman Mia Funk, anchor the Bruins.

Hall holds down Broadneck’s No. 1 running position.

“She is going to have a really good season,” Kneass said. “She can make all-county.”

Funk should run near the top of the lineup all season.

“You have to come from a deep running background, like 10 to 12 years old,” Kneass said of freshmen making an impact.

Senior Sadie Whynock, junior Alexa Johnson and freshman Audrey Fleishman will support the team’s leaders.

There is prime talent up and down the lineup for the Broadneck boys, who increased their total runners by five over the past two years.

On the boys’ side, Kneass will lean on senior Max Marinello and sophomore Colin Kreisel to help the Bruins to top team finishes.

“He is our best runner,” Kneass said Marinello.

Not far behind Marinello and Kreisel are juniors Evan Whitford and Alex Fiedler and senior Duncan Gordon.

Seniors Aiden Blakaitis and Carter Johnson, and sophomore William Konopka, add quality depth.

“This is probably the best boys team we’ve had in five years,” Kneass explained.

Severn

Admirals coach Skip Sensbach can’t stop talking about senior and Severna Park resident Emma Patrick.

Patrick is a Division I college prospect and a consistent winner.

What Patrick did last season was a rarity. She won the Interscholastic Athletic Association of Maryland championships by 1:41.

On top of that, Patrick captured the private schools state championship.

Junior Rowan Palmer and senior Gemma Becker also rank among Severn’s best runners. Senior Nyla Pratt, junior Elizabeth Maltz, and freshmen Emilie Crump and Finley Silk, an Arnold resident, complete the lineup.

Severn’s boys team is full of promise, too. Junior Barrett Vaughan finished second in the Maryland Interscholastic Athletic Associations B Conference championships.

Sophomore Luca Gargagliano is the youngest runner in the starting lineup.

Sensbach loves the experience of the remainder of his lineup, which includes seniors Nat Patty, Gray Robinson and Eli Wilkins, and junior Charlie Anglim.