Cross Country: Penncrest’s Carr, EA’s Williamson serve up youth movement at Delcos

UPPER PROVIDENCE If the finish of the boys and girls races at the Delco country championships Saturday are any indication, the future looks bright for the sport in the county.

Of the 40 athletes who received medals, 20 on the boys side and 20 in the girls, 27 were underclassmen (12 boys, 15 girls).

The boys had six juniors and six sophomores earn medals.

The girls had six juniors, four sophomores and five freshmen.

Wow, so many freshmen, said one fan watching the awards ceremony.

We get to watch them for four years.

Thats exciting.

Keeping with the youth theme, both champions, Episcopal Academys Kendra Williamson and Penncrests Rowan Carr are sophomores.

Williamson is the first girl from EA to win the individual title.

Carr is the first runner from Penncrest to claim the boys crown since Avery Lederer in 2017.

Since it was a new course for the first time in the 60-year history of the event, both Williamson and Carr set course records.

Williamson won in 18 minutes, 41.20 seconds.

That was 45 seconds better than second-place finisher Camyrn McGeehan of Haverford (19:26.51).

(Being the first from EA to win) means a lot, said Williamson, who was fifth as a freshman.

My coaches have helped me a lot and my teammates have pushed me.

Williamson led pretty much from start to finish.

She began to pull away at the one-mile mark and extended her lead from there.

Shes really good, McGeehan said.

Shes such a talent, and I think she has a really bright future ahead of her.

Williamson can only hope to have a career as successful as McGeehans.The senior finished second for the third year in a row and in the top three for a four straight time.

She was third as a freshman.

I think it says that Im a pretty consistent runner, McGeehan said.

I train really hard with a lot of great people.

Finishing in the top three each year was great.

Ryan Danakis (sixth), Micah Haskins (12th) and Evelyn Awad (17) all medaled to lead the Fords to the team title for the third year in a row.

The Fords won easily without Olivia Cieslak, who was on a college recruiting visit.

We have a lot of depth on our team, McGeehan said.

We dont just have front runners.

We have a whole spread of girls.

We train together every day and we have a tight knit group so to win it for the third time is a big accomplishment for us.

Carr had to fight off Ridley senior Jackson Kane to win his first county title.

Carr crossed the finish line in 16:14.84.

Kane covered the 5,000-meter course in 16:17.20.

As a freshman, Carr had lost to Radnors Luke Bodden by 15 seconds.

The first goal was to win as a team, but I really wanted that individual crown, Carr said.

I knew I could get it.

Last year I finished eighth at states in front of the champion (from Delcos, Bodden).

I knew I had the talent to beat him, but he just has a really good day that day.

It was a bummer to not win it last year.

Even though I was a freshman I wanted to win it.

Thats just not how it worked out.

It worked out well for Carr this time around.

He took control at the horseshoe which is about 600-meters to go in the race.

Thats the toughest part of the course, Kane said.

It was a pretty good race from the both of us.

He took it at the end but we both worked really hard and thats the most important thing.

Penncrest did get its second straight team title.

Edomias Mulugeta took third.

Nick Fante was sixth and Andrew Hausch placed 10th for the Lions.

But it was Sean Holst-Rightleys 14th-place that gave Penncrest the points it needed to hold off Episcopal Academy, 34-46.

I was really trying to stay with (Hausch), Holst-Rightley said.

He was fourth for us, and the EA guy he was right with also was the fourth guy, so I tried to stay with them the entire race.

Then about the two-mile mark I kind of dropped off a little bit but I was determined not to let anyone (from EA) pass me and I was successful with that.

It was Holst-Rightleys first race of the season.

Hes been out since he sprained an ankle in a pickup basketball game in late August.

Im happy to be back, Holst-Rightley said.

I put it a lot of hard work and its really paying off now..

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