Looking back on the cross-country season

Richelle Zheng
CHS Class of 2025

(12/2024) As the holidays come around the corner and everyone is off to spend time with their loved ones, Catoctin’s winter sports teams are starting to train for the new season, and some members of the cross-country team are continuing their journey into the winter season. In addition, as new incoming student-athletes begin to try out for their sports, senior Abagayle Shives, who is on the girl’s varsity basketball team, has a few words of wisdom for the underclassmen.

Cross-Country Recap

The girl’s cross-country team ran at the Frank Keyser Invitational, which was held at Boonsboro High School, on October 5th. In the three-mile small school's varsity category, freshman Caroline Hoyt and sophomore Isabel Brodsky went to represent Catoctin. Hoyt placed 13th out of 65 runners with a time of 21:42.4 minutes. Following closely, Brodsky finished in 22:11.7 minutes in 16th.

On October 9th, the boy’s cross-country team competed at the Crossfire Invite held at Liberty High School. Catoctin’s top three runners in the men’s 5,000-meter small varsity category were freshman Noah Riling, Logan Holden, and sophomore Sean Hoyle. Riling placed 8th out of 51 total runners in 19:12.3 minutes! Holden placed 21st with a time of 21:04.2 minutes and Hoyle was right behind in 22nd with a time of 21:13.0 minutes.

Both the boy’s and girl’s cross-country teams participated at the CMC Championships on October 18th, which took place at Boonsboro High School. Riling led the boy’s team in the three-mile Gambrill varsity category with a time of 16:41.5 minutes, putting him in 7th place. Holden ran a time of 18:38.3 minutes, Hoyle finished in 18:56.4 minutes, and sophomore Conner DeBoer in 20:32.4 minutes. Brodsky and Hoyt ran in the women’s three-mile Gambrill varsity event. Hoyt placed 6th with an incredible time of 20:49.8 minutes, marking her new personal best! Not far behind, Brodsky came in 9th place with a time of 21:26.9 minutes, which was a new personal record for her as well.

The Frederick County Championships occurred on October 24th at Ballenger Creek Park. In the men’s three-mile varsity event Riling finished in 16:59.7 minutes, putting him in 13th place out of 64 total runners. Holden completed the course in 19:40.7 minutes, Hoyle in 19:50.6 minutes, sophomore Liam Werner finished in 20:42.1 minutes, and DeBoer in 20:54.2 minutes. In the women’s three-mile varsity Hoyt placed 26th out of more than fifty competitors at 21:58.9 minutes and Brodsky followed behind her in 31st at 22:21.8 minutes.

The next event, the MPSSAA 1A West Region Championships, took place on Halloween at Clear Spring High School. Instead of running around the neighborhoods for candy, these dedicated runners ran for a place in the state championships instead. Riling finished in 7th place in 17:36.80 minutes and Hoyle finished with a time of 19:58.10 minutes in the men’s three-mile varsity category. Both boys qualified for state championships due to their incredible speed! Additionally, Brodsky was the only runner from Catoctin for the women’s three-mile varsity event and placed 18th with a time of 24:19.80 minutes, which unfortunately did not qualify her to move on to state championships.

On Saturday, November 9th at Hereford High School, Riling competed in the MPSSAA 1A State Championships. He placed 26th out of more than 100 runners in 17:49.72 minutes as a freshman! Riling’s outstanding talent for running resulted in him being invited to participate in the NXR Southeast Regional Championships at WakeMed Soccer Park in North Carolina which happened on November 23rd. Riling was one of 280 runners in the 5,000-meter Rising Stars category. He finished in 96th place in 17:38.86 minutes!

Senior Advice to Incoming Student Athletes

As the quiet gyms start to fill with sounds of sneakers squeaking on the wood floors and the dribbling of basketball, Senior Abagayle Shives from the girl’s varsity basketball team wanted to share a few insights of her high school basketball career, with this one being her last.

Shives has grown up playing basketball since she was in third grade. This season she is looking forward to playing her last basketball season with her friends and teammates she has shared her childhood with. When Shives was asked about what goals she has for this season she exclaimed, "Goals? Obviously, win states! Everyone has that goal." Additionally, she mentioned, "That’s what you work for throughout the season, but first, you have to start small: just make it to playoffs." Moreover, Shives has great confidence in this year’s girl’s basketball team as they have a good mix of veteran players and younger Lady Cougars. Shives adds, "We are going to have so much depth going off the bench. I believe everyone will play a decent amount and be able to contribute to the game." With a pretty equal mix of players of different experience levels, she has high hopes for this season.

On another note, Shives has some advice that she would like to give to new athletes coming into basketball or planning on trying out: "There will be good days and there will be bad days. The good days overrule the bad 100 times out of 10. You’re also not just going to be able to pick up the ball and just immediately be good at it. You have to work for it. Everyone who has played a sport or is currently playing a sport knows it."

As we all know, balancing time between academics, extracurriculars, sports, jobs, and more is one of the most difficult skills we all have to learn throughout high school and Shives wanted to provide some input on how she combats the stress of managing all of her commitments in addition to basketball. Shives is one of the few seniors who attend school for all seven hours and she mentions that once she gets home she only has four hours left to take care of her necessary tasks such as homework, walking her dogs, chores, and taking care of herself before she winds down for bed. However, she is able to manage her academic and sports lives by "Working hard during school hours to eliminate the time needed when I get home for homework." Furthermore, she advises getting a planner as it is something that helps her and many other students as well, "If you do struggle with time management, I recommend getting a daily planner and start planning out your week day by day." Lastly, Shives acknowledges the hardships of being a student-athlete but only if you make it hard by not managing your time wisely. She urges student-athletes that they have to put the time and work into themselves because "It is something only you can do for yourself as others can’t do it for you."