Centennial senior Sebastian Martinez shines in lone cross country … – Baltimore Sun

Watching Centennial senior Sebastian Martinez on a cross country course, you’d think he’s a veteran. While Martinez has ample experience distance running from both indoor and outdoor track, he never ran cross country before this year. He previously played varsity soccer in the fall.

Martinez opted to join the cross country team for two reasons: one, to improve on his 800 and mile times for track, and two, to continue building on the relationships he forged with friends and coaches.

Now running the longest distances of his high school career, it didn’t take Martinez long to find success. He won both the Howard County and Class 3A East Regional championships, also placing third at states. Martinez is the 2022 Howard County Times/Columbia Flier boys cross country Runner of the Year.

“This cross country season means that he is a really tough-minded athlete who can put his mind to probably anything and accomplish it,” Centennial coach Christopher Graff said. “Second, it means that he probably can be a really great track runner both in his next six months and throughout his college career, because he’s never had that big volume of training that comes from summer and cross country running. If any high school coach had a team made up of seven Sebastians, you’d be just fine and be really happy and proud of the end product.”

Despite prior experience as a distance runner, cross country required a different mentality in some ways, which took Martinez some time adjusting to. As opposed to track, cross country often requires both a higher patience level and increased knowledge of your body.

“You just have a lot more time to think during the race and I think you have to be more measured,” Martinez said. “I think you need to know your body better because you can’t rely on the splits going around the track in the way that you can in the mile. You know what you’re running each lap when you’re running a mile, opening a cross country course at 4:50 versus 5 minutes doesn’t really mean anything because the course is a little bit softer. It’s going to mean you’re running slower, it’s less scientific, which makes it more interesting in a lot of ways.”

At counties, his most important race to that date, Martinez was thrust into a bigger role and took advantage. With several of the Eagles’ top runners unable to participate, Martinez rose to the occasion, finishing in 15 minutes, 18.66 seconds. His first-place finish nearly 13 seconds faster than the next competitor played an integral role in the Eagles boys securing the county title.

That was just the beginning. Only gaining further confidence, Martinez won regionals (15:58:42), edging out teammate and last season’s boys cross country runner of the year Antonio Camacho-Bucks, also helping the Eagles boys capture a regional title.

“I think counties was definitely a big confidence boost for me,” Martinez said. “I think I ran a good race at counties. I felt really good that week after counties, I had some really solid workouts and I was feeling really good going into regionals. Looking back at regionals I just say, ‘Wow I could’ve pressed this harder; I could’ve run this faster.’ That really felt like that’s where I was in full form over the season and I think it was just a good momentum giver.”

After regionals came the next challenge, competing at states among a stacked 3A field on Hereford’s challenging course. Once again, Martinez was battling for the top spot, ultimately placing third (16:24:4). That put the finishing touches on a landmark first — and only — cross country season. He now transitions into indoor track as one of the Eagles’ top runners, hoping to use that added training to further his success.

“It’s going to be really exciting to see,” Graff said. “He has always had the ability to finish and close races, it’s just been a question of how fast he can be through the first 75% of that race and still have enough left in the tank to close. I think he can potentially run things like Indoor Track Nationals, Penn Relays, win a state championship and hopefully turn those things into a really great college career.”

Ethan Aidam, Oakland Mills, senior: Aidam finished second at the county championships (15:31:25) behind Martinez. He excelled at the Class 2A West regionals and states, winning both events in 16:39:57 and 16:45:7, respectively, capturing a second consecutive state title.

Christian Brower, Long Reach, senior: Brower earned third at both counties (15:34:57) and regionals (16:04:21) as the Lightning’s most consistent runner throughout the year. He concluded his season placing fourth at states (16:29:6).

Antonio Camacho-Bucks, Centennial, senior: Camacho-Bucks was unable to participate at counties due to illness, but quickly rebounded to place second at regionals (16:04:17) and fifth at states (16:36.5). He was also Maryland’s lone representative at Cross Country Nationals in San Diego, after placing fourth in the Northeast Regional.

Anthony Hagan, Glenelg, senior: Hagan finished 10th at counties and seventh at regionals. He concluded the season placing 13th at states.

Henry Hopper, Wilde Lake, junior: Hopper placed fifth at counties (15:45:49) and regionals (16:11:06) as the Wildecats’ top finisher in both events. He then stepped up on the season’s biggest stage mounting a late charge to win the 3A state championship in 16:11:7.

Ethan Mulcahy, Atholton, senior: Mulcahy was sixth at counties (15:58:36) and sixth at regionals (16:42:67) as Atholton’s top placer in both events. He finished off the season placing 10th at states, one of six Howard County runners in the 3A top 10.

Kidus Zeleke, Reservoir, junior: Zeleke was the Gators’ boys most consistent runner throughout the season earning fourth at counties (15:35:24) and regionals (16:06:08). He concluded the season at states finishing sixth (16:43:2) one of just three juniors to finish in the top 10 in his classification.

Amadeus Davis, Howard, junior

David Herzberger, Centennial, sophomore

Pierson Hogue, Mount Hebron, junior

Ryan O’Byrne, Howard, senior

Evan Quinn, Long Reach, junior

Harish Selvakumar, Marriotts Ridge, senior

Bennett Walsh, Glenelg, sophomore