Tuesday, September 21st, the Paint Branch cross country team traveled to High Point Farms in Clarksburg to compete in their second divisional meet of the season against Clarksburg and Damascus. The competing team of nine boys and five girls put up a strong fight against their competition, but did not emerge victorious.

On the girls’ side, Damascus’s Hornets beat out both Clarksburg and PB, scoring only 18 points in the match against Paint Branch, who scored 42. Against Clarksburg, the Panthers closed the gap scoring 39 points, leaving Clarksburg at 20 points for their win. Both Clarksburg and Damascus were able to put two girls in front of Paint Branch’s first finisher and squeeze in more runners between PB’s first and second finishers to collect as few points as possible and secure their wins.

On the boys side, the stand-out performance of the race was turned in by Damascus junior Josiah Lim who took over the race from the start and finished over a minute faster than his competitors with a time of 18:27. The Clarksburg boys triumphed over PB scoring 23 to the Panthers’ 35 points through their ability to pack together and place multiple runners between PB’s finishers. Against Damascus, the race came down to a matter of seconds with Damascus edging out the Panthers to win 28-29. The Panthers secured places 2 through 4, but the gap between the final 2 scorers allowed Damascus to eke out the win. 

The Panthers will compete in their last divisional meet of the season on Tuesday, September 28 against Einstein and Quince Orchard at Smokey Glen farm.

Gallery • 35 Photos

Chris