Winning After MidKnight
For the other
cross country runners in the state of Maryland it was a warning shot aimed
right at them. For Reilly Caldwell, it was a proclamation.
“If you come
for the queen, you best not miss.”
Reilly
Caldwell’s win at the Seahawk Invitational wasn’t many things. It wasn’t a
state championship and it wasn’t a title that people will talk about for years
to come.
However, it
was a notice served to every other female high school cross country runner in
the state of Maryland. The old Caldwell, the one who was always the bridesmaid
but never the bride was gone. Caldwell was going to be winning races and
putting her stamp on the Maryland high school cross country scene in ways that
not a lot of people had seen before.
To be fair to
Caldwell, this change started last year as from October 6th to
November 5th she strung together a string of five straight meets
where she either finished in first, second, or third place finish with Caldwell
showing a upside to her running game which wasn’t tough to believe but was impressive
as it was a culmination of her putting all the things she needed to do to be
successful together with a stunning result coming out in the process.
Her
performance at the state championship last year, a 14th place, may
have left some people in the state wondering if her performances were simply
just a fluke and she hadn’t become one of the top runners in the state.
Consider that
theory busted as all Caldwell has proven this year is that she’s back and
better than ever as she blistered to a time at the Seahawk Invitational that
was two minutes better than her previous time and was well ahead of the
competition.
This is
Caldwell’s senior year and as such she’ll be hoping to expand on her win at the
Seahawk Invitational when she and the Middletown High School Knights Girl’s
Cross Country team compete in the Rebel Invitational at South Hagerstown High
School at 9:40 a.m.
The Knights
will head into this competition looking to develop some more experience as this
Middletown team is shooting to develop their talent during the early parts of
the season as they shoot for being in good shape to make a playoff charge at
the end of the season.
It’ll be a
good test for the Knights as the course that Middletown will race on up in
South Hagerstown is very similar to the ones that Middletown will see in the
regional championship meet and the state championship meet which will give
Middletown a much better idea of how the course handles.
This is all
old hat for Caldwell as she has raced in every major meet and has become very familiar
with cross country in the state of Maryland. That familiarity has led to
Caldwell making some very big statements for Middletown with her running.
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