November13, 1976: MPSSAA Class A 1976 Cross Country Champion Loch Raven Sr. Leading team scores- Loch Raven (Baltimore County) 117- State Class A Champion, Westminister(Carroll County) 123- State Class A Finalist, Franklin (Baltimore County) 128, Rockville (Montgomery County) 131, Oxon Hill (Prince George's County) 144, Magruder (Montgomery County)166, North Hagerstown(Washington County) 185, Nort
hwood (Montgomery County) 195, Kennedy (Montgomery County) 225, & Old Mill (Anne Arundel County) 237. Leading finishers- 1) Mike Porter (Senior), Franklin- Individual State Champion Class A Division, 15 minutes 40 seconds; 2)K.Reyes, NH, 15 minutes 46 seconds; 3) K. Schulz, West., 16 minutes 2 seconds; 4) T. Schoeck, NH, 16 minutes 6 seconds; 5) D. Quinn, Wootton, 16 minutes 12 seconds; 6) C. Judd, Mag., 16 minutes 15 seconds; 7) F. Marquardt, West., 16 minutes 17 seconds; 8) M. Donofrio, LR, 16 minutes 21 seconds; 9) K. Wright, LR, 16 minutes 22 seconds; 10) J. Calder, LR, 16 minutes 23 seconds. The scoring went as follows after runners who were not part of a complete team were displaced: Mike Donofrio 7th place, Kirk Wright 8th place, Jerry Calder 9th place, Ward Kemp 43rd place ( 17 minutes 18 seconds- excellent cross country performance for a guy who specialized in the half mile on the outdoor track), & Stuart Tarleton 50th place (17 minutes 25 seconds- another excellent performance this time by a guy whose real specialty was the quarter mile hurdles on the outdoor track). Kemp and Tarleton were absolutely essential to our victory (Even though our top three runners finished in the top 10 Loch Raven was behind Westminster by 4 points. Loch Raven made up the deficit when our 4th runner [Kemp] finished 4 places ahead of Westminster's 4th runner and Loch Raven's 5th runner [Tarleton] broke the tie finishing 6 places ahead of Westminster's 5th runner. Truly a team effort!). Thus 117 points Maryland State Class A Cross Country Champions by a 6 point margin over Westminster. Loch Raven competed against a grand total of 19 complete teams(at least 5 men on each team). Our match up against Franklin who finished third was just as interesting and fascinating to me. Loch Raven Sr. High School was ahead of Franklin by 23 points after both teams top three runners were in. Their 4th runner finished 4 places ahead of our 4th man and their 5th man finished 8 places ahead of our 5th man which brought Loch Ravens lead down to 11 points which was our margin of victory over Franklin. We only defeated the 4th place team Rockville by 14 points. Loch Raven lead Rockville by 25 points after both teams top three runners came in. Rockville's 4th runner finished 20 places ahead of Loch Raven's 4th man cutting the lead down to 5 points but Loch Raven's 5th man (Tarleton) finished 9 places ahead of Rockville's 5th man increasing Loch Raven's lead and winning margin over Rockville to 14 points. Anyone of the top four teams could have been the Class A State Champion. We finished so close to each other. But Loch Raven Senior High School brought home the Championship trophy! Coach Tony Donia, who went on to lead 3 more teams for Loch Raven that were State Champions (1981, 1983, 1990), was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 2015 and is the custodian of the records. All his runners have deep affection for him and would not trade him for any other. He still makes us laugh! The course was listed as 3 miles long. The fastest time of the day went to Mike Sheely (Junior-Kenwood High School- Baltimore County), Individual State Champion Class AA Division -15 minutes 34 seconds ( all-American 1976, 1978, & 1982). ( Event/Location: Maryland Public Secondary Schools Athletic Association State Cross Country Championships/ U.S. Naval Academy, Annapolis, Maryland)
