Cross-country: Fairmont Heights’ Anthony Glasgow goes the distance to win county title
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Version 0 of 1. In a way, Anthony Glasgow’s first-place finish in Wednesday’s Prince George’s County cross-country championships should not have happened. Toward the end of the outdoor track and field season in 2012, Fairmont Heights’ regular 800-meter runner was called away by a college visit and missed a meet. In his absence, Coach Vaughn Johnson called upon Glasgow, who still considers himself a shorter distance runner. But after Glasgow finished that race in a better time than the regular normally put forth, he began to train as a distance runner, a trek that culminated on Wednesday after Glasgow broke the school record — that he set last week — with a 5,000-meter time of 16 minutes 41 seconds to claim the boys’ county title at Fort Washington Park. “It’s a new experience for cross-country for me,” said Glasgow, a senior. “I wasn’t really that good. To come out here and win, it’s really a nice experience.” Gabrielle Glasco of Wise won the girls’ championship in 21:39, beating out Dejah Grant of C. H. Flowers (21:54) and Nina McGranahan of Eleanor Roosevelt (22:13). Before the gun, Glasgow pulled teammate Michale Reyes aside and discussed the game plan. Instead of bursting out of the gate like he normally does, Reyes would slow at the start to keep pace with Glasgow and allow for a back-end push. Glasgow was in third place with 300 meters left and had eyes on the runners in front of him, but he felt the wear of the first three miles. “I didn’t think I could finish in first at that point,” Glasgow said. Then he heard Johnson yelling from outside the ropes, screaming support and making it clear that another school record was in sight. “I was really tired,” Glasgow said. “It was my last burst of energy.” It was enough. He finished ahead of Northwestern’s Estifanos Asfaw (16:48) and Oxon Hill’s Adel Akalu (16:55). Glasgow has battled injuries over the past year — a strained Achilles kept him out of the cross-country state championships last year and stomach surgery forced him to miss most of the spring track season. But he hopes to stay healthy and make a run at the state championship in November to help his chances to run in college. Edward Belsoi finished fifth in 17:18, the first of five runners from Eleanor Roosevelt to finish in the top 13. The Raiders swept both team titles, winning the boys’ race with 41 points to beat out Bowie (87) and Parkdale (134). McGranahan and Abigail Miller (22:29), led the Roosevelt girls with 37 points over C.H. Flowers (59) and Bowie (67). |