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Wilson harriers seek 5th title
(Published September 20, 2004)

By MICHAEL HOFFMAN
Staff Writer

Wilson Senior High is coming off the fourth DCIAA championship in a row in cross country, although winning it once again this year will be anything but a cakewalk.

This year’s varsity squad has lost three of its top runners to graduation, and Coach Ron Jenkins expects much of the pressure to be on his underclassmen to perform, to take the Tigers toward what could be a fifth consecutive league championship.

This means that junior Nick Burant, who Coach Jenkins describes as the only "pure" cross country runner on the team, needs to have a big year. Although they do not make up the core of his team, Jenkins also needs his seniors such as Thomas Silverman, Kevin Ha and Steve Gornstein to show improvement at the long-distance events.

Jenkins will also rely on standout seniors Travanni Jette and Brian Haskell, who finished a spectacular second and third at last year's long-distance finals, to remain and improve on their stellar level of running last year.

With Jette and Haskell along with teammate Burant, Wilson has a trio that will allow the Tigers to be in contention for the title in every long-distance event, Jenkins believes. But Jenkins sees one of the primary weaknesses of the team in its "sprinting" and short-distance events. For these reasons Jenkins has created a summer training program, tailored around improving the sprinting of his runners.

As long as Wilson can improve its speed in short distances, it might be a long season for the rest of the D.C. Interscholastic Athletic Association teams in cross-country.