Montgomery County Road Runners Club The running club with a place for every pace!
Dear Members,
We hope you are staying safe & healthy during this time. As previously announced, the MCRRC Annual Awards Banquet has been cancelled for this year. The board and staff look forward to this event each year as it provides the membership an opportunity to recognize the impressive accomplishments of our peers.
Among the many awards presented each year, which we will soon be ready to share with you, the Outstanding High School Runner awards are a crowd favorite. Each year, the club recognizes four Montgomery County high school students (two male and two female) for their achievements in running, academics, school activities and community service contributions. Each is awarded with a plaque and a $2,000 scholarship.
The 2019 winners, selected by the MCRRC Awards Committee, are listed below in no particular order. On behalf of the board and staff, we offer our heartfelt congratulations to these deserving students and we wish them nothing but the best on all of their future endeavors:
Cecelia Dworak (Montgomery Blair High School)
Cecelia is a dedicated student-athlete who leads by example and is a great asset to our team. Last year, Cecelia quickly became one of the team’s best and most consistent 1600 meter runners. Throughout the season, she improved at every single meet she entered, as well as earned a spot on the 4×800 meter relay. Cecelia ended the season with a personal best of 5:38 in the 1600 and qualified for regionals. Cecelia has stood out as a leader both on and off of the track. At the end of the season last year, Cecelia won Most-Improved Athlete that was voted on by her coaches. Not only is Cecelia dedicated to improving her times, but she is also dedicated to improving the whole team. She motivates and encourages other runners to have a solid work ethic in order to be the best runners they can. Cecelia took the time last season to mentor younger runners with both running techniques and what it takes to be a student-athlete.
Garrett Suhr (Richard Montgomery High School)
Garrett has been a running “phenom” since he joined the City of Rockville’s running program as an elementary school student. Much to everyone’s surprise, Garrett immediately became the fastest runner on the track. He was named Mocorunning’s #1 cross country male runner of the year in 2019 and was named to Mocorunning’s “Boys’ Half Decade Cross Country Team.” Cross country is not even Garrett’s primary running event. He much prefers the 800 and the 1600 meters. He has run the 1600 in under 4:14 minutes. Garrett is well liked and respected by his teammates and coaches and was one of the captains of last year’s indoor and spring track teams as well as captain of this year’s cross country team and indoor team.
Leah Kannan (Montgomery Blair High School)
Leah has proven herself as a runner—she’s been the captain of the cross country team for the past 2 years and has qualified for the State Championship meet four years in a row. Leah is diligent, driven and inquisitive. She is diligent because she is able to identify, set, and work hard towards achieving her goals. Whether they are Leah’s personal goals or goals for a group, she is willing to do whatever it takes to get the work done. Her internal motivation gives her a competitive edge and doesn’t allow her to quit. She puts this drive behind a remarkable variety of activities: school, swimming, running, chorus, and all the other things that invariably pop up in the course of a teenager’s day. Academically, Leah’s inquisitive nature has helped her excel in school and specifically has sparked her interest in STEM. What she has is a more general gift; put simply, Leah always wants to know the reason why something is the way it is. She’s not only an outstanding runner, but a model citizen, an excellent student, and talented young mind.
Eric Fagan (Quince Orchard High School)
A leader on the cross country team, Eric not only leads by example, but is a vocal leader as well. He is a top notch student with a cumulative GPA of 3.76 and a weighted GPA of 4.54. He loves the solitude of a challenging long run as much as anything in the world but as part of a team, he saw the need for leadership and made it his mission to fill it. Eric became a guide for the newbies on the team. He became a beacon for the veterans without clear goals or motivation to pursue them. He was consistently the one who was in charge of the pacing for the training runs and always kept it honest. He embraces challenge and is extremely motivated to get better. Eric sees himself as a lifelong runner. Though he is keenly focused on his individual goals, his altruistic nature makes him care about each and every athlete on the team equally. Eric’s personal growth would not have been nearly as possible without running in his life. His love of running, family, and friends makes him and ideal candidate for this award.
CONGRATULATIONS!
