From the moment the season started, the Western Ablemarle girls had their sights set on it. No matter what, they were going to the Group AA championship. Well after dominating the Jefferson District championship, the Warriors were able take second place at the Region II championship to meet their goal. The top runners on the team have all had their moments this season, and after Emily Moffett took first last week, it was someone else who paced the team this time around.
“I never have any idea who’s going to come across first for us,” said Western coach Katie Pugh. “They were all over the place today and did a really great job.”
On Tuesday it was Claire Johnson who came across the finish line first for the Warriors with her eighth place finish. However, knipping on her heals were some friendly faces. Just 16 seconds after Johnson reached the end, two of her teammates finished as well with Katie Farinia placing 11th and Moffett coming in 15th.
“It’s our thing to run as a pack,” Johnson said. “Emily, Katie and myself, we were talking a lot to each other out there. We were encouraging each other through the hard parts and the big hill. It was really helpful and then I wound up taking off at the end.”
Behind a first place finish from Allison Bartels, Brentsville wound up taking the top spot as a team. The Tigers were able to slide past Western by seven points by placing two runners in the top five and five in the top thirty. Western had four runners finish 21st or better.
Now that they have reached their goal of making the state championship, the Warriors are hoping they can come in third place or better at the event.
“We want a top three finish,” Pugh said. “It’s going to be really tough though. You’ve got really tough competition. I hate to say it, but Blacksburg looks like they’re guaranteed to win it, they’ve got such a strong team, and Hidden Valley’s not far behind them. Now that Brentsville is really coming on strong late in the season, we’re going to really have to go after it to just get third. (Our team is) incredibly optimistic, but they also know that they’re going to have to be on top of their game.”
