Stories

Cross Country Madness

A lot of teams talk about trust and how it’s a cornerstone of their program.

Albemarle’s boys cross country team lived it to the fullest Wednesday afternoon.

The Patriots entered the Conference 16 meet as the hands-down favorite to win the meet and easily move on to the 5A North meet. But in an effort to build the program for the future and for coach Buz Male to show just how much he trusts everyone in the lineup, Albemarle sat its top seven runners.

“I woke up at 4 o’clock this morning going ‘have I lost my mind’ but I’m really happy with the results,” Male said.

He went to star runner Ryan Thomas first and asked what he thought and Thomas was supportive, even though his final season of cross country now rested on the shoulders of a pack of young runners. If they failed to win or place second, Thomas and the rest of the Patriots’ season would’ve ended right there at Panorama Farms.

“I said ‘do you care if I run other people and that means you won’t be all conference’ and he said ‘no, I think it’d be great’ and that’s just the kind of kid he is,” Male said.

Thomas never really had to worry though, as the Patriots performed to perfection, rolling to an easy victory over second place Patrick Henry-Ashland.

“You know what’s more important than the rest for the other guys? Those guys (that ran) knowing I believe in them,” Male said. “I really did it because (I trust them) and I wanted them to be all-Conference. There’s five guys (in that group) that are going to be on this team next year.”

Albemarle’s Henry Cohen won individually and after Patrick Henry’s Logan Harper crossed in second place, the Patriots snagged six of the next eight slots, with Will Law, Cyrus Legard, Jack Bailey and Gabe Giacalone scoring for the Patriots.

Cecil Tiblin of Orange took ninth and advanced to the 5A North meet along with Ian Tiblin and David Woods.

On the girls side, Albemarle also rested some runners and still took home the title, with Orange County finishing second as both local schools qualified for the 5A North meet. It’ll be Orange’s first trip to regionals since the 1970s. Emily Smith, Olivia Lewis, Lauren Visokay, Savannah Maxwell and Sheila Ford scored for the Patriots and all five finished in the top 10.

Orange’s Caroline Marquis took second just two seconds off winner Amy Dunham of Patrick Henry’s pace. Helen Gilliam took fifth for the Hornets and Amanda Berube snagged seventh. Shannon Woods and Taylor Carr rounded out the scoring for the Hornets.

Fluvanna girls win Conference 23 meet

Nikki Douma and Devon Burger left little doubt, taking first and second Wednesday in Harrisonburg in the Conference 23 meet. Douma clocked in at 20:06 and Burger crossed the finish line a little more than a minute later at 21:07. Along with Bridget Bossong’s seventh, Elle Smialek’s eighth and Annaliese Estes’ 10th, it was more than enough for the Fluvanna girls to coast to the conference title with second place Handley nearly 20 points back. The team win moves the Flucos on to the 4A North meet.

Samantha Madison took sixth individually for Louisa County while Kellyn Kusyk checked in at ninth to lead Charlottesville’s contingent.

Charlottesville’s boys also advanced to the 4A North meet, edging third place Harrisonburg with 51 points. Warren Riley Covert won the individual title to spearhead the Black Knights’ effort, and Malloy OWen checked in in fourth place. David Cohn took 13th and Lukas Houpt snagged 16th. Travis Moe took fifth individually for Fluvanna while Justice Anderson, Raeshawn Bishop and Noah Jones took 12th, 14th and 15th for Louisa.

John Handley won the boys conference title with 30 points, including five top 10 finishers.

Western boys and girls sweep Conference 29 meet, MHS girls advance

There are dominant finishes in cross country and then, just a notch above, there’s what Western Albemarle did Tuesday in the Conference 29 boys meet.

The Warriors placed seven runners in the Top 10, with Gannon Willcutts’ championship effort leading the way as he clicked in at 16:30. After Waynesboro’s Devin Kestner crossed in second, a pack of Willcutts’ teammates flowed in, with Chris Ferguson, Nathaniel Hashisaki, Trevor Stutzman and Andrew de Jong taking third through sixth place. Cole Dickerson of Monticello interrupted the stream of Warriors in seventh, but the break lasted less than a second as Cy Webb and Henry Cohen rounded out the Western effort in eight and ninth.

The Warriors’ 19-point performance left them the conference champion by 54 points over second place Turner Ashby and now the Warriors are pointed toward the 3A West Region meet.

The Western girls put together a similarly dominant performance even with a couple of key runners sitting out. The Warriors rolled to first place by sweeping the top five, beating second place Fort Defiance by 57 points.  Faith Reid, Sarah Rainey, Kelsey Tarleton and Caroline Outlaw’s finished first through fourth for the Warriors and Nina Williams took sixth to round out the scoring, with individual Turner Ashby runner Chloe Robinson in fifth. Annie Ligush from Monticello took seventh while Deborah Ayres-Brown, Javeneh Brown and Sarah Modlin grabbed eighth through 10th for the Warriors.

Other results

Goochland’s boys cross country rolled to an easy win in the Conference 34 meet, with Cary Pillow, Reid Caudill and Tucker Huffman taking second, third and fourth behind individual champ Cris Morales of Nottoway. Jontey Mosley took third for the Bulldogs in the Conference 34 girls race, but the Bulldogs didn’t qualify as a team for the region level, finishing third behind Nottoway and Amelia.

William Monroe’s Anthony Houchens snagged a fifth place finish in the Conference 28 race this week to qualify for regionals. Adam March checked in at 11th for the Dragons. William Monroe’s girls squad got strong performances from Morgan Prior and Courtney Sigloh (10th and 11th respectively) and advanced several runners to the region meet out of the Conference 28 race.

Nelson County’s James Ballowe won the Conference 36 boys race, clocking in at 16:26 to easily win the title… Jacob Welch of Madison County took fifth in the Conference 35 meet to advance to the 2A East region meet.

Micaila Coleman won the girls Conference 37 title for Buckingham and the Knights’ squad placed third to advance to regional meet. Four of Buckingham’s boys also advanced to regional meet.

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