Between its top two relay teams, the Albemarle girls’ lowest time was good enough of 29th overall. A true testament of the depth this AHS team has, Cathy Coffman not only saw her ‘A’ squad win the girls portion of the Ragged Mountain Cup, but her ‘B’ team managed to place third. None of the four A team runners trailed at the end of their legs of their race and the third place finish was the icing on the top.
“It was rewarding to be ahead, but it was also stressful because we knew that a lot of teams had their fastest runners going last,” Coffman said. “I think mentally we’re tougher than we’ve ever been and we’ve got a lot of racing experience. So not only are we being led by the talent standpoint but everyone from the middle of the pack up has experience so it really sets the tone.”
Allison Huschke, last year’s individual winner who saw her 2011 season end prematurely because of injury, started the 2012 season in similar fashion as she edged St. Anne’s-Belfield’s Maddie Hunter for first place by six seconds with at 12:21. Rounding out the A team for Albemarle was Ciera Ulan, the Patriots lone Group AAA qualifier last year, who came in sixth, Lauren Truwitt, who finished ninth and Mai Toms who was 21st.
“Coming out with the team title was the priority today, so we’re all pretty happy,” Ulan said. “Last year (down the stretch) there was some pressure with some unexpected things happening to us but we learned from it and we’re setting different goals.”
The battle for second place was something to watch. STAB held the second spot through the first three legs but was unable to hang on. Last year’s Jefferson District champion, Fluvanna County, saw Nicole Douma anchor a fourth leg to launch the Flucos from behind St. Anne’s and also overtake Albemarle’s B team. Douma and teammate Devon Burger finished third and fourth respectively indivudally at 12:53 and 12:55. Aiding the Flucos’ finish were Stephanie Bassong and her eighth place finish paired with Brooke Hairslip’s 25th place showing.
Kirstin and Emily Smith towed the line for Albemarle’s B team by running 11th and 12th place races while Carolyn Pugh came through 20th and Lizzy Stewart crossed the line to place 28th. The top eight runners for Albemarle on the day all run the 2-mile course in 14:29 or less.
Monticello’s Isabelle Hermsmeier and Nelson County’s Ramona Bryant made up the rest of the top-10 individual runners with the Mustangs sophomore taking seventh and the Governors junior coming in 10th.
Albemarle boys go 1-3 too
The slogan is pretty simple for Buz Male’s Albemarle program – tradition doesn’t graduate.
Sure, the Patriots lost three of their top runners from last year in national standout Adam Visokay and solid performers Ben Deal and Chris Springer, but that doesn’t look like it will slow this program down. Just like with the girls, not only did an Albemarle relay team win the Ragged Mountain Cup, but the Patriots also placed a squad in third.
“I think the kids that are replacing (the graduated runners) have to feel pretty good,” Male said. “We didn’t make a big deal about how we had to win the cup again this year, but I told them our slogan. A 10th grader led off for us today, someone who didn’t run this race last year for us so that’s pretty cool and that’s how we keep this thing rolling.”
The Albemarle A squad led the race from start to finish with Ryan Thomas and Zach Gentry, the sophomore Male referenced, pacing the way for second and third place overall respectively. Aaron Elder’s time gave his team three runners in the top six and Sam Gillipsie crossed in time to put each member of the group in the top 14.
“I was really proud of the guys, proud to be the anchor for this team and glad we could win it a second year in a row,” Thomas said.
The last two runners to anchor for the Patriots include Adam Visokay and Anthony Kostelac, both runners now for the University of Virginia.
“It was tough to lose those three seniors last year, they were some of my best friends and training partners but we’ve got people stepping up in their shoes and it just speaks to the great program that Coach Male has created here at Albemarle,” Thomas said.” We’ve got around 70 runners for this team this year and we’re just trying to continue and increase on what’s been done here before.”
Miller was on Albemarle’s heels during the first leg of the race thanks to Elias Hubbard’s fifth place showing, but the Mavericks then gave way to Fork Union. The Blue Devils were led by Russ Garver and Peter and Alex Lemong who placed seventh, tied for eighth and tied for 11tth in order. But in the end Western Albemarle bounced from behind both schools to finish second thanks to senior David Taylor who was the individual champion. Taylor blazed through the course at 10:09 to edge Albemarle’s Thomas by 12 seconds.
Taylor’s top showing was followed by Trevor Stutzman and Alex Dejong who were just three seconds apart to earn a tie for either and 10th and Mac Outlaw who finished tied for 19th.
The Patriots B team managed to slip by FUMA to finish third. Keith Montminy led the way as he tied for 11th. Not far behind were teammates Jake Brooks, Nat Pfund and David Kwiatkowski who took 16th, 21st and 26th respectively.
The other top-10 individual performer was Fluvanna’s Chris Markham who had his team in third place as he ran out the first leg for the Flucos. The senior took fifth overall.
