A pack mentality was enough of a spark last year to lead Albemarle’s boys cross country team to a Class 5 state title.
They’re building on that approach in 2018 too, cruising to a Region 5D title Tuesday in Penn Laird. Five Albemarle boys runners separated by just 21 seconds finished between second and seventh place with Orange County’s Ethan Pettyjohn breaking up the Albemarle contingent with his fifth place finish. Those five runners netted Albemarle an incredibly low score of 22 as a team, easily outpacing second place Stafford who finished with 60 points on the day.
Junior Will Mackenzie got it started with his runner-up finish behind Stafford’s individual champion Paul Sepulveda while Albemarle sophomore Joe Yung took third and Cutter Huston took fourth. After Pettyjohn in fifth, junior J.D. MacKnight and junior Harris Naseh grabbed sixth and seventh to round out the Patriots’ dominant performance.
Albemarle junior Samuel Tamblre took 15th. If he and 17th place Albemarle runner Stephen Smith had been the fourth and fifth runners, the Patriots would’ve still won by a sizable margin.
Pettyjohn’s performance highlighted the day for the Hornets who finished seventh overall. Bobby Lee took 33rd for the Hornets and Ryder Rose finished 42nd.
The Albemarle boys and Pettyjohn will compete at the Class 5 state championships November 10.
Albemarle girls win Region 5D title
She’s just a sophomore, but Arianna DeBoer helped Albemarle’s girls cross country team make some serious noise as the Region 5D championships Tuesday. DeBoer clocked a 20:15.8 to win the individual title and spark the Patriots to a team championship with a score of 38 cruising past Mountain View’s runner-up total of 69.
Behind DeBoer’s blazing race, Madelyne Zarzyski took fifth for the Patriots, Sarah Leach took seventh, Grace Kohler took 10th and senior Elynore Zarzyski took 14th to round out the scoring. Madeline Kronenbusch’s 16th or Skye Southall’s 22nd place finishes would’ve still been more than enough to lift the Patriots as the fifth runner.
Orange’s girls finished eighth as a team, with Kylie Trask’s 37th place finish leading the way for the Hornets.
The Albemare girls will compete as the Class 5 state meet November 10.
