MANASSAS, VA -- SAT\'s and homecoming dates had plenty of runners at this year\'s Glory Days Grill Invitational held at Bull Run Regional Park attempting a juggling act and being crunched for time on a pleasant and Sunny Saturday. Thankfully, a fast 5K course layout allowed runners to finish their races quickly to head off to the next destination.
W.T. Woodson senior Sarrah Hadiji wasted no time finishing her race as the defending 3200 meter indoor state champion pulled away from Quince Orchard (MD) senior Cara Harrison (3rd, 18:28 to post her second fastest 5K time ever at 18:16 for the Glory Days Grill victory.
Seeded boys race champion Mike Spooner of West Springfield executed a nearly identical race strategy as Hadiji in breaking away in the final half mile as Spooner looked effortless in leaving Nick Bax of St. Alban\'s (DC) in the final mile to cruise in for a 15:24 win. Bax had an impressive run to challenge Spooner has he came in 10 seconds later in 15:34 for second place.
Robert E. Lee senior Josef Tessema had his best race of the season this fall in finishing third overall with a time of 15:49 as a total of nine runners went under 16 minutes including Virginians Chris Tyson of Washington-Lee (4th, 15:52), Ben Dejarnette of Atlee (6th, 15:57), Alex Martis of West Springfield (8th, 15:58), and Simon Biddle-Snead of Clarke County (9th, 15:59).
The Potomac School\'s Johns Ross is the king of \"B\" division races this season as he won the race at Glory Days in a personal best time of 16:14 after having won a similar race division at the Great Meadows Invitational in September.
Spooner\'s Spartans were in a close battle as well with SE #8 Quince Orchard of Maryland, but it would Coach Seann Pelkey\'s crew from Maryland that would come out on top with their second major invitational win in Virginia in as many weeks.
Quince Orchard\'s depth played a key role in the 11 point victory over SE #7 West Springfield as they placed seven runners ahead of West Springfield\'s fifth runner.
Quince Orchard juniors Neal Darmoody (13th, 16:02) and David Laratta (14th, 16:05) led the team with top 15 finishes. Senior Greg Bove (25th, 16:29) and juniors Artem Panasenkov (44th, 16:45), and Mike Midgall (46th, 16:46) rounded out the team\'s scoring to nearly put six runners under 17 minutes on the quick 5K course with junior Jeremiah Joson (61st, 17:00) running sixth for the team.
The gap could have been great between Quince Orchard and West Springfield as one of the team\'s top runners in Reagan Lynch had an off day in 73rd place with a time of 17:06.
Spooner is the top ranked runner in the state and now West Springfield have one of the best duos in the state given the recent improvements made by fellow Spartans senior Alex Martis as he made his first appearances in the AAA state rankings a few weeks ago and at Glory Days, posted a personal best 5K time of 15:58 to finish eighth against some solid competition.
Like Quince Orchard, West Springfield also had a runner with a subpar race that could have swung the team scoring in their favor also with senior Leo Walker (29th, 16:33) finishing further back than Coach Vic Kelbaugh would have liked. However, junior Loring Ross continues to run well this season as he stepped up into the number three spot in 27th place at 16:31.
It was actually quite surprising how well West springfield finished in the Glory Days field given the fact the size of the field was double the size found at Maymont in which West Springfield\'s fifth runner did not hurt them as much. However, West Springfield junior Alex Kinglsey pulled through with a decent race as the team\'s fifth runner in 88th place (17:20). Nonetheless, other regional foes such as Oakton and Thomas Jefferson were expected to pounce on the opportunity to expose West Springfield\'s lack of depth after four, but neither Oakton nor Thomas Jefferson were able to take advantage on Saturday.
Oakton finished third with 180 points, while Thomas Jefferson was a distance fifth with 233 points as defending Group A state champions Clarke County slipped ahead in fourth with 225 points.
Oakton was led up front by Joe LoRusso (15th, 16:09) and Alex Nissen (16th, 16:10). Despite having five more finishers in before West Springfield\'s Kingsley, Oakton did not have enough fire power up front to match up with West Springfield\'s tough top four with Brian Hendricks (32nd, 16:35), Matt Saunders (48th, 16:47), Tony Smith (71st, 17:05), Russel Fielding (75th, 17:09), and Chris Weil (82nd, 17:16). Coach Kelbaugh at West Springfield and Coach Phil Tiller at Oakton may want to make a trade to find the missing pieces both teams are looking for. A front runner for a fifth man.
While warriors in battle on Saturday, Quince Orchard and coach Seann Pelkey are now the biggest fans of the West Springfield boys as they Spartans enter championship season and eventually will have their first head-to-head encounter with SE #1 Midlothian in the AAA race at the VHSL State Cross Country Meet.
Quince Orchard definitely has a fine squad this season and will have another tough squad next season with only two seniors in their top seven. Quince Orchard also had a junior break 17 minutes in the varsity B race with Ryan Priovolos finishing ninth in a time of 16:48.
The team finish among the seeded girls at Glory Days showed there are a lot of teams in the hunt for the four state qualifying spots in November out of the Northern Region. While last year\'s regional champion and current #5 AAA ranked Oakton faltered to an eight place team finish on Saturday, several other teams stepped it up considerably to gain attention and notice for the upcoming championship season.
Coach Don Beeby\'s West Potomac girls (135 pts) looked great in a 20 point victory over Chantilly (155 pts), who also surpassed expectations with their team\'s finish at Bull Run. The Lady Wolverines of West Potomac were led by one of the region\'s most improved runners in Elizabeth Heath as she garnered a fourth place individual finish with her time of 18:33. The team was very tough through four as all were under 20 minutes and in the top 25 places with Heath, freshmen Kelsey Rosenberg (20th, 19:24), freshmen Julianna Bigler (23rd, 19:27), and senior Kelly Jemison (25th, 19:34). There was a decent gap until their fifth runner crossed the line in senior Brooke Regensburg, but their top four was too tough for any team to overcome as they put four in before second place Chantilly, third place James Robinson, and fourth place West Springfield\'s second runner.
Chantilly coach Matt Gilchrist will certainly take the runner-up team finish to West Potomac by his girls as suddenly the Lady Chargers have a rare opportunity to make out of the region. Chantilly was paced by their star runner in sophomore Lia DiValentin as she turned in a seventh place effort time of 18:49. The next four finishers for Chantilly were close together with senior Natalie Shaw (33rd, 19:48) closely followed in by teammates Hilary Baird (34th, 19:49), Kristen Witek (41st, 20:01), and Eileen Foley (45th, 20:05).
James Robinson, ranked #6 in AAA, was definitely caught off guard as was Oakton by the team performances by West Potomac and Chantilly, but the race is far from over between these Northern Region teams. Coach Jeremy Workman\'s girls had a truly breakthrough run from sophomore Stephanie Bray with a sixth place run of 18:45 as she continues to work her way up this fall as one of the region\'s top runners.
Unfortunately for Bray and James Robinson, the time gap after her was too large to contend with West Potomac and Chantilly with Madeline Collins (39th, 19:58), Monia Criman (46th, 20:08), Ashley Swim (49th, 20:13), and Anna Hovland (52nd, 20:15) all finishing within 17 seconds of one another, but need to work on the 1 minute and 13 seconds that exists between Bray and the rest of the team in order to get out of the regional meet in a several weeks.
AAA #10 ranked West Springfield was just off of a top three podium finish as they were three points behind Robinson in fourth with 188 points. The Lady Spartans were led by two freshmen in Alex Watt (26th, 19:37) and Paige Kvartunas (27th, 19:37) as they came in together with identical times.