Photos by: John Herzog
Going into states it was clear that we had a great race ahead of us. James Madison entered as the favorite but twice defending champions Lake Braddock could not be counted out. In fact, if you take a look at the footage the race was even closer than it seems. It literally was a race of inches that if two athletes switched places by a fraction of a second would have ended in a tie-breaker.
You can be sure that the prevailing message from both coaches was to go after the other team. James Madison boys needed to catch and pass Lake Braddock and vice-a-versa.
Boys 6A Team Scores (Full Results):
TEAM SCORES PLACE TEAM POINTS SCORERS TIMES 1 James Madison 63 5+8+12+14+24 (30+74) 0:47 1-5 Split | 16:10 Avg 2 Lake Braddock 66 2+6+13+20+25 (36+50) 1:14 1-5 Split | 16:07 Avg 3 Chantilly 118 3+16+26+28+45 (46+82) 1:29 1-5 Split | 16:30 Avg 4 Oakton 137 4+27+32+33+41 (54+79) 1:21 1-5 Split | 16:36 Avg 5 West Springfield 144 15+18+31+37+43 (47+53) 0:45 1-5 Split | 16:44 Avg 6 Patriot High School 146 19+22+23+34+48 (51+62) 0:38 1-5 Split | 16:45 Avg 7 Cox 176 1+21+44+52+58 (61+73) 2:04 1-5 Split | 16:46 Avg 8 Western Branch High School 213 10+40+42+57+64 (65+75) 1:35 1-5 Split | 17:00 Avg 9 Manchester High School 217 17+29+55+56+60 (67+80) 1:03 1-5 Split | 17:05 Avg 10 Cosby 219 7+9+63+69+71 (72+83) 1:56 1-5 Split | 16:59 Avg 11 Ocean Lakes 243 11+35+59+68+70 (77+78) 1:40 1-5 Split | 17:11 Avg 12 Forest Park 268 38+39+49+66+76 (81+84) 1:06 1-5 Split | 17:22 Avg
That is just what James Madison did. They stepped up big time and did what they had to to walk away with their school's first ever boys xc team title. This victory was especially sweet for those returners who fell just short last year behind Lake Braddock's squad.
To win this title James Madison performed at their highest when they needed it most. Even if the scores were changed though, they would have still walked away with the team title had this race gone to a tie-breaker.
Photo Coverage
Their first finisher, Sean Grimm out sprinted Tyler Lawson by under a second. Zachary Holden was second for Madison and finishing third for them in 18th place was Patrick Murphy who scored 12 points and finished just a second faster than Evan Chase. Behind Lake Braddock's Chase though was Chamberlain Zulauf who scored 14 points for Madison. Finally bringing home James Madison was sophomore Kevin Murphy (pictured below). John Rogers scored 30 points as the sixth man tie-breaker.
This is why Cross Country is the greatest sport. It truly takes a team effort to win a title and James Madison performed the best when it mattered the most.
This is what the state meet essentially came down to:
Though they eventually fell short, Lake Braddock also really stepped up for States. They battled injuries all year and for the first time were major underdogs. They did everything they could at states and came very close to getting that title back. You could in fact make the argument that they were the most improved team at states and Connor Lyons up front stepped up huge to finish in the top three overall.