CHARLOTTESVILLE, VA -- The top two finishing teams in the varsity boys\' race at the Albemarle Invitational hosted at Panorama Farms made strong statements for their state title bids this fall as Group AA\'s Fort Defiance and Group A\'s Clarke County were able to finish ahead of a field that included many AAA squads.
Fort Defiance, ranked #2 currently in AA behind, were impressive at Albemarle as they appear to be close to their state championship winning form from a year ago. The Indians fit their top four in the top twenty places with Derek Hizer (11th, 16:45.57), Daniel Alonso (15th, 16:51.69), Matt Bailey (16th, 16:52.07), and Daniel Stewart (18th, 16:54.00). While extremely well packed through four runners, an area concern for the Fort Defiance boys has to be their fifth runner who was found over 30 seconds behind their fourth runner in Robby Corbett (48th, 17:29.86). With five runners in well before any other squads at Albemarle, Fort Defiance won by a huge margin of 52 points with their 108 point team total.
Finishing second to Fort Defiance at Panorama was small Group A school, Clarke County with 160 points. The Eagles were able to have almost all five of their runners under 17:30 on the challenging Panorama Farms course, a feat which is tough for many AAA schools to do, much less a Group A school like Clarke County. Leading Clarke County was an impressive individual run by sophomore Simon Biddle Snead, who finished sixth overall in a time of 16:37.89. Snead and teammate Ware Smalley will each have an excellent shot at the Group A individual crown in November. Smalley finished 19th on Saturday with a time of 16:57.07. Clarke County\'s remaining top five was tightly packed in a 5 second span with Daniel Callan (42nd, 17:25.76), Matt Hoyt (44th, 17:27.68), and Mike Leonard (49th, 17:31.09).
Finishing behind Fort Defiance and Clarke County were AAA squads North Stafford (3rd, 164 pts) and Colonial Forge (4th, 166 pts). The Wolverines from North Stafford were led by top fifteen finishes from Alec Meyer (8th, 16:40.75) and Pat Quinn (14th, 16:49.57). The Eagles from Colonial Forge were led by Nick Oltman with an ninth place finishing effort of 16:44.36. The Eagles probably would have fared better in the team standings, but top runner Tony Nowotarski dropped out during the race after setting a hot pace with early race leaders.
That hot pace was set by eventual race winner Patterson Wilhelm of E.C. Glass who was clocked at 4:42 at the mile marker. A chase pack of three was right behind him at 4:45 with Nowotarski, Albemarle\'s Kelly Watt, and Culpeper\'s Devin Cornwall. However, the three second difference at the mile would be the closest any competitors would be to Wilhelm. Wilhelm would cross the line in a time of 16:02.83 with his first big invitational win of the season.
Cornwall would continue what has been an unexpected great fall of cross country for him with a runner-up finishing time of 16:13.82. Massaponax senior Brandon Dick used a conservative early pace to pick off in the end many of the runners who goosed the first mile with a third place finishing performance of 16:22.79. Albemarle\'s Watt held onto fourth place with a personal best performance of 16:29.01.
While the smaller Group AA and A schools took it to the larger AAA schools in the boys\' race, the girls\' race showed the might of AAA. The top three finishing teams were from AAA with race champion Maggie Walker (59 pts), runner-up Brooke Point (80 pts), and third place Colonial Forge (87 pts).
The Maggie Walker girls clearly benefited from the return of Ritchie Vaughan. The Albemarle Invitational was Vaughan\'s first invitational race since the Newport News Invitational in September as she had been battling injury. While nowhere near her top level of fitness, Vaughan\'s eighth place finishing time of 19:51.83 was all her teammates needed from her to propel the Maggie Walker girls to victory. Coach Holdren was able to get strong individual runs from Samantha Dealto (5th, 19:37.05) and Emily Wauford (6th, 19:46.17) to give Maggie Walker three top ten performers. Rounding out the team\'s top five were Stella Askin (22nd, 20:42.01) and Carly Levenson (28th, 21:02.04).
The Brooke Point girls were led by yet another strong race from sophomore Brittany Copeland, who finished third overall with a 19:27.35 clocking. The next fastest Brittany on the Brooke Point squad, Brittany Willhelm, gave the team another top fifteen performer with a time of 20:15.64 for a fifteen place finish. Robin Vanneman (24th, 20:45.22), Claudia Vincenti (25th, 20:46.53), and Christina Markis (31st, 21:06.71) rounded out a formidable five for the Brooke Point girls.
Despite having the top two individual finishers in the race, the Colonial Forge girls were only able to walk out with a third place team finish at Panorama Farms. It was a very impressive showing for Colonial Forge\'s top two runners in Kaylan Comer and Molly Hawkins as they outclassed the field. The two runners established the early pace for the field as they led through the mile mark in 5:40. The two Lady Eagles continued to break away from the field as the race progressed. Comer, merely a freshmen, was able to notch her second invitational win of the season with a personal best time of 19:09.73. Hawkins, a sophomore, had a surprising strong run to snab runner-up honors individually in a time of 19:18.31. Colonial Forge\'s next three finishers were KC Wade (18th, 20:34.95), Molly Leblanc (30th, 21:03.52), and Kelly Doescher (50th, 21:42.57).
CHARLOTTESVILLE, VA -- The top two finishing teams in the varsity boys\' race at the Albemarle Invitational hosted at Panorama Farms made strong statements for their state title bids this fall as Group AA\'s Fort Defiance and Group A\'s Clarke County were able to finish ahead of a field that included many AAA squads.
Fort Defiance, ranked #2 currently in AA behind, were impressive at Albemarle as they appear to be close to their state championship winning form from a year ago. The Indians fit their top four in the top twenty places with Derek Hizer (11th, 16:45.57), Daniel Alonso (15th, 16:51.69), Matt Bailey (16th, 16:52.07), and Daniel Stewart (18th, 16:54.00). While extremely well packed through four runners, an area concern for the Fort Defiance boys has to be their fifth runner who was found over 30 seconds behind their fourth runner in Robby Corbett (48th, 17:29.86). With five runners in well before any other squads at Albemarle, Fort Defiance won by a huge margin of 52 points with their 108 point team total.
Finishing second to Fort Defiance at Panorama was small Group A school, Clarke County with 160 points. The Eagles were able to have almost all five of their runners under 17:30 on the challenging Panorama Farms course, a feat which is tough for many AAA schools to do, much less a Group A school like Clarke County. Leading Clarke County was an impressive individual run by sophomore Simon Biddle Snead, who finished sixth overall in a time of 16:37.89. Snead and teammate Ware Smalley will each have an excellent shot at the Group A individual crown in November. Smalley finished 19th on Saturday with a time of 16:57.07. Clarke County\'s remaining top five was tightly packed in a 5 second span with Daniel Callan (42nd, 17:25.76), Matt Hoyt (44th, 17:27.68), and Mike Leonard (49th, 17:31.09).
Finishing behind Fort Defiance and Clarke County were AAA squads North Stafford (3rd, 164 pts) and Colonial Forge (4th, 166 pts). The Wolverines from North Stafford were led by top fifteen finishes from Alec Meyer (8th, 16:40.75) and Pat Quinn (14th, 16:49.57). The Eagles from Colonial Forge were led by Nick Oltman with an ninth place finishing effort of 16:44.36. The Eagles probably would have fared better in the team standings, but top runner Tony Nowotarski dropped out during the race after setting a hot pace with early race leaders.