CHARLOTTESVILLE, VA -- The Fork Union boys proved their legitimacy as one of the state\'s best cross country teams this fall by simply running away from the competition at the Ragged Mountain Cup including a very strong Western Albemarle squad. In the 4x2 mile relay opener for Charlottesville area schools, Fork Union won by a considerable margin and new course record time as all of top three finishing teams in Fork Union, Western Albemarle, and Louisa County went under the record time. The Albemarle girls also made history in breaking the course record while also winning their first Cup title ever under Coach Lance Weisand.
Fork Union\'s unofficial splits were 10:11 for opening leg Jeremy Haney, 10:15 for second leg Szymon Rola, 10:58 for third leg David Johnson, and 10:20 for anchor leg Axel Mostrag. Coming into this season, Fork Union had a question mark with fifth runner Jamie Reichlen, but he showed he did his work over the summer in running a 10:49 opening leg on FUMA\'s \"B\" relay team. Fork Union had three of the four fastest times on the day as only defending private schools Division II state champion Austin Ellis of Covenant was able to break the trio of Haney, Rola, and Mostrag up by battling Haney to the line on opening leg with a 10:14 split. Fork Union\'s final time of 41:44 put them well under the course record of 43:44 set by Western Albemarle last year.
The defending Cup champions Western Albemarle were expected to challenge Fork Union, but after sophomore James Howard-Smith kept within distance of opening leg Haney with the race\'s fifth fastest split at 10:25, the distance only grew between two Charlottesville area powerhouses. Coach Bain\'s squad looked stronger and faster than last year\'s team as shown by their final time of 42:39 being over a minute faster than they were at this point. Another underclassmen for Western in Kyle Satterwhite also had a strong leg on anchor with a 10:29 split. Seniors Will Massie (10:43) and Chris Post (11:02) ran second and third legs for Western Albemarle. The Warriors will get another crack at Fork Union on Saturday and the battle between the two should be closer over the 3 mile distance and five runner-scored meet.
Louisa County boys were one of the biggest surprises in the meet taking third in a time that also went under Western Albemarle\'s 2005 record time in 43:28. Coach Jerry Cutright\'s crew had three members under 11 minutes on the hilly 3200 meter course with sophomore Thomas Baker on anchor with the best time for the Lions at 10:35. Louisa seniors Jesse Martin (10:55, 2nd leg) and Ehab Hoffman (10:47, 3rd leg) also went under 11 minutes, while opening leg Lawrence Minor was not far off with a 11:11 split. Louisa appears to have a shot at sneaking into that top four at the Region II Meet and challenge squads such as Sherando and John Handley this fall.
Liz Barclay with a 12:29 opening leg and defending AAA state champion Rachel Rose with a 11:41 anchor leg carried the Albemarle girls and Coach Lance Weisand to their first Cup title ever. Rose had the fastest time of the Cup for the second year in a row, while Barclay\'s time was second fastest on the day. Rose had to come from a considerable distance behind to give Albemarle the lead as she trailed Monticello\'s anchor Sarah Tobias by 31 seconds, but caught her by the mile marker. Rose crossed the line with Albemarle\'s overall time of 52:53 setting a new course record and finishing over a minute ahead of runners-up Monticello (53:57).
Monticello was an unexpected second place as they finished ahead of Western Albemarle (54:24) as the Lady Warriors and defending Cup champions were missing several key returnees such as Rachel Hyde and Madeleine Gomez. With all four of their legs within the top 13 fastest times of the day, Monticello took runner-up honors with Holly Rich (5th, 13:05), Tobias (6th, 13:16), Hannah King (11th, 13:44), and Erin Thorpe (13th, 13:52).
Western Albemarle was led by senior Valerie Wilder, who was the only non-Albemarle runner to run under 13 minutes on the day with her time of 12:49 on anchor leg as the third fastest.
Ragged Mountain Cup Photo Gallery by Brandon Miles - Over 400 photos to be posted!