2006 champs FUMA gave them a run,
but Western boys are back as Kings of the Cup!
Led by their big three of James Howard-Smith, Tyler Stutzman, and Kyle Satterwhite, the Western Albemarle boys were able to take back the Ragged Mountain Cup from last year's champs from Fork Union. Fork Union had dominated the Western Albemarle boys last year at Panorama Farms with one of their most talented squads ever in meet record time well under 42 minutes, but it was Western Albemarle coming in this year's race as the favorite. However, Fork Union made it tougher than expected with a 10:06 opener from Jeremy Haney to put the Cadets out in the lead, while Patrick Hayes may have dropped to second on his leg, still posted a fine time of 10:49. New transfer into FUMA from Fuqua School in third leg Darren Simpson gained considerably ground to move FUMA back into the lead going into the anchor leg. However, it was not enough of a lead to hold off a 10:14 split by Kyle Satterwhite for Western, which not only brought his team back, but built over a minute victory for Western Albemarle with their total time of 42:15. Fork Union, which had gave it their best shot to repeat by expending their best three legs before the anchor leg, settled for second in 43:16. Louisa County was only four ticks back in third at 43:20 with a solid 10:27 opener from Lawrence Minor and strong 10:20 close from Thomas Baker. Other top splits included opening legs Logan Collins of Orange County and Austin Ellis of Covenant at 10:17 and 10:20 respectively, while Western Albemarle's Tyler Stutzman had the Cup's fastest at 10:02 on second leg as he had 15 seconds to make up with Haney's swift initial leg to put FUMA out.
First cup title EVER for Monticello!
As favored in the meet preview, Monticello girls under new head coach Doug Bloor came through with consistency on four legs as the only team to have all four runners split under 14 minutes on the challenging 2 mile course at Panorama Farms. Louisa's Hannah Best (12:55 split) put her team out in the lead joining only the day's fastest in Albemarle anchor Liz Barclay (12:25 split) under 13 minutes. Meanwhile, Monticello gained the lead prior to the midway point after Hannah King opened as the team's fastest at 13:30. The Thorpe sisters in sophomore Kylie Thorpe (13:52) and Erin Thorpe (13:59) kept them near the front as Kylie put them in the lead for the first time on second leg. District rival Western Albemarle made them work for their first Cup title though as Erin Plews-Ogan for Western gave her team a three second advantage into the final exchange. However, Monticello junior Holly Rich had the second fastest anchor of the meet behind Barclay at 13:42 to allow her team to win by a margin over 30 seconds. Albemarle's Liz Barclay, ranked #3 in the state currently ran four seconds faster than she did in 2006 when she ran opening leg with the boys to pull her along unlike this year when she ran in no man's land on anchor with a tougher task at hand to post a fast time.
Many of these same teams and individuals will be at the Fork Union Invitational on Saturday, which MileStat.com will again be on-site for with coverage from Brandon Miles. Complete results, photos, videos, and interviews with Western Albemarle coach Lindy Bain, Monticello coach Doug Bloor, Western Albemarle's Tyler Stutzman, and Fork Union's Jeremy Haney to be posted soon!
Ragged Mountain Cup Results: Full Individual - Full Team
Ragged Mountain Cup Photo Gallery - 731 photos by Brandon Miles. Claim yourself and tag your photos!
Ragged Mountain Cup Video Interviews: Coach Bain (Western Albemarle) - Coach Bloor (Monticello) - Tyler Stutzman (Western Albemarle) - Jeremy Haney (Fork Union)
Race Videos: Varsity 4x2M Race Legs #1-2 & Legs #3-4 - JV 2M Race