VHSL Group 6A
State Meet Page - 6A Preview - 5A Preview - 4A Preview - 3A Preview - 2A Preview -1A Preview
Virtual Meets: 6A - 5A - 4A - 3A - 2A - 1A
With a shocking injury to the defending champion, Rachel McArthur (Patriot), the landscape of the 6A classification meet has changed drastically in the past week. The new main show will definitely be the great team battle that will take place between Lake Braddock, James Madison, and Oakton on the girls' side. Oakton is the twice-defending champions and always run their best race at States, you cannot count them out. They are led by Casey Kendall and Jill Bracaglia who were second and third respectively at the 6A North meet. They may be the team that has taken home the trophy the past couple years but they are definitely going to have the hardest road to another title.
Both James Madison and Lake Braddock bring to Great Meadow impressive squads that are both ranked #2 and #3 in the state of Virginia. Lake Braddock got the best of them last week at the 6A North Championships but it will be a lot closer this weekend at Great Meadow. Lake Braddock is led by superstar Kate Murphy who comes into the meet with a season best time of 17:37 as the #1 ranked girl in 6A. Devon Williams and Morgan Wittock (James Madison) are going to have to make some moves though as they will be looking to squeeze between Lake Braddock's front two.
With a meet of this size (104 athletes in a race) the scoring becomes most important for the third and fourth runner. In the Braddock & Madison matchup the team title winner will likely be who finishes their third runner first. Oakton has a little tougher task and will be looking to score their first four in before the other two. Though on paper things look pretty even, you cannot ignore Lake Braddock as the favorite for both winning at 6A North and based on the fact that their entire varsity team pr'd at states a year ago.
Ocean Lakes and Cosby, who went 1-2 at the 6A South region, could also be some teams to watch this weekend. Both of these teams are peaking at the right time.
On the individual front Kate Murphy has a 20 second lead over any of her competition and also returns as the highest placing individual from a year ago. Rachel Northcutt (Cosby - Freshman) enters the State Championship having run 17:57 already this year as only a freshman and after having won the 6A South crown. As a freshman, Northcutt definitely lacks the experience but makes up for it with raw talent. If she responds well and comes ready to run we could have the close race we were hoping for.
Unlike the girls' side of things, the boys' side features a very dominant Lake Braddock squad that is going for back-to-back titles with hopefully no one close behind. They enter the meet having just scored the second lowest team score ever at 6A North and went 1-2 with Colin Schaefer and Ben Fogg. This team is a special group that have all bought into the plan and look to complete it this weekend at Great Meadow.
Cosby, James Madison, Forest Park, and James Robinson will all be fighting very closely for the runner-up position and for that trophy.
Though the Northern Region has dominated this race for many years, this year a South Region runner, Jonathan Lomogda (Cox - senior) enters the meet as the guy to beat. He has run a very fast 14:56 so far this season which is way ahead of any competitor. He will look to become the first South runner to win a title since 2009.
Competing with Lomogda will be Grant Northcutt (Cosby - sophomore), Colin Schafer (Lake Braddock - senior), and Robert Lockwood (W.T. Woodson - senior). These four guys plus a couple other Lake Braddock guys are all right near 15:30 at this point in the season.
Though both races feature nationally great runners, over 5K anything can happen and with the talent that is in 6A both individually and team wise there is no room for mistakes this weekend.