So 9:42 might not sound fast for two miles for a runner of the caliber of Tyler Stutzman with track bests of 9:15 for 3200 meters and 4:14 for 1600 meters, but the Western Albemarle senior broke well under 10 minutes on a hilly and challenging two mile layout at Panorama Farms on a hot and humid afternoon for the 2008 Ragged Mountain Cup. It was an amazing feat, which should be taken seriously by all other top runners in the state of potential great things to come from Stutzman. He broke his own course record by 20 seconds from a year ago and also bested the previous best times on the older version of the two mile course for the Cup by a dozen seconds with his sensational anchor leg for the Western Albemarle Warriors. Many outstanding cross country runners have failed to come close to breaking 10 minutes at the Cup and Stutzman today simply shattered the barrier.
Stutzman needed to roll too as the Albemarle boys gave the defending Cup champions all they could handle through all four legs with Garrett Bradley (10:41), Evan Karweik (11:06), Anthony Kostelac (10:11), and Luke Noble (10:14). Western Albemarle got out to a 24 second lead thanks to a 10:17 opening split by James Howard-Smith, but Albemarle moved themselves into first by seven seconds on their second leg Karweik to force Western's Kyle Satterwhite on third leg to do some chasing in order to get his team back into the race. Despite missing the majority of his summer training due to a stress fracture, Satterwhite showed great fitness or guts in a 4:50 first mile and finishing out with the second fastest split of the Cup at 10:03 to move ahead of a strong leg by Albemarle's Kostelac.
Kostelac handed off to Noble only a second or two behind the Satterwhite to Stutzman exchange as Noble stayed on Stutzman for the first mile, but no runner in the Cup today or in past Cup's was going to be able to hold onto a 9:42 performance thrown down by Stutzman. Western Albemarle broke Fork Union's Cup record time from two years ago in 41:39, while the Albemarle boys were much faster than a year ago in a fourth place finish with their runner-up effort of 42:12. Western Albemarle was able to overcome adversity in running without two of their potential top five runners in Adrian Sitler and Carlos Gomez, while Albemarle was missing Nathan Rouse.
The same two schools were battling out for first in the girls race between Albemarle and Western Albemarle. While the individual stars carried the Western Albemarle boys to a victory over a deeper Albemarle squad, the Albemarle girls had the best of both worlds in great depth and the top individual performer in the meet in senior Liz Barclay. Barclay, racing in trainers as precaution with a tender ankle, once again had the fastest split of the Cup for a second year with a nearly identical time of 12:28 on anchor leg. Her teammates did their job with Emma Spano (13:08) establishing the early lead with the fifth fastest split of the Cup, while Rachel Hopkins (13:43) and Summer Sheperd (13:51) fought off challenges by the Western Albemarle girls.
The Western girls got back in the race from a strong second leg by freshmen Katie Farina with the Cup's fourth fastest split overall at 12:59. Barclay had six seconds to make up in the final leg as she needed to chase down Western Albemarle sophomore Clair Johnson. Johnson did all she could with the second fastest split of the race at 12:47, but Barclay was determined to bring her team back for the victory in an overall time of 53:06. Western Albemarle finished 23 seconds later in 53:29.
The depth of the Albemarle girls was even more evident with the performance of their "B" relay placing third overall in 55:50 with three others running well into the 13's and actually faster than two of the legs on the "A" team with Elizabeth Sinclair (13:36), Ana Sophie Bjorquil (13:33), and Mason Wood (13:24).
Monticello's Holly Rich not only ran a swift anchor leg to dip under 13 minutes in 12:58 and pull her team into fifth place, but also was honored with the Kelly Watt award as one athlete from the Ragged Mountain Cup was selected in a drawing from the parents of Kelly Watt among nominations by the coach of each team participating in the Cup of an athlete who exhibits the same great qualities and attributes which made the late Kelly Watt (a 2004 graduate of Albemarle High School) a role model runner and person.
Ragged Mountain Cup Results: Team Results - Individual Results - JV Race Results
Ragged Mountain Cup Interviews: Kyle Satterwhite (Western Albemarle) - Coach Male (Albemarle) - Coach Bain (Western Albemarle) - Steve Murray (Owner of Panorama Farms)
Ragged Mountain Cup Race Videos: Varsity Relay Race - JV Race
Photos to come!