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THE PLAINS, VA -- The Jamestown boys cross country team made a formidable claim to being
the outright top team in the state of Virginia, regardless of class, as they won the Group AA
State Cross Country Meet at Great Meadows. Along with Jamestown heading into the state meet,
there was a group of five teams with AAA's Maggie Walker, Midlothian, West Springfield, and
Thomas Jefferson that were going up to battle for who in fact was the best team in the state of
Virginia. Out of the five squads, Jamestown (Group AA squad) had the least likely chance as
they wouldn't have nearly the same amount of team competition to push them as in Group AAA.
They were also coming off a dismal regional performance where they got subpar performances from
almost their entire squad as they just squeaked by a regional title. There were quite a few
doubters who believed the squad was burning out or breaking under the pressure of being the
favorite and being nationally ranked. Well all eyes were on them at the state meet and that is
where they performed their finest of the year.
At last week's Region I Meet, Jamestown senior Bryce Ruiz was trying to obliterate the Loriella Park course record of 16:17 as he was on pace to break 15:30 with 200 yards left in the race. However, due to a lack of potassium and electrolytes in his system, his nervous system shut down caused him to collapse and crawl in to finish. Recovered from the traumatic experience, Ruiz changed his gameplan today as he ran very conservative to ensure he in fact finished the race and to run for his team, rather than trying to pursue individual glory. This unselfish decision by Ruiz was pivotal in securing a title for the Jamestown squad as he his part taking fifth in the race with a time of 15:49.2. A quite impressive time considering he was holding back.
Despite Ruiz being the team front runner, the fate of this team's success relied on the stellar races by junior Jonna Reinhardt and senior Tony Davila. Running as the team's #2 and #3 runners, they separated themselves far ahead of any other squad's #2 and #3 runners, giving the Jamestown squad an incredible advantage over other squads. Reinhardt finished 9th in the race with a time of 16:28.2 and Davila finished 13th with a time of 16:29.2 as both runners joined Ruiz in earning all-state honors. Finishing out the Eagles' top five were Brandon Miles (35th, 17:05.7), and Phillip Cooke (60th, 17:34) to give the squad a team score of 88 points, which placed them well ahead of second place Rockbridge County who had 102 points.
To top things off for the Eagles, in the combined state meet races results, the Eagles placed ahead of Group AAA race winner Maggie Walker 196-202. However, different races under slightly different conditions makes a #1 ranking in the state based on combined race results for the Eagles unofficial, although implied.