Going to Burke Lake in November is always a treat, and it is regionals has never been a meet that our team takes for granted. To advance from the Concorde District to the Northern Region meet has always meant that your teams were doing something right, and over 23 years, there has certain been a number of years when either my boys or girls had to stay home as a group.
That being said, the Northern Region Championships is a meet chock full of history, and I am proud that we have had a number of squads or individuals who have left their mark. Over the past 10 years or so, I am proud that both my boys and girls have been players on this stage, and been competing for berths at the state meet.
I have a lot of great memories at Burke Lake, including multiple district and regional team champions, and boys or girls individuals. We, at Chantilly, take a lot of pride in being prepared for regionals, and knowing that to get through our competition, we have to bring our A games. I think, in all of my years of coming here, my most memorable meet was the 2013 regional championships. This was the first year of the (old) new format, which meant that we had just added the Prince William (Cedar Run District) schools into our region. We knew that these programs were not making the region easier, even if it meant that the advancing teams were expanding from 4 to 6.
It had been a bit of a roller coaster year. We were a year removed from winning our first state championship, and had graduated four of our top 7, all Division I athletes. We were blessed with a surprise transfer, in Dakota Lange, who had been an All-State athlete in Utah, but when we looked at our regional and state competition, I remember thinking that Robinson was stacked, and the team to beat, along with Osbourn Park, Battlefield, Lake Braddock, Oakton and Patriot. The season had started out surprisingly well, with a win at Monroe Parker, also at Burke Lake. This gave our team temporary confidence, as we knew we could be competitive.
During the regular season, we definitely took our lumps. We were beaten multiple times by Robinson and Battlefield, and while we knew we could be good, we also knew that our competition was sound. It didn't help at district's either, when Robinson beat us fairly handily. Our goal all along was the state meet, and defending our title, but I remember thinking that we were going to have to be at our best, and maybe get a little bit of help.
What makes regionals so memorable was the fact that our boys won the championship, with 100 pts, with Battlefield and Osbourn Park close behind. I don't know that I remember thinking that I expected this. I remember thinking that Robinson was the team to look for, and while I thought we had beaten Robinson at the end, I didn't think we had won until I saw the results. It was very exciting, and our boys' faith in their abilities were renewed.
Our girls didn't advance to states that year, although for team that had deal with its fair share of injuries and youth, they still finished 7th, 3 points out of a state berth. We had one girl advance to the state meet. One other aspect of the 2013 Regional championships that I remember was just how fast the times were. The region was incredibly deep that year. On the boys side, the top 15 all ran under 15:30 for the 2.98 miles, and I remember our top girl running 18:11, and only finishing 17th.
The boys' performance at Regionals was definitely a pre-cursor for a tremendous state meet. I'm not sure that we ran a perfect regional race, but I know that we ran well. Winning, though, renewed their belief that they could defend our 2012 state championship. A week later, we used the same tactics...2 guys (Ryan McGorty and Dakota Lange) finishing in the top 5, a strong middle group (Adam Huff and Peter Malander) finishing in the low 20s, and a 5th man (Evan Compton), who knew that it was his job to beat everyone else's #5, and minimize the gaps. We went after the same teams as we had at regionals, and familiarity and experience paid off. We took our 2nd straight team state championship with a 2 pt margin over LB, a 4 pt gap over Robinson & Battlefield (tied for 3rd & 4th), and 7 pts out was Osbourn Park in 5th. We understood the value of each man having a job to do, and every single places making a difference. It was a feeling of euphoria, I won't forget.
The thing of it is, though, that I don't remember us doing anything special leading up to the meet. Our philosophy was in keeping things even-keeled, and treating each meet as the same. Our workouts over the season involved keeping the mileage reasonably high into late September/early October, to build a good base, and then mixed a healthy mix of tempo and fartleks into it. The weeks leading up to regionals didn't have a ton of substance....alot of rest, and some short fast work to stay sharp, but the preparation was months of training in the making, and not any one workout. We had set lofty goals from the get-go, and pointed to them, and fortunately, we peaked when we had planned to.
I will say that this might not have been our absolute best performance at regionals...just the most memorable. Our 2012 regionals was easily my best team, with the boys winning with a regional record 39 points, and putting 4 guys in the top ten, and Sean McGorty running 14:19 for the win (2nd fastest all time). That year, our girls also qualified, with a 3rd place finish, and qualified for states for the first time since 2001, in a format when only 4 teams advanced. We went on that year to win the state championship handily, and ended up with a top 10 national ranking, and the girls finishing 6th in the state, which was their best since 2000. 2012 was a year when anything that could go right, did go right, and it is a group which I will never ever forget.
I've had other teams that have gotten out of the regional meet, and then surprised me with their state performances (2014 & 2016), but 2013 was the year when we won a meet that we didn't expect, and it carried us to one of the closest state meet finishes in history.
I'm proud to of my boys and girls' performances in the Northern Region meet, and it is a history I value dearly. The number of athletes and teams who had advanced over the years have been some of the best in state history, and I am humbled to know that a few of my teams can be listed amongst the absolute best in Burke Lake lore.