Albemarle's Adrian Lorenzoni told us months in advance his guys' squad was one to watch this XC season. Though we were sure they'd be good, it wasn't until after states that we realized how right he was. His coaching and his assistants' coaching definitely played a big role in that as well.
This November his boys' team would go on to win the 5A State team title in one of the most unexpected finishes we could have imagined. His entire top seven finished before any other team's two five and scored an impressive 95 points to win.
The impressive part of that win in our opinion is how high the score was. Though you could say it was a weak year for 5A, you could also say that is when coaching matters the most. What Adrian and his staff did was bring together a team of guys around a common goal and smartly run together all the way to the state team title. He won this team title without a single All-State individual athlete.
Their finishes at states were 15-17-20-21--22-28-31 amongst scorers. It was enough to win the state team title by six points and beat a tie-breaker if you even took out their fifth runner.
Albemarle has been the runner-up at the State Meet three times and this year they finally broke thru for the win. They also tallied up one of the most impressive team wins ever at the Albemarle Invitational this year as well.
Adrian Lorenzoni is in his third year as Head Coach after taking the helm over after Buzz Male's retirement. This was his seventh overall year coaching at Albemarle.