New course, different weather, but the same champion would be how to describe this year's race. Just like last year, it was Dan O'Brien of Virginia Episcopal winning the Varsity race in a quick time of 16:47. Team wise Patriot took home the highest honor with 81 points.
After last year's monsoon of a meet it was a no-brainer that this year's race would be better. That unfortunately did not mean much faster as there was a big course change. The course change did make the race much tougher but it also made it more exciting and way more indicative of how this season will go.
The race itself started with a nice uphill climb and a loop around the upper fields for the first mile. After that point there was a group of just three athlete - O'Brien, Ethan Pettyjohn, and Zachary Diller - began to separate from the pack. Up the hill they went, together pushing to the second mile mark.
After that point though defending champion Dan O'Brien made a huge move and dropped the field. He went on to win the race by 30 seconds with Pettyjohn in second (17:17) and Mitch Dolby (17:20) in third. Here are the other top 15 finishers.
Team wise it was a two dog race between Patriot and Stafford who finished 1-2 with 81 and 97 points. Stafford had their first four in before Patriot had four but after that it was all Patriot who actually had six in before Stafford. See the team scores below.
| TEAM SCORES |
|---|
| PLACE | TEAM | POINTS | SCORERS | TIMES |
|---|
| 1 | Patriot High School | 81 | 5+7+12+25+32 (39) | 1:20 1-5 Split | 18:11 Avg |
| 2 | Stafford High School | 97 | 6+9+17+19+46 (62+99) | 1:54 1-5 Split | 18:19 Avg |
| 3 | Chancellor | 138 | 13+26+28+35+36 (66) | 0:59 1-5 Split | 18:47 Avg |
| 4 | James Monroe | 143 | 2+3+14+30+94 (114+133) | 3:22 1-5 Split | 18:29 Avg |
| 5 | Forest Park | 173 | 10+22+38+50+53 (54) | 1:41 1-5 Split | 18:56 Avg |
New course, different weather, but the same champion would be how to describe this year's race. Just like last year, it was Dan O'Brien of Virginia Episcopal winning the Varsity race in a quick time of 16:47. Team wise Patriot took home the highest honor with 81 points.
After last year's monsoon of a meet it was a no-brainer that this year's race would be better. That unfortunately did not mean much faster as there was a big course change. The course change did make the race much tougher but it also made it more exciting and way more indicative of how this season will go.
