LoCo State Meet Recap



This year's VHSL State Championships was a spectacle worth remembering. It featured a great mixture of defending team champions and teams who did not qualify for this meet a year ago. All Loudoun County schools who had individuals or teams qualified for the class 4-6 state meet ran at Great Meadow, with the exception of first year Independence High School (who ran at Green Hill Park in the 3A division). Eight teams and 16 individuals qualified for the states. Three teams went home with a plaque: there were two state championships, and one state runner-up. 24 Loudoun County runners finished in an all-state fashion. Read more in-depth details below to find out who went home with all-state finishes, PR's, and trophies. 


  • Briar Woods High School: Aidan Nathan and Nicole Winklosky were the two individuals that ran at the 5A state championships. Aidan finished with an all-state place- 9th with a time of 16:14. He greatly improved on his placement from last year's state meet. Additionally, Winklosky, a sophomore, ran her second state cross country meet and finished in 38th place (20:36). 

  • Broad Run High School: Broad Run senior and University of Virginia commit, Ellie Desmond, was the only Spartan to run at the state meet. She ran an 18:21 which gave her a finisher in 3rd place. It has been a season of volatile placements for her, but her hard work-with no doubt-served her right at the end of her season. Also, Ellie will most likely be running unattached at the VA Showcase in January, since Broad Run does not have an indoor track team. 

  • Dominion High School: The fastest freshman to ever run at a state meet for Dominion is Lia Pugsley. She qualified for the state meet alone and ran a time of 20:03. She finished her amazing first season with placing in the top 25 in the state. Lia will be running during the indoor season, so we cannot wait to discover her future accomplishments in the world of running. 

  • Freedom High School: Freedom was one of the four schools to have both teams qualified for the state meet, the girls getting 4th with 119 points and the boys getting 3rd with 93 points. The girls team had two all-state finishers: Mackenzie Keller (8th, 19:24) and Madison Garber (14th, 19:30). Abigail Church missed all-state by one place, running a 19:40. Jessica Borden ran sub 21 and finished in 53rd. Teammates Carleigh Fick (59th, 21:10), Bailey Elliott (62nd, 21:14), and Aislinn Garcia (95th, 22:25) also helped the girls with the 4th place finish. The boys had three runners who finished with an all-state time: Daniel Gittelman, Clark Smith, and Ryan Borden. Gittelman ran a 16:02, a PR, and finished his senior cross country season with a 5th place finish at the state meet. Smith finished in 10th with a 16:15. Both Gittelman and Smith improved on their time and placement from last year's state meet. Borden ran at his first state cross country meet, and placed 14th, 16:19. Joshua Gittelman went sub 17 and finished in 36th. Senior Travis Nguyen finished his first state meet in 49th with a 17:07. Twins Subodh and Sumedh Julapalli both ran their second cross country state meet, with Subodh finishing in 68th with a 17:30, and Sumedh finishing in 92nd with an 18:19. 

  • Heritage High School: Heritage had two individuals qualified for the state meet: Jenny Schilling and Ryan Pendergast each went home with an all-state finish. Jenny Schilling ran her second state cross country meet with a 19 flat and finished in 12th. Pendergast did not qualify for the state meet last year, but obtained an all-state finish his senior year, placing 14th and running a 16:18. 

  • Independence High School: Junior Charlie Blundell clocked a fast time on Saturday, running away with a new PR and an all-state finish. Last year Blundell ran for Rock Ridge at the state meet with a 16:59. This year he ran a 16:12, finishing in 11th, improving his placement from last year by 11.

  • John Champe High School: John Champe is the second team in Loudoun County to bring both girls and boys to states. The boys team finished in 8th place, with 210 points. Senior Kyle Lauffenberger finished first on the boys side, running a 16:32 and finishing in 22nd. Gregory Dalla finished the season with a PR of 19:50 in 36th place. Sean Scott and Jack Buchanan finished within 2 seconds of each other, placing them in 72nd and 75th (17:41, 17:43). Teammates Ty Nishiyama, Brady Thoden, and Faisal Alseikhan helped the boys team with the 8th place finish. (17:51, 18:20, and 18:32). The girls team had an amazing season, qualifying as a team for states for the first time. They finished as the VHSL Class 5 State Runner-Ups with 97 points. Sophomore Marianna Jayaraj finished second for the team, going home with an all-state finish. She placed 14th and ran a time of 19:08. Freshman Taylor Gibson finished in 17th place, running a new PR of 19:22. Teammate Olivia Lecker finished in 36th with a time of 19:57. Lillia Graham, also a freshman, ended her first season with a PR of 20:47. Leila Jarama and Emily McMahon, both sophomores, ran a 21:13 and a 21:32, finishing in 87th and 90th. After being recognized for her many state titles in track, Bethany Graham finally won her first cross country state title, clocking a 17:43-running the fastest time of the day at Great Meadow. But her season is not over yet. In the future, Graham, along with about four girls and two boys, will be competing at the Footlocker South Regionals on the 30th. Graham's goal is to qualify to nationals at this meet. 

  • Loudoun Valley High School: Unsurprisingly, the Vikings took home two team state champion titles, with the 1st place finish for each side being from Valley. Rock Ridge transfer and sophomore, Ava Gordon, ran her 4th state meet and took home the 4A individual champion title, with a time of 18:04. Junior and defending state champion Ricky Fetterolf finished right behind Gordon, and clocked a time of 18:10. Teammates Elise Abbe and Scarlet Fetterolf both finished in an all-state fashion in 7th and 14th (18:31, 19:09). Juniors Ally Talley and Abby Keane finished in 17th and 23rd, with times of 19:18 and 19:59. Sister to Ricky Fetterolf and Scarlet Fetterolf, Cecelia Fetterolf finished the race in 44th with a 20:45. The team won the meet with a score of 36 points. The boys also won the meet with 17 points, a 69 point difference between them and second place. The boys took 1-4 all going sub-16. Carlos Schultz won the race with a 15:24, Kellen Hassle finished with 15:40, and Jeremiah Mussmon and Taylor Ney finished with 15:49. 7th and 8th places were also taken by Valley, Kevin Carlson ran a 16:06 with teammate Matthew Smith one second behind with a  16:07. Just missing the all-state finish, Mateo Barreto finished in 16th with a 16:19. But, their season is still unfinished as both teams will be running at NXR next Saturday, and the goal there will be to have both teams qualify to run at NXN in December. If both teams qualify, it should come as no surprise to anyone that the team will be successful in early December. 

  • Potomac Falls High School: Three individuals from Potomac Falls qualified for the 5A state meet: senior Kyle Habibelahy, senior Hayley Yeck, and junior Izi Belogay. Habibelahy ran his first state meet, and clocked a time of 16:56, putting him in 42nd. Izi Belogay ran her second cross country state meet and finished in 51st with a 20:53. Also Also, in her second cross country state meet, Hayley Yeck finished her senior cross country season with a 41st place and a 20:37 at the 5A state meet. 

  • Riverside High School: Moving from 4A to 5A this year, the rams had one individual qualified for the state meet: senior Joseph O'Such. The 5A state championships was his first state meet, and he finished in 51st with a 17:10 to successfully complete his senior season with a positive ending.  

  • Rock Ridge High School: The Phoenix had two girls and two boys qualified for the 5A state meet-seniors Taylor Semon and Emmalee Ayala. Semon recieved all-state, finishing in 12th (19:30), improving her all-state finish from last year by two. Ayala finished her second state cross country race in the top 50, running a 20:49. Ronan Stone and Johnathan Cobb both ran their first state cross country race, Stone finishing in 16th (16:30), just missing the all-state finish. Cobb finished close behind in 21st, only four seconds behind Stone. 

  • Stone Bridge High School: The Bulldogs were one of the four schools qualified for states that brought both of their teams. Senior Tristan Brodie went sub-16 and was the only all-state finisher in 3rd. Juniors George Alexander and Ricardo Talbot finished back to back, taking 24th and 25th (16:38, 16:39). Sophomore Alexander Ryan almost went sub-17, finishing in 45th. Lucas Lee, Mitchell Palmer, and JC Coello all finished in the top 90 (17:21, 17:40, 18:14). Suzie Muller was the first finisher on the girls side, clocking a 19:58 and finishing in 23rd. Lauren Petranek and Courtney Palmer finished close together-Petranek running a 20:08, and Palmer running a 20:30. Junior Rachel Doyle and sophomore Lydia Wallis finished with a 6 place gap, taking 52nd and 58th. Jenna Brodie ran her first state meet, running a 21:27. Junior Kelly Byars ran her second cross country state meet, finishing in 83rd with a 21:55. 

  • Tuscarora High School: Sadie Dillard was the only runner from Tuscarora to have qualified for the state meet. Sadie is only a freshman, and she finished in 26th with a 20:13.