One team alone brought nothing but fast times to show and that was the Western Albemarle boys squad. Western Albemarle, running in the \'A\' race, went up against Midlothian and James Robinson, both AAA teams touted as the best in the state and both nationally ranked or recognized squads. However, Western Albemarle simply creamed those two squads and the rest of the competition as they placed 6 runners in the top 25 of a very competitive field. Even more impressive was the times, that the defending AA state champions ran. Rounding out there top 6 was senior Phillip Dejong (7th, 15:24), senior Charlie Hurt (11th, 15:30), junior Josiah Cadle (15th, 15:37), senior Owen Morrison (20th, 15:43), sophomore Peter Burch (23rd, 15:49), and junior Stephen Peeks (25th, 15:53). An amazing pack difference between #1-6 runners of 29 seconds and a team average of 15:39 for their top 6 runners made Western unstoppable as they finished with 67 points. That total put them well ahead of second place Midlothian with 109 points and almost three times as better as defending AAA state champions James Robinson who accumlated 163 points.
Midlothian did have the individual race winner however in the boys \'A\' race in senior Austin Smith (pictured). Smith ran a brilliant race as he pulled away at the end from the field consisting of many all state caliber runners. Smith clocked in a blazing time of 15:16 was 13 seconds off the course record set by former Lafayette High School runner Senecca Lassiter who is now one of our nation\'s premier middle distance runners. Smith was pushed all the way to the end though, especially by Harrisonburg senior Jorge Ruiz, who finished just behind Smith.
An out-of-stater had the best girls time of the day as Karen Pulliam of Quince Orchard in Maryland just missed running sub 17 as she ran 17:00 in the girls \'A\' race. Finishing almost a minute later for runner up honors was Thomas Jefferson senior Jeannie Addison at 17:58.
The James Robinson girls won the \'A\' race fairly easily with 133 points, 38 points ahead of second place Turner Ashby. The Robinson girls were once again lead by Sam Ference who placed 18th in a time of 19:21.
An excellent race was put forth by York senior Allen Carr, winning the \'C\' race in a time of 15:25 and running the entire race virtually alone.