Photo by Mark Hall
A thrilling regional race with close finishes, shockers, and history being made as well as a rainbow sighting to start the meet. The Lake Braddock girls and Oakton boys as well as individual winners Paige Kvartunas and Chris Foley apparently found the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow on Thursday afternoon at Burke Lake Park.
It was an epic finish to determine the boys' individual champion as three runners in Chris Foley of Chantilly, Andrew McCullen of Oakton, and Kevin Dowd of Fairfax were all seeking their first regional cross country titles as seniors. Dowd had been the top ranked runner in the region after strong invitational season with high finishes and impressive times posted at Maymont and Manhattan, but Foley and McCullen left him in the final 400 meters to drop it down to a race of two.
Photo by Dave Watt
It took the final strides to determine the winner as Foley hit the finish line mat first (meet used chip timing for the first time in meet history) to hold off McCullen with both running just under the magic number of 15 minutes on the historic Burke Lake 2.98 mile course as each were timed at 14:59. All three runners figure to be major players in the state race and each have realistic shots at becoming a Group AAA state cross country champion
The list of sub 15 performers includes a long list of past Northern Region greats and Foot Locker finalists as well, which should boost both runners confidence moving ahead into the post-season following next week's state championships. Foley had started the season off with a win at Monroe Parker Invite on the Burke Lake course and then missed most of the invitational season due to a hip injury. He was able to get one major race in before districts, so Foley should be fresh heading into his two biggest races of the season in the state championships and Foot Locker South.
Photo by Charles Fulghum
It was a meet of redemption for the Lake Braddock girls who were defeated last week at the Patriot District Meet at the hands of the West Springfield girls. Lake Braddock's top runner Liana Epstein collapsed in the final stages of that race, but her comeback in a week span for the regional race inspired her teammates to step up and race well to even the score with West Springfield.
Epstein, last year's individual regional champion, did not have to win individually for her team to take the team crown as her solid fourth place run of 17:53 put her as the second finisher for Coach Mike Mangan behind their rising star freshmen Sophie Chase who saw a dramatic drop in time from her district race with a runner-up effort of 17:42. In total through five runners, Lake Braddock compiled a team score of 63 points and posted a team average of 18:19 on the 2.98 mile course.
As Epstein gets stronger next week and Chase's breakthrough race, Lake Braddock appears to be on the right track to find itself on the state meet podium next week at Great Meadow. It was a great day for the Lake Braddock program as a whole as the boys' team saw its best regional team finish in years with a second place showing.
Photo by Mark Hall
With a team score of 71 points, West Springfield kept it close with Braddock as the Lady Spartans had the individual race champion in Paige Kvartunas. The senior Kvartunas become a regional champion with a 17:36 scorching performance, which was a signifcant 25 second drop from her 18:01 district win. She was given all she could handle by the Lake Braddock freshmen Chase, but kicked in for the win in the final 200 meters in her last opportunity to claim a regional crown. Kvartunas could be a darkhorse pick for the state meet.
The West Potomac runners had a fitting retirement gift for their long-time coach Don Beeby as both boys and girls teams qualified for state competition, which has not happened at the school in over two decades. The West Potomac girls had a knack for finding themselves in the heartbreaking fifth place spot as the odd team out advancing onto the state meet in recent regional meets, but broke that curse with a third place team finish (100 pts).
On the other side of the coin, history and tradition was broken with the Thomas Jefferson boys failing to qualifying for their first state meet in over a decade as the program has been a stalwart of excellence and consistent state meet appearances (which has include several state titles and many state meet top 3 podium finishes), ended up fifth place in the team standings. However, expect Coach Matt Ryan to have his squad near the front of the pack soon after this rebuilding year.
Photo by Charles Fulghum
Defending Group AAA state champions Oakton look to be the slight underdogs heading into next week's state race behind Northwest Region champions Mountain View but not by much as shown with a solid team effort to claim another Northern Region title with a team score of 79 points and 15:47 average on a course just short of a full 3 miles. Oakton should match up fairly well with Mountain View through four runners, especially with a clearly superior front runner in Andrew McCullen, who will be among the top pack in the state race. Oakton had a top four under 16 minutes in the regional race with McCullen (2nd, 14:59), Patrick Fulghum (9th, 15:39), Matt Woodhouse (13th, 15:50), and Padraic Flynn (17th, 15:57).
While improved from their district race, Oakton will need a better performance in the #5 spot with Patrick Eberhart (16:32) and Andrew Larkin (16:33) finishing within a second of each other as the team's fifth and sixth runners but outside of the top 50 places. It will be tough for another pineapple eating contest (Note: Oakton tradition after winning a state title) for Coach Phil Tiller's squad if they have a fifth finisher scoring outside of the top 50 or worse top 75 in the state race, but should still at least be a top 3 squad with their formidable top four. The Cougars for now can enjoy a fourth regional title in the last five years with a team who only returned two from their top seven from a year ago.