The first two winners were the ones we had to wait the longest for. Both Gillian Bushee and Nathan Atchue have earned every award in the book and were each multiple-time state track champions but both were missing the big XC state title. That of course changed this weekend.
First up was Gillian Bushee in the girls race. She faced off with some tough competition in Thais Rolly (2020 Champion) and Aidan McGrath of West Springfield. Though she led throughout, it was not until 800m to go that Bushee opened up any lead at all.
You could tell that she really wanted this one and she left it all out on the course. This capped off a stellar cross season for her and helped her remain undefeated on the season.
Girls Class 6 All-State Finishers:
| GIRLS 5000 METER RUN FINALS | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| PLACE | ATHLETE | TEAM | RESULT | POINTS | ||||
| 1 | Gillian Bushee | 12 | Herndon | 18:17.00 | 0 | |||
| 2 | Thais Rolly | 12 | McLean | 18:45.00 | 0 | |||
| 3 | Aidan MacGrath | 11 | West Springfield | 18:50.00 | 1 | |||
| 4 | Lila Waters | 12 | Langley | 19:04.00 | 2 | |||
| 5 | Kenza Elakari | 12 | West Springfield | 19:06.00 | 3 | |||
| 6 | Keira Arenholz | 9 | W.T. Woodson | 19:08.00 | 4 | |||
| 7 | Sitota Mesfin | 12 | Oakton | 19:21.00 | 5 | |||
| 8 | Elizabeth Gregory | 11 | Forest Park | 19:26.00 | 6 | |||
| 9 | Adeline Barker | 10 | West Springfield | 19:27.00 | 7 | |||
| 10 | Hazel Calway | 10 | Langley | 19:27.00 | 8 | |||
| 11 | Calypso Rolly | 10 | McLean | 19:30.00 | 0 | |||
| 12 | Christina Elliott | 12 | Fairfax | 19:32.00 | 0 | |||
| 13 | Hannah Weber | 12 | Battlefield | 19:37.00 | 9 | |||
| 14 | Lila Pesavento | 10 | Langley | 19:45.00 | 10 | |||
| 15 | Chloe Miller | 11 | West Springfield | 19:53.00 | 11 | |||
Up next was Nathan Atchue and his turn to shine. Throughout his race it was equally as tough with some really good guys including Isaac Garcia and Quinn Parrish pushing him early on. Hayden Hauser was also in contention early on but on the back half of the course Atchue made his move and started to gap the field. By the two mile it was just him and Garcia who had fallen back close to 50m.
Nathan without a doubt was and is one of the most talented runners all season in VA. His stats wouldn't quite show that but after college visits, COVID, and all the other stuff it was hard to juggle during the regular season. When it mattered most though, Nathan walked away victorious and is now a four-time state champion.
Boys Class 6 All-State Finishers
| BOYS 5000 METER RUN FINALS | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| PLACE | ATHLETE | TEAM | RESULT | POINTS | ||||
| 1 | Nathan Atchue | 12 | Franklin County | 15:43.00 | 1 | |||
| 2 | Isaac Garcia | 12 | South County High School | 15:46.00 | 0 | |||
| 3 | Nayan Kasperowski | 11 | South County High School | 16:10.00 | 0 | |||
| 4 | Hayden Hauser | 12 | Colgan High School | 16:14.00 | 0 | |||
| 5 | Quinn Parrish | 11 | James River (Midlothian) | 16:20.00 | 0 | |||
| 6 | Patrick Lowry | 12 | Patriot High School | 16:23.00 | 2 | |||
| 7 | Henry Anderson | 12 | West Springfield | 16:28.00 | 3 | |||
| 8 | Junior Allen | 11 | Oakton | 16:29.00 | 4 | |||
| 9 | Hayden Goodman | 10 | Woodbridge | 16:32.00 | 5 | |||
| 10 | Manzi Siibo | 12 | Battlefield | 16:35.00 | 6 | |||
| 11 | Samik Bhinge | 12 | W.T. Woodson | 16:36.00 | 7 | |||
| 12 | Jaiden Lockhart | 12 | Woodbridge | 16:41.00 | 8 | |||
| 13 | Jack Levine | 12 | Yorktown | 16:41.00 | 0 | |||
| 14 | Daniel Cassata | 12 | W.T. Woodson | 16:41.00 | 9 | |||
| 15 | Manuel Aguirre-Martinez | 11 | South Lakes | 16:42.00 | 10 | |||