The VISAA State Championships were held at Panorama Farms on Thursday, and the new venue provided an exciting atmosphere and great racing. Here is a rundown of the day:
VISAA boys division 1
The Potomac School came into the race as defending champs but knew they faced a stiff challenge from Brady Brennan and the boys from St. John Paul. But the Potomac runners came through with their best 5 in the top 20 and were able to secure their third straight state championship. That is a nice run of domination from The Potomac School.
Individually, Brady Brennan from Saint John Paul came through as expected. By pulling away from the field early he was able to hold off 2023 champion Quinn Eliason and ran the Panorama course in a blistering time of 15:21.
VISAA girls division 1
In the girls division 1 race, Collegiate was coming in as three-time champs and looking to win their impressive 4th straight title. And once again the Collegiate girls delivered, led by their dynamic duo of Virginia Harris and Bridget Blaszak, who came in third and fourth place respectively. They were able to easily hold off the Potomac School girls who were led by 11th place overall finisher Sabrina Anderson.
The Individual race was dominated by freshman phenom Catherine Messing who astonished onlookers with a time of 18:22, nearly 26 seconds ahead of runner up Annabel Bayler of. St. Catherines.
VISAA boys division 2
In one of the closest races of the day, the Covenant boys were able to secure their first state title by narrowly defeating Trinity Christian of Fairfax. Both Covenant and Trinity took eleven of the top 20 all-state honors, but the Covenant had the talent at the top and secured a narrow win. The Covenant boys look to return next year as a force to be reckoned with across the whole state.
Individually, the unflappable Jon Nathan Lawrence of Covenant pulled away from a lead pack consisting of Spencer Britton of North Cross, Calvin Dovgalyuk of Trinity, and Nathan Gu of Steward to secure an easy win for his second straight individual title.
VISAA girls division 2
In the girls race, the North Cross girls came on strong late in the season and even though they moved up a division from a year ago, they were able to score a solid victory. The girls form Trinity Christian put up a valiant effort led by three all-state finishers in Anna Chronister, Ari Hensly, and Julia Dean. But North Cross also had three all state runners in Kerrigan Chaney, Katelyn Perkins, and Lilian Phillips who were able to outpace the Trinity girls to victory
Kerrigan Chaney rose to the occasion now running in a higher division and continued her VISAA domination. She was able to drop runner-up Isabella Curtis of Peninsula Catholic early on and win her third straight VISAA championship. Her finishing time of 18:38 was the second fastest girls time of the day.
VISAA boys division 3
Tandem Friends won their first state title last year, and came in looking to prove themselves as the established division three powerhouse. In the closest team competition of the day, The Tandem boys narrowly held off an onslaught from The Veritas School. Their three top ten finishes from Hayes Buppert, Jack Blemker, and Miles Griffith were enough to handle the four top twenty finishes from Veritas. Veritas was lead by third place overall finisher Aidan O'Flynn.
Individually, this was predicted to be an exciting showdown from Curtis Leachman of Wakefield School and Hayes Buppert of Tandem Friends. An as delivered, they were neck and neck throughout the race. In an aggressive move, Buppert pulled away from Leachman in the final stretch and earned himself a two second victory, with a blistering fast time of 16:13.
VISAA girls division 3
In the girls race, the girls of Trinity School at Meadow View dominated the race to win their first cross country championship. the Trinity School girls were led by Francesca Bayer and Lucia Severino who finished in 3rd and 4th place respectively. Trinity had all of their top five earn all state honors. Roanoke Catholic led by 7th place finisher Aubrey Aaron came in the runner-up spot.
On the individual side Remington Freeman of Walsingham dominated the competition with a time 19:17, nearly a minute over runner-up Ellie Cymrot of Fredericksburg Academy