The Thomas Jefferson boys, coming off a great third place performance at the Eastern States Championships held at Van Courtland Park two weeks ago, put forth another solid performance to capture their fourth consecutive Concorde District title. Thomas Jefferson\'s top finisher was Chris Katilie, who clocked a time of 15:20 to finish third overall individually. Five additional team members earned All-District honors by placing among the top fifteen finishers. Those Thomas Jefferson runners included Kyle Smith (5th, 15:27), Paul Norland (10th, 15:52), Hersh Singh (13th, 16:03), Brian Landry (14th, 16:04), and Kyle Grimsley (15th, 16:10) to give the squad a winning team total of 45 points.
Eight points behind Thomas Jefferson was team runner-up Oakton, who appears to be shaping into top form as the state meet approaches. The Cougars had four All-District performers in James Phillips (4th, 15:23), Kevin Meehan (9th, 15:49), Jason Vick (11th, 15:53), and Pat Epley (12th, 16:01). If fifth runner Tommy Mason (17th, 16:29) can close the gap that exists between himself and his teammates, Oakton should fare well at the state meet if they can advance past the regional meet next week.
Herndon finished third overall with 68 points and had a stronger top three than Thomas Jefferson and Oakton, but fell off with their fourth and fifth men. Abrehem Daganchew gave heavy race favorite Brad Siragusa of Chantilly a run for his money as he took runner-up honors to Siragusa by a mere 2 seconds with his 15:14 clocking. Crossing the line not too long after Daganchew were teammates Danny Gordon (6th, 15:31) and Ermin Mujezinovic (7th, 15:36) with strong individual runs. However, fourth runner Greg Wilds (24th, 16:47) and fifth runner Matt Giorgis (29th, 16:54) placed way too far back for Herndon to contend with Thomas Jefferson and Oakton for the top two spots.
Advancing along with the top three finishing teams to the regional meet is Chantilly, who snabbed the final regional qualifying spot from Westfield (5th, 107 pts) by one point with their team total of 106 points. District champion Siragusa was Chantilly\'s sole All-District performer.
The Oakton girls, ranked #1 in the state of Virginia and #1 in the latest Nike Team Nationals Southeast Regional rankings, did nothing to hurt their standing with an impressive district victory. The Oakton girls posted a team average of 18:45 on the 2.98 mile Burke Lake course as their entire top seven earned All-District honors with top 15 finishes. Kayley Byrne (18:16) led the charge for Oakton with a race runner-up performance. Trailing Byrne into the chute were teammates Danielle Light (3rd, 18:19), Allegra Smith (4th, 18:21), Meredith Tighe (6th, 18:48), Carly Hudson (7th, 18:55), Hallie Eilerts (12th, 19:12), and Katie Esselburn (13th, 19:17). The victory was a special one for the Oakton girls since it has been years since they have won a district title.
The Westfield girls were not intimidated by racing the top ranked team in the state as they walked away runner-up honors with 40 points. The Lady Bulldogs welcomed the return of top runner Catherine Lynn, who had been missing in action for most of the season. She made sure that others know not only in the district, but in the entire state that she has not lost a touch from her freshmen year form where she earned All-State honors by winning the district title in a convincing time of 18:02. Following Lynn, Westfield was able to place their entire top five in top 15 All-District places with Alexis Deegan (5th, 18:28), Jessie Deegan (8th, 18:59), and Christina Mowatt-Larssen (11th, 19:12), and Sabina Page (15th, 19:22).
Finishing third and fourth in the team standings as well as advancing to next week\'s Northern Region Meet were Thomas Jefferson (3rd, 84 pts) and Chantilly (4th, 105 pts). Each team had an All-District perfomer a piece with Thomas Jefferson\'s Katie Gambale (9th, 19:05) and Chantilly\'s Natalie Shaw (10th, 19:08) earning top ten finishes.