With top challengers to the Group AAA state title crown, Amanda Patterson and Aurora Scott battling injuries as of late, the healthy Dewey continues to roll and drop her times heading into the state meet in November. In her district race, she had already blown out the field by two miles as she hit the mark in a time of 11:08. Pearl Watts had Dewey\'s splits for the half mile, mile, 1.5 mile, 2 mile, and 2.5 mile as 2:40, 5:32, 8:16, 11:08, and 14:08 (toughest part of course). Her performance ranks number three All-Time on the Burke Lake course which has seen many greats run on the course over the years. The two athletes who have ran faster are two time Foot Locker National Champion Erin Keogh of Langley (16:09.7-1985) and Aimee Harms of Annandale (1985-same regional race!). Dewey\'s closest competitor, an All-State performer in Lake Braddock\'s Kelsey Snowden, was found finishing 92 seconds after Dewey had crossed the line in 18:14.
Speaking of Lake Braddock, Snowden and her fellow Bruins had yet another strong team performance to recapture the Patriot District crown from two years ago with a team total of 38 points. Lake Braddock nearly put their entire top five in the top 15, which is quite a task considering the Patriot District is one of the more competitive districts in the state. Michelle Presley (3rd, 18:28), Erin Klein (5th, 18:31), and Becca Hoogland (12th, 19:02) earned All-District honors along side Snowden, while Heather Klein (16th, 19:17) just missed finishing in the top 15. Despite their strong showing in their district championship, the Lake Braddock girls will have their work cut out for them next Thursday at the Northern Region Meet with #1 state ranked Oakton, who put five runners under 19 minutes the day before. Nonetheless, it will be a great battle between two of the state\'s best teams.
The James Robinson girls have a solid chance at qualifying for the state meet as one of the Northern Region\'s four representatives if they continue to run like they did at the Patriot District Meet. Finishing second to Lake Braddock with 65 points, the Lady Rams were paced by junior Jennifer Hovland\'s fourth place finishing effort of 18:29. Joining Hovland on the All-District team were Susan Brooks (10th, 18:51) and Abby Coster (14th, 19:09).
Last year\'s Patriot District chamions, Hayfield, advanced to the regional meet with a third place finish and 81 point team total with race champion Dewey and All-District performer Shannon Cleveland (13th, 19:06) leading the way.
West Potomac with 88 points, took the final spot in advancing to the regional meet. Three All-District performers in Elizabeth Heath (8th, 18:39), Laura Regensburg (9th, 18:42), and Amara Lewis (15th, 19:13) helped their team\'s cause.
Coach Kelbaugh is his getting his troops at West Springfield ready for strong showings at the regional and state meet as the Spartans walked away from Burke Lake Park with Patriot District title. West Springfield sophomore Michael Spooner is quickly becoming the best of his class with his performances this fall. Spooner led the Spartans with a district runner-up performance in an impressive time of 15:22. Following Spooner to line with All-District performances were teammates Alex Martis (8th, 16:10), Kris Benton (10th, 16:11), and Leo Walker (15th, 16:17). Samuel Teka (19th, 16:21) crossed the line as West Springfield\'s fifth man and secured their first district in three years with a team total of 54 points.
West Potomac, a team that has been taken lightly all season, put down their full deck of cards at the district meet and came away with a runner-up performance. With a team total of 63 points, West Potomac had three All-District performers in Nick Jachowski (5th, 15:53), Frank DeVar (11th, 16:12), and Drew Macklin (12th, 16:14).
James Robinson also had three All-District individuals as they finished third overall in the team standings with 70 points. Mark Hussa (4th, 15:48), Chris Clark (7th, 16:02), and Dan McHale (9th, 16:11) all had solid individual runs for the Rams.
2003 and 2002 Patriot District team champions, Lake Braddock, were just able to advance out of the district in the 2004 meet with a team total of 86 points to finish fourth overall. However, the Bruins did have the individual district champion as Brad Clark ran just a second off yesterday\'s Concorde District winner Brad Siragusa (15:12) with a winning time of 15:13. Clark will figure to be one of the race favorites in next week\'s Northern Region Meet based off his race today.