Concorde District - The Concorde District is typically too good and too competitive of a district with talented juniors and seniors to allow an underclassmen to win the boys' individual title. However, Chantilly sophomore Sean McGorty was simply too good for the entire Concorde District. Considered to be one of the top runners this fall within the Northern Region, McGorty certainly did not have to work too hard to win his first district title with a time of 15:42 and finishing 23 seconds ahead of the next finisher in Herndon's Troy Hunsaker (16:05). A rain soaked course slowed down times for McGorty and others, but it was clear that McGorty could have ran much faster if he wanted to but did not need to as he saved himself for the potential to become a rare sophomore regional champion next Thursday.
Oakton boys had been the Concorde District champions for five consecutive years as the last time they did not win was back in 2004 when Thomas Jefferson was still part of the district before moving over to the Liberty District. Their dominance was ended this year though by the James Robinson boys (54 pts) who set out in an aggressive first mile and were never reeled in by the five-time defending champs Oakton (2nd, 66 pts). Robinson had a 37 second spread for their top five which included four runners among the top 12 individuals with Nick Reed (5th, 16:12), Patrick Spahn (8th, 16:22), David Janas (9th, 16:23), and Luke Sharkey (12th, 16:28). Neither Robinson or Oakton have a true front running individual, so both have to rely on the power of their packs and tight spreads as both had nearly identical spreads with Oakton only having a 38 second gap for their top five, but Oakton's pack was further up with team average of 16:26 putting them four seconds faster than Oakton.
Oakton was at least able to hold off Herndon (3rd, 67 pts) by one point for second as they were led individually by a fourth place run from Michael McNamee (16:10). Herndon has one of the best 1-2 punches in the region with runner-up Hunsaker (16:05) and Jimmy Luehrs (3rd, 16:07) coming in together as the next finishers trailing McGorty.
The Herndon girls are similar to the Herndon boys with a very formidable front two but not enough depth through five to claim a district title. Herndon senior Carolyn Hennessey ran with a smile on her fall midway through the race while having already built a cushionable lead and continued to run comfortably to the finish with a final time of 18:28. Following Hennessey 35 seconds later was teammate Belle Burgess finishing ahead of the Oakton pack in a time of 19:03. Hennessey was an All-State finisher in cross country as a sophomore and last spring earned All-State honors in the outdoor state meet with a sub 11 minute 3200 meter performance. She figures to be in the mix at the Northern Region Championships with herself and Thomas Edison's Myah Hicks as the top competition for the favorite Sophie Chase of Lake Braddock.
Winning their first district title since 2007, the Oakton girls appear to be a team under the radar approaching the regional meet as a team which could slip inside the top four and qualify for the state meet. Their district meet team performance indicates Oakton is capable of challenging for one of the four state meet spots from the Northern Region. Oakton had an entire top five under 20 minutes on the historic Burke Lake 2.98 mile course with Hailey Dougherty (3rd, 19:07), Briana Stewart (4th, 19:16), Morgan Harwood (6th, 19:38), Morgan Bayer (7th, 19:43), and Alyson Jones (12th, 19:52). With better course conditions for the Northern Region Meet, the Oakton girls will need their pack to move up and have both Dougherty and Stewart drop down into the 18 minute range to help them take away one of those four spots from the top two teams from the Patriot and Liberty Districts.
Liberty District - Another streak of dominance was ended this past Wednesday at Burke Lake Park as the Thomas Jefferson boys had won the Liberty District title ever year since moving over from the Concorde District in 2005. It was expected though after the season so far put together by a South Lakes squad, who enters as a serious contender to win the Northern Region next week. Coach Kevin Donovan's crew from Reston looked impressive in winning their school's first district title since 1984 posting a team average of 16:12 with their entire top five earning All-District top 15 honors for a 30 point team score.
Thomas Jefferson senior Jonathan Phillips at least kept the winning tradition going for Jefferson in becoming the Liberty District individual champion as he made a move shortly after the two mile mark to break away from a pack of South Lakes runners en route to a 15:46 victory. On a day, which the rain storms earlier in the day flooded parts and soaked the rest of the course and slowed times down, Phillips actually ran 16 seconds faster than his performance back in September at Burke Lake for the Monroe Parker Invitational.
Following Phillips, South Lakes had four of the next five finishers in Will Sickenberger (2nd, 15:57), Nicholas Guarnaccia (3rd, 16:01), Austin Leggett (4th, 16:02), and Alex Clough (6th, 16:23). South Lakes matched up well and beat TJ in positions one through four, but Thomas Jefferson's fifth finisher was one spot ahead of South Lakes' #5 runner, which is an area that South Lakes will look to improve upon for the regional meet. Nonetheless, South Lakes still had an impressive 42 second spread with Kevin Muir (15th, 16:39) as the team's final scorer. The Thomas Jefferson boys look to have an outside shot of surprising some and slipping inside the top four based off their regional meet with a team average of 16:22 and four All-District performers in Phillips, JB Reiter (5th, 16:12), Chris Rom (7th, 16:25), and Dan Matsen (13th, 16:39).
The Group AAA #2 ranked Thomas Jefferson girls (1st, 35 pts) passed their first test and challenge of championship season as they were able to hold off a fast starting Langley squad (2nd, 41 pts) at the Liberty District Meet. The Langley girls were formidable for TJ through four runners especially with a 1-2 finish from sophomores Jessica Miles (1st, 18:21) and Courteney Weast (2nd, 18:34) able to get ahead of Thomas Jefferson's top runner Stephanie Marzen (3rd, 18:41). However, the Thomas Jefferson girls were simply too deep and well packed after two runners for Langley to pull off any upset. Kelly Rogers (6th, 18:53) and Sarah Stites (7th, 18:59) joined teammate Marzen under 19 minutes at Burke Lake, while Jefferson coach Jeff James had four more girls finish ahead of Langley's fifth finisher to displace their challenger's team score. Of the four district meets held at Burke Lake Park this past weekend, the Thomas Jefferson girls were the only team which saw their entire varsity top 7 run under 20 minutes. Their depth will definitely be their strength against teams like West Potomac and Lake Braddock, but better races up front from Marzen and others will not hurt their cause either.
Sophie Chase is clearly the region's top young distance runner after her incredible freshmen year which included a state indoor 3200 meter title, but Jessica Miles of Langley might be the next best underclassmen in the Northern Region especially after winning her first district title on Wednesday in a faster time than Concorde District champion and sub 11 two miler Carolyn Hennessey of Herndon.
James Madison girls (3rd, 103 pts) might not have a high probability to advance to the state meet as a team, but have two individuals who both have a good shot at cracking into the top 15 at the regional meet especially after strong races in their district races from Anna Stone (4th, 18:44) and Christina Galiano (5th, 18:46).
The Liberty District has never had both the regional boys and girls' team championships in cross country, but with the caliber of their two district champion squads in the South Lakes boys and Thomas Jefferson girls, a first time occurrence in meet history could be in the makings at Thursday's regional championships.
National District - Myah Hicks (pictured above by Ted Plunkett) of Thomas Edison has stamped herself as one of the greatest distance runners ever from the National District as she became a three-time district cross country champion with her sub 18 minute performance of 17:53 and improving 18 seconds from her 2009 victory. The only year which she did not win the district title as a freshmen, Hicks finished second. At next Thursday's Northern Region Meet, Hicks will attempt to keep up with favorite Sophie Chase as only her and Chase were able to break 18 minutes among all the female runners at the four district races held at Burke Lake Park.
The Yorktown girls had dominated the National District teams for years before the Thomas Edison girls won their first title in decades last fall and another school in Washington-Lee picked up a first title with Yorktown in second place again. The Washington-Lee girls barely finished inside the top four at the 2009 district meet, so their improvement in one year's time has been considerable. Paced by the Amend twin sisters Isabel (2nd, 18:46) and Helen (4th, 19:21), Washington-Lee was able to overcome a large 2:44 spread for their top five to still defeat Yorktown (58 pts) for the district title with 49 points. The Yorktown girls were much better packed with a top five spread just over a minute, but did not nearly have as strong of a presence in the front of the field as Washington-Lee's Amend sisters.
The Hayfield boys were disheartened after last year's National District race which a mere point separated them from first place Thomas Edison. There was no feelings of heartbreak in the 2010 district meet as the Hayfield boys dominated Edison and the rest of the National District with John Bozek (15:55) and Jacob Miller (16:04) leading the charge out in field as the individual race champion and runner-up respectively. Hayfield had four more runners earn All-District honors with top 15 finishes under 17 minutes including Aklilu Kirubel (6th, 16:15), Christopher Page (12th, 16:42), Cory Fish (13th, 16:52), and Gabriel Larios (14th, 16:53). Bozek (pictured above by Ted Plunkett) became a two-time district champion with his 23 second drop in time from his 2009 victory at Burke Lake Park.
Thomas Edison had a respectable top three placing among the top 10 spots in Louis Colson (4th, 16:11), Gerardo Munevar (5th, 16:11), and David Bulir (9th, 16:35) but dropped off after Bulir too much to challenge Hayfield and repeat as champions again. Said Mattan of Falls Church broke up the cluster of Hayfield and Edison's jerseys at the front of the race by placing third with a time of 16:09.
Patriot District - Arguably the most competitive district in this year's cross country season among the Northern Region, the Patriot District was the stage for the best collection of top boys' individuals in the region. At the start of the season, W.T. Woodson junior Paul Gates was ranked as one of the top returning runners in the region based off his strong track season running 4:22 for 1600 meters and 9:30 for 3200 meters, but had yet to live up to that pre-season ranking until Thursday's district race. In a matchup with three of the most consistent performers this season in the Lake Braddock duo of Luke Sohl and Sam Rubenking, West Springfield senior Colin Taylor, and Robert E. Lee senior Abraham Yacob as well as the return of Annandale's Ahmed Bile from injury, Gates proved to be the best on this day to pull away for a five second victory in 15:15 over runner-up Taylor (15:20). Defeating some of the best in the Northern Region within his district should now ascend Gates to be the pre-race favorite for the regional championships.
In a district meet loaded with plenty of front running stars, the West Potomac boys claimed the team title without a top harrier in the race. Ben Aleixo was the only runner for West Potomac coach Jenn Dietz to break 16 minutes at Burke Lake Park in sixth place with a time of 15:50, but the rest of their top seven took six of the ten spots from places 10 through 20 in a 30 second spread with Marc Lotterie (10th, 16:02), Mark Hanak (11th, 16:03), Brad Corum (12th, 16:03), Khoki Bernier (17th, 16:29), Corey Rosenberg (19th, 16:30), and Scott McPeek (20th, 16:32). The West Potomac boys were the pre-season #1 ranked team in the Northern Region and after hitting a few bumps in the road in some mid-season invitational performances, they appear to be running well at the right time to be in position to follow their Patriot District title team performance with a regional championship next Thursday.
Despite their clear depth advantage, the West Potomac boys with 56 points did not win by a large margin as Lake Braddock was close by in second place with 61 points. Lake Braddock made it close due to their superior front three to West Potomac by having three runners in Rubenking (3rd, 15:24), Sohl (7th, 15:50), and Nick Tuck (9th, 15:54). A better race from Sohl at the regional meet who has ran faster on 5K courses this season than his 15:50 2.98 mile performance at the district meet could make the team standings flip flop between West Potomac and Lake Braddock, but still will need a better showing in their fifth spot as West Potomac put their entire seven ahead of Lake Braddock's fifth scorer.
While Gates was the district champion this week, there are a handful of boys in the Patriot District who could easily become regional champions next week. Colin Taylor of West Springfield has not been winning races this year, but he has been consistently finishing high in major invitationals week in and week out. Unfortunately for the second year in a row, Taylor had to settle for second place in the district meet but ran 18 seconds faster than his 2009 race. Abraham Yacob (5th, 15:45) of Robert E. Lee has beaten the Concorde District champion Sean McGorty several times this season as McGorty is considered to be one of the region's best, but Yacob's district races was symbolic of a hot and cold streaky season for him.
Annandale's Ahmed Bile figures to be contending for state titles on the track after finishing second at the state outdoor meet in the 800 meter run with a PR of 1:54, but his cross country season had been suspended when he suffered a stress fracture earlier in the season following a third place finish at the Monroe Parker Invite. Questions arised if he would come back at all this season, but he answered those questions in a strong return race to place fourth in the Patriot District with a time of 15:33. Look for Bile to get stronger each race.
Sophie Chase planned on using the district meet rather than the regional meet as an opportunity to post a fast time at Burke Lake. The sophomore star from Lake Braddock did not post the time which she was shooting for as the humid day and still waterlogged course from the rain on the previous day did not make it an exact ideal day, but she still raced like the best runner in the area with her 17:42 performance. Her time was 11 seconds faster than the next best time among the four districts held at Burke Lake Park by National District champ Myah Hicks of Edison. It will be interesting to see if Chase attempts to roll out a fast time at the regionals or hold back and save herself for a state title run at Great Meadow. She may have to run fast regardless with the competition she will be facing from Hicks, Herndon's Carolyn Hennessey, and others.
It was not just a great district meet for the West Potomac boys, but the West Potomac program as a whole with their girls' team completing the Patriot District sweep as their top five appeared to be hitting on all cylinders inserting five finishers among the All-District top 15. West Potomac averaged 18:55 as a squad with a team score of 42 points joining only Liberty District champs Thomas Jefferson as the only school to have three girls break 19 minutes in the district race. Sarah Jane Underwood (3rd, 18:27), Dale Lescher (4th, 18:42), and Colleen Boyle (7th, 18:55) were a solid top three for West Potomac, but their greatest strength right now matching up to Thomas Jefferson and Lake Braddock appears to be with their fourth and fifth runners Sophia Passacantando (13th, 19:14) and Samantha Miller (15th, 19:19).
Lake Braddock girls finished second in the district for a second straight year, but last year they ended up winning the Group AAA state title. It remains to be seen if this year's team can pull off such a feat, but it is encouraging that they were able to stay respectably close to the state meet podium caliber team in West Potomac without one of their top three runners in freshmen Hannah Christen (did not run due to bronchitis). A sub 19 minute 5K runner Christen would have certainly made things more interesting to match up with West Potomac as Lake Braddock finished with a team score of 52 points and team average of 18:58. With Casey Lardner (5th, 18:51) and another freshmen in Katie Roche (8th, 19:01), Christen and her teammates are capable of filling out their top five behind individual star Chase to make another state title or at least top three podium run in the next two weeks.
The West Springfield girls are probably one of the best third place teams from any district in the state as they have to compete in an incredibly tough district with West Potomac and Lake Braddock. West Springfield ran well in the district meet to score 68 points and probably will be battling with the likes of Liberty District runner-up Langley and Concorde District champs Oakton for the fourth and final state meet spot at Thursday's regional race.
Robert E. Lee's Bailey Kolonich continues her amazing freshmen season by taking runner-up to Sophie Chase at the Patriot District Meet with the third fastest time among all the district meets at Burke Lake with a 18:06 performance. Kolonich certainly appears to be a young talent capable of an All-State finish in two weeks at Great Meadow and might emerge as Chase's top competition for the next few years.