REGION B XC CHAMPIONSHIPS COMPLETE RESULTS: Boys Results - Girls Results
Meet Summary: At the Region B Cross Country Championships on Wednesday in Charlottesville, Wilson Memorial enjoyed a clean sweep of the team and individual titles. Wilson Memorial boys and girls dethroned the George Mason boys and girls as team champions, but the margins were narrow enough that there certainly will be no strong favorites in the Group A race at next Saturday's VHSL State Championships. Meanwhile, defending Group A state cross country individual girls champion Hannah Rose won by nearly a quarter mile distance with her 18:27 performance. In a wide open and up for grabs boys' individual title in Region B, Wilson Memorial senior Stephen Good rose up to grab it with a four second victory over Nelson County's James Ballowe (16:52) in a time of 16:48.
Since their first state team championship in 2008, the George Mason girls have ruled Group A rolling off four straight state cross country team titles. A fifth straight state title seems in serious jeopardy after George Mason failed to win their district meet with Strasburg knocking them off by one point and then Wilson Memorial defeated them for the Region B title by 10 points. The four-time defending state champions were boosted by the return of freshmen Blaise Sevier, who had not raced since early October when she clocked a PR of 19:51. Sevier did her part despite the long layoff as the team's top finisher in fourth place at 20:36 to not allow Wilson Memorial to gain much of an advantage from their front running state champion Hannah Rose.
However, Wilson Memorial had a much stronger front three to overcome George Mason's stronger depth (George Mason had 6 runners in before Wilson Memorial's #5 runner). Wilson Memorial seniors Elizabeth Barnes (7th, 21:05) and Sarah Conyers (10th, 21:13) raced well in their final regional high school races, while two other seniors in Katie Barnes (18th, 21:42) and Rebecca Alexander (24th, 21:57) completed their team scoring to put them 10 points ahead of last year's champions George Mason with a team score of 55 points. It is very rare to see such a senior dominated girls' cross country team as found at Wilson Memorial with their top six runners all graduating this spring, so it is now or never for them to become state champions.
While the George Mason program has dominated Group A and a regional defeat could be considered an upset, it is important to mention that the program has a lot of new young faces and only had two members of last year's state champion squad racing in Wednesday's Region B Championships. It is impressive coaching job by first year George Mason head coach Alicia Harvey to keep the team competitive and still very much in the hunt for a fifth state title next weekend. Their top 7 varsity lineup at the regional meet included no seniors, only one upperclassmen, and three freshmen, so the future is very bright when they move onto the new classification next fall when they will be in the same 2A class with current Group AAA traditional cross country power Maggie Walker. After a fourth place finish from Sevier, next George Mason finishers were freshmen Corinne Carson (13th, 21:19) as an All-Region performer and teammates Kaitlin Kutchma (16th, 21:34) and Lauren Meinhart (17th, 21:37) just missing All-Region recognition. George Mason has two 8th graders in Coral Gillette and Brooke Meinhart, who ran right around 21 minutes at the Glory Days Grill Invitational who will definitely make an instant impact next fall to their team.
The Bull Run District showed itself as arguably the toughest district in Group A for girls as four of the top five teams in the final regional meet standings were from the district between George Mason (2nd, 65 pts), Strasburg (3rd, 94 pts), Central (4th, 95 pts), and Madison County (5th, 124 pts). After upsetting George Mason for the district title by one point, the Strasburg girls were not as close to them at the regional meet, but do not be surprised to see last year's state runners-up on the state meet podium next week at Great Meadow as a top three squad. Kirsten Campbell will need better support from her teammates as she was the only Strasburg runner among the top 3 as she put together a strong individual race for third in 20:26. A freshmen and senior combo led the way for Central, who just missed nipping Strasburg for third place with 9th grader Lexi Keller (5th, 20:44) and 12th grader Katie Ritenour (5th, 20:44) dipping under 21 minutes at Panoram Farms.
Keller was just one freshmen among a larger youthful movement going on in Region B as 5 of the top 13 finishers in the race were freshmen. The top finishing freshmen who is setting herself up to become a future Region B champions was Rappahannock County's Julia Wood. Last week's Bull Run District individual champion, Wood was a distant second place to the state champion Hannah Rose (18:27) with a 19:40 clocking. The young rising talent could be very well be a distant second place next Saturday at Great Meadow, but with a great title for only freshmen as a state runner-up in cross country.
The George Mason boys came in as the top ranked team and favorites to repeat as state champions next week. After the Region B Championships, Wilson Memorial will be the top ranked team and favorites to become state champions next week. With four runners racing from last year's state champion squad, which won by nearly 50 points, George Mason has been the top ranked team in Group A all fall under new head coach Alisa Harvey who took over for previous coach Julie Bravin who was promoted to an administrative school position. Championship season started off well for the defending champions winning a competitive Bull Run District title over the likes of three state meet berth hopefuls Central, Strasburg, and Clarke County. Their district meet also saw their #1 runner Jesse Schaffer defeat one of Group A's best returning runners in 1600 meter outdoor state runner-up and 2011 Region B cross country champion Anthony Wallis of Strasburg. Schaffer's district win over Wallis looked to break the Region B Meet wide open for new runners to contend for the individual title, which Schaffer appeared to be first in that line to become the new champion.
There was a new champion, but it was not Schaffer as he ended up 9th in the race with a time of 17:25 on the tail end of a tight chase pack who followed after the break away leaders. Breaking away from the field was Wilson Memorial senior Stephen Good and Nelson County junior James Ballowe. Both Good and Ballowe were coming off their first district cross country titles after Good took the win at the Shenandoah District Championships, while Ballowe was the individual winner at the Dogwood District Meet. Good was able to distance himself from the field after two miles, while Ballowe moved later and was able to close some distance on the early move Good but not enough real estate to overtake him with Good as the regional champion in a time of 16:48 to tie his personal best 5K run from his district race. Ballowe was four seconds back as regional runner-up in 16:52. Both runners were able to leapfrog several runners who were higher finishers than them in last year's Region B Meet when Ballowe placed 11th and Good finished 13th.
The winning was not over for Good on the day as the Wilson Memorial boys edged out George Mason for the team championship by a mere two points. George Mason had superior depth to Wilson Memorial with their entire top 7 finishing ahead of Wilson Memorial's fifth finisher Josh Wilt (31st, 18:38), but Wilson Memorial was able to overcome the sixth and seventh runner displacers for Mason with a 14 point swing advantage in runner position's #1-3. Joining teammate Stephen Good on the All-Region top 15 team were Wilson Memorial sophomore Mark Phillips (6th, 17:24) and senior Josh Maddox (12th, 17:48). Jimmy Frisbie (18th, 17:57) was not far off the top 15 as Wilson Memorial's fourth finisher as their team put together a team average of 17:43 on the Panorama Farms 5K course.
George Mason had a much tighter top five spread than Wilson Memorial (1:50) at 34 seconds and all under 18 minutes at Panorama Farms, which is a feat for a Group A squad in particular, but their pack needed to make a much bigger dent in the top 10 of the field to hold off Wilson Memorial's run to dethrone them. A better race from Schaffer next week at the state meet and the pack as a whole moving up could quickly evaporate the narrow two point difference which existed between them and a first place trophy. Behind Schaffer were teammates Jeremy K. Brown (10th, 17:42), Austin Gogal (14th, 17:50), Truman Custer (17th, 17:55), and Paul Sanders (19th, 17:59). Not to be undervalued are their sixth and seventh runners as point displacers at the state meet against the teams which they will be fighting for state podium spots against with Nate Jones (20th, 18:01) and David Drawbaugh (26th, 18:23) not far behind their first five runners.
There was a close race for the third spot, but not for the fourth and final team spot to advance onto the state meet as a sixth runner tiebreaker decided third place between Central of Woodstock (3rd) and Altavista (4th) both at 114 points. The Altavista boys were state champions two years ago, but last year failed to even qualify for the state meet despite returning several key members for the 2010 state title squad. Altavista junior Sean Farney was part of both the highs and lows of the past two cross country teams at Altavista including when his 5th state meet finish as a freshmen helped his school to their first state title, but got to experience another high point with his fourth place effort of 17:14 leading his team back to Great Meadow after a year absence.
State Qualifiers:
Top 4 Boys Teams
1. Wilson Memorial - 67 pts (17:43 average)
2. George Mason - 69 pts (17:46 average)
3. Central (Woodstock) - 114 pts (18:19 average)
4. Altavista - 114 pts (18:11 average)
Top 15 Boys Individuals
1. Stephen Good 12 Wilson Memorial 16:48
2. James Ballowe 11 Nelson County 16:52
3. Tom Cromer 12 Buffalo Gap 17:08
4. Sean Farney 11 Altavista 17:14
5. Anthony Wallis 12 Strasburg 17:21
6. Mark Phillips 12 Wilson Memorial 17:24
7. Mark Colson 12 Strasburg 17:24
8. Seth Short 10 Gretna 17:25
9. Jesse Schaffer 12 George Mason 17:25
10. Jeremy K. Brown 12 George Mason 17:42
11. Zachary Campbell 12 Clarke County 17:44
12. Josh Maddox 12 Wilson Memorial 17:48
13. Tony Whetzel 12 Central (Woodstock) 17:49
14. Austin Gogal 11 George Mason 17:50
15. Dylan Allen 11 Altavista 17:50
Top 4 Girls Teams
1. Wilson Memorial - 55 pts (20:52 average)
2. George Mason - 65 pts (21:25 average)
3. Strasburg - 94 pts (21:40 average)
4. Central (Woodstock) - 95 pts (21:51 average)
Top 15 Girls Individuals
1. Hannah Rose 12 Wilson Memorial 18:27
2. Julia Wood 9 Rappahannock County 19:40
3. Kirsten Campbell 12 Strasburg 20:26
4. Blaise Sevier 9 George Mason 20:36
5. Lexi Keller 9 Central (Woodstock) 20:44
6. Katie Ritenour 12 Central (Woodstock) 20:52
7. Elizabeth Barnes 12 Wilson Memorial 21:05
8. Katie Berry 10 Madison County 21:06
9. Brooke Trainham 9 Amelia County 21:10
10. Sarah Conyers 12 Wilson Memorial 21:13
11. Kaela Moon 12 Altavista 21:16
12. Caitlin Shilan 10 Madison County 21:26
13. Corinne Carson 9 George Mason 21:29
14. Ramona Bryant 11 Nelson County 21:32
15. Ashton Davis 11 Stonewall Jackson 21:34