Ragged Mountain Cup 2001

CHARLOTTESVILLE, VA -- The Western Albemarle boys and girls appeared to have some questions to answer as they headed into this cross country season. For the boys squad, how would they be able to recover from the major losses of graduation to be able to remain in contention for another state title? For the girls squad, how would they perform with a very young squad. Both squads answered those questions in positive ways as both squads were winners in the Ragged Mountain Cup over tough Albemarle squads. Unlike other cross country races, in this race, each team has four runners each running a 2-mile leg on the challenging Darden Towe Park course in Charlottesville.

The clash between the Western Albemarle boys and Albemarle boys was a good one as Western came into the meet ranked #4 in the state and Albemarle just ahead of them at #3. However, Albemarle was never once possessed the lead as Western Albemarle junior Peter Burch gave the Warriors a substantial lead with his 10:50 opening leg. The impressive leg put Western out in the lead for good as Albemarle's Wes Kimble was far behind with a 11:13 split. The 23 second gap turned into 28 seconds after the second leg as Western junior Alec Lorenzoni split at 11:00 and Albemarle senior Andrew Parkins came in at 11:05. The time difference didn't change on the next leg as both Western senior Stephen Peeks and Albemarle's Joe Murray split at 11:03. 4:16 1600 meter runner Josiah Cadle put the nail in the coffin for the Warriors as he ran the second fastest split of the day with his 10:18 to cross the line for Western and give them a time of 43:11 overall. Albemarle's Travis Lambert still gave chase as he ran a 10:29 2-mile which was the third fastest split of the day as Albemarle finished with a total time of 43:50 for second place.

The fastest split of the day was posted by Louisa County junior Daniel Kane as he anchored his squad to a third place finish with his split of 10:10 to put the Lions at a total time of 44:51. A nice opener for the 5th ranked runner in the state.

The Western Albemarle girls won by an even larger margin, but had to work for it more. Albemarle's Claire Whitenack gave her squad a large lead with her opening leg of 12:42, which was the fastest split of the day on the girls side. Whitenack's exceptional time gave Albemarle a 37 second lead over Western with Emily Thompson opening with a 13:19 for the Lady Warriors. However, that lead shrunk considerably on the next leg as Western's Courtenay Johnson made up a lot of ground on Albemarle's Stephanie Reed with her 13:38 split. With Reed coming in at 14:13, the Albemarle lead was now down to 2 seconds. The lead didn't last for long at all as Western Albemarle sophomore Gina Casella overtook Albemarle freshmen Ellie Whitenack as she now had given Western a 16 second lead with a 13:38 split. Western senior Delaney Moje slammed the door shut on the victory as she put down a 12:45 anchor leg as Western finished with a total time of 53:20. Moje's time was the second fastest in the race, only behind Claire Whitenack's opening leg split. With Laurel Noe's 14:09 anchor leg, Albemarle finished in at a time of 55:00.

The Western Albemarle girls showed they have a lot of depth as their "B" squad which consisted of freshmen Amber Cadle, freshmen Kelsey Stafford, junior Hannah Oakland, and senior Lizzy Steers-Smith finished 3rd in the race with a time of 56:35 which Stafford's 13:20 second leg was big bonus for the team as they may have found a future star in her.