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Best Marks - performances qualifying for DyeStat Elite national rankings

Concorde District:

by Pearl Watts

The Herndon girls and Jefferson boys rolled to impressive victories at the
Concorde District Championships held at Burke Lake Park on Thursday, October
23 and earmarked themselves as the favorites for the upcoming Northern Region
Championships to be held at Burke Lake on Thursday, October 30 (Girls at 3:30
p.m. Boys to follow at 4:15 p.m.).

The Herndon girls, led by the one-two finish of seniors Kristin Hart and
Heather Fisher, placed all five of their scorers under 19 minutes and also in
the top ten to secure the victory with 25 points on Burke's 2.98 mile course.
Hart, Fisher and Westfield freshman Catherine Lynn dueled for the lead for
most of the race. The trio passed the two mile mark in 11:57 and ran within a
couple of strides of each other for the remainder of the race before Hart
edged to the lead in the final 50 meters to win in 17:59 with Fisher the runnerup
at 18:01 and Lynn also running 18:01 for third.
The Hornets' all senior scoring lineup then followed Hart and Fisher to the
line with Jessie Erickson in fifth (18:21), Jenny Miller placing seventh at
18:36 and Carleigh Gregory rounding out the scoring in tenth place at 18:57 as
Herndon now gets set to defend their 2002 regional title.
Westfield finished second with 49 points in one of the state's toughest
districts led by freshman Lynn and senior Ashley Johnson (8th; 18:42). Westfield
certified themselves as potentially a strong qualifier out of the region as
their numbers three through six runners were all at 19:15 or better with juniors
Jessie Deegan (11th; 19:08), Christina Larssen (12th; 19:09), freshman Alexis
Deegan (15th; 19:13) and senior Jackie Chapman (16th; 19:15) following Lynn
and Johnson.
Oakton finished third with 72 points behind the strong performances of
sophomore Kayley Byrne (4th; 18:21) and junior Danielle Light (6th; 18:33) but
were hurt in their chances for a lower score due to the absence of junior Allegra
Smith, who is out with an injury.
Defending district champ Jefferson claimed the final regional qualifying
spot with their fourth place point total of 91 points and had all district
performances from senior Jen Dolson (9th; 18:45) and sophomore Katie Gambale (13th;
19:11) while Chantilly (5th; 133 points) had an individual region qualifier
with freshman Lauren Howard (14th; 19:12).

The Jefferson boys squad, still smarting from two straight second place
finishes in their final invitational meets, the most recent to Concorde
counterpart Oakton by one point in the Glory Days Grill Invite on October 11, reversed
the score on the Cougars at the district meet in beating Oakton at all five
spots enroute to a winning total of 37 points.
Jefferson also had the individual district champion in Christo Landry as
the Colonials senior made a concerted move at the two mile mark (10:02) and
looked very strong for the final mile. Landry's winning time of 14:56 over the
course which has been used for 30 years for district and regional competition,
now puts him among the top twenty all time performers at Burke Lake.
The Colonials also got another solid effort from senior Chris Mocko as he
considerably lowered his personal best at Burke Lake with his third place
finish at 15:08. Jefferson also received strong runs from their numbers three
through five in junior Kyle Smith (8th; 15:39) and seniors David Price (12th;
15:51) and John McConnell (13th; 15:53).
Runnerup Oakton also had a strong race in putting four runners under 16
minutes to finish second with 52 points. The Cougars had seniors Karl Lang (6th)
and Stephen Best (7th) come in together at 15:36, received a huge race from
sophomore James Phillips (9th; 15:40) and senior Kriz Cruz continued his
comeback from an early season injury in 14th place (15:58).
Third place Westfield scored 63 points with their senior duo of James
Scheiner and David Groff recording big Burke Lake bests. Scheiner, part of the five
runner group at 10:02 for two miles along with Landry, Mocko, Groff and
Herndon's Shane Young, finished well for second place at 15:05 while Groff placed
fourth in 15:11. Westfield's next three runners were clumped together between
16:18-16:21 and if that group can close the gap to under a minute from their
top two runners, the Bulldogs will have a strong chance in making it out of the
region.
Herndon took the fourth team spot with 104 points led by senior Shane
Young, who ran the fifth fastest time among all four districts but that was only
able to net him fifth place overall in the highly competitive Concorde District
at 15:20. Herndon also had junior Danny Gordon claim all district honors
(11th; 15:48) while fifth place Chantilly (130 points) notched an individual region
qualifier with sophomore Brad Siragusa (10th; 15:47).

Liberty District:

by Pearl Watts

In Liberty competition, both Dawit Legesse of Lee and Nicole Pederson from
South Lakes made strong moves after reaching the two mile mark to handily win
the individual titles while teamwise W.T. Woodson won their first ever boys
title and Langley added to their large collection of girls team titles.

The boys race had pre-meet favorites Legesse of Lee along with seniors
Andrew Waring of Madison and Woodson's Jes Barron setting the early pace. Legesse,
a junior, and Waring were still together at two miles (10:24) with Barron a
couple of seconds behind before Legesse picked the pace up on the long incline
towards the 2.25 mile marker. Legesse had lengthened his lead over Waring to
about 30 meters by 2.5 miles and the Lancers junior came home the victor in
15:37.
Waring stayed solid in second place to finish at 15:45 and Madison's squad
was also second in the team scoring with 49 points as the Warhawks put all
five of their scorers among the top fifteen with Waring followed by Christopher
Werner (8th; 16:29), Robert Zuehkle (12th; 16:43), Matt Williamson (13th;
16:45) and Andrew Cooper (14th; 16:50).
Woodson edged Madison for the title by five points as the Cavaliers placed
four runners in the top ten in finishing with 44 points. Senior Jes Barron led
the way once again (3rd; 16:04) with other big contributions from David Fink
(5th; 16:20), Joel Censer (9th; 16:35) and Christopher Hain (10th; 16:41).
Langley was third with 91 points as Alex Gilman closed well for fourth
place (16:07) and with James Evangolisti all district in 15th (16:52) while McLean
took the fourth qualifying slot with 103 points led by Todd Arnts (7th;
16:25).
Lee was fifth with 112 points and will have Keith Rizza (11th; 16:42)
joining Legesse as an individual regional qualifier while sixth place Fairfax (131
points) qualified Mitch Milkov (6th; 16:20).

The girls individual race saw Nicole Pederson of South Lakes pull away from
a five runner group at two miles (12:32) to record a very controlled ten
second victory at 18:29.
The team race had Langley put their top four runners among the first
fifteen finishers with a spread of just over one minute in winning with 61 points.
The Saxons had their top two runners together most of the way with Laura Lyons
(4th; 19:02) and Anna Schafer (5th; 19:03) followed by Jill Zimmerman (11th;
19:55) and Lauren Cozzens (15th; 20:04).
W.T. Woodson was a close second with 66 points as their top five were all
grouped less than a minute apart led by Molly Galloway (6th; 19:36), Joy Bonner
(12th; 20:01) and Talia Katz (14th; 20:04).
R.E. Lee pulled into third place at 80 points with Kimberly Vowell having a
very good race as the runnerup (18:39) and the Lancers also had Rachael
Medler in ninth (19:45) while McLean scored 85 points for fourth and earned all
district individual honors with Alanna White (10th; 1951) and Suzanne Gabriel
(13th; 20:03).
South Lakes was fifth (92 points) and had Maeve O'Doherty (8th; 19:40)
qualify for regionals along with her winning teammate Pederson while Madison was
sixth with 146 points and had one of the top individual performances of the
meet from Megan Ginley (3rd; 18:41).

Patriot District:

by Pearl Watts

Hayfield, led by the one-two finish of junior Melissa Dewey and senior
Morgan Phelan, captured the girls team title while on the boys side, Lake Braddock
was the team winner with West Springfield senior Steve Tobin the individual
champ at the Patriot District Campionships held at Burke Lake Park on
Wednesday, October 22.
Hayfield's Dewey, who has not been defeated by a fellow Northern Region
runner thus far this season, posted a very good time of 17 minutes and 52 seconds
over Burke Lake's 2.98 mile course in sunny but windy conditions with
temperatures in the low to mid 50's.
Dewey improved her time from the Monroe Parker meet of seven weeks ago on
the same course by fourteen seconds while second place finisher Phelan, last
year's AAA state meet runnerup, sliced 40 seconds off her Monroe Parker time
with her Patriot second place time of 18:14.
Hayfield scored 36 points for their victory with the Hawks also getting
solid performances from senior Neela Balkisoon (6th; 19:07) and the freshmen trio
of Amy Weber (11th; 19:16), Shannen Clevand (16th; 19:34) and Gretchen
Wendleberger (17th; 19:35).
Lake Braddock notched second place with 49 points and swept the third
through fifth spots with junior Kelsey Snowden (18:40), sophomore Erin Klein
(18:44) and junior Kelley Sherrard (19:01). Robinson finished third with 69 points
led by their closely bunched threesome of sophomore Erin Hickey (7th; 19:08),
sophomore Jennifer Hovland (8th; 19:10) and senior Vicki Moore (9th; 19:11)
while West Springfield grabbed the final region team qualifying berth, scoring 86
points for fourth place with sophomore Andrea Mueller their top finisher
(10th; 19:15).

The boys team race, in what is virtually a highly competitive affair every
year, never developed as Lake Braddock placed their top five runners among the
top eleven finishers to win easily with 37 points. The Bruins were paced by
junior Brad Clark, who toughed his way to second place at 15:42.
Following Clark, the Bruins put their next four runners within 20 seconds
of each other with the all senior quartet of Danny Howick (6th; 15:54),
Anthony Internicola (8th; 15:57), Scott Gordon (10th; 16:06) and Jason Lex (11th;
16:14).
West Springfield finished second in the team scoring with 72 points and
claimed the individual honors once again, this time with Steve Tobin. The
Spartans senior took the lead from the outset and held an 80 meter lead at the two
mile mark on his way to a solid time of 15:22.
Tobin's time was a big improvement from his Monroe Parker performance where
he had finished just 13th at 16:02 and the Spartans' runnerup spot was also
greatly aided by by sophommore Kris Benton's strong surge in the second half of
the race which netted him fourth place overall in 15:48.
Robinson finished third with 87 points paced by senior Sam Rhodes (5th;
15:53) as they just edged Hayfield's fourth place total of 89 points. The Hawks
had talented junior Brian Fussell run his best race of the season (3rd; 15:43)
and senior Sean Riley in seventh place at 15:57 while T.C. Williams claimed an
individual qualifier for the regional meet to be held Thursday, October 30 at
Burke Lake Park (Girls-3:30; Boys-4:15) in senior Rufus Peabody (9th; 16:01).

National

by Pearl Watts

Mount Vernon rode the winning performance of senior Ermias Regassa to win
the boys team title while the Washington-Lee girls won quite probably their
first ever girls cross country team title with Yorktown senior Katie Read the
individual champ.
In the boys race, Regassa was in a stride for stride battle with
Wakefield's Mudasar Haidat and Bryan Kirby of Edison for the first two miles. Kirby, the
eventual third place finisher, (16:26) fell off the pace shortly thereafter
and Regassa was able to gradually lengthen his lead over Haidat from the 2.5
mile point on to win by 40 meters in 15:56.
Mount Vernon won a tight team battle which saw the top three teams
separated by less than 10 points with Matthew Thoman the next finisher for the Majors
behind Regassa in eighth place at 17:20.
Wakefield was second with 72 points largely due to Haidat's runnerup finish
(16:04) and Mike Robertson in ninth place (17:24).
Washington-Lee was a close third (74 points) led by Matt Dinan (5th;
17:04) and Bareket Haile (6th; 17:10) while Yorktown claimed the fourth and final
automatic regional team qualifying slot with 96 points with their top two
finishers Benjamin Bartlett (10th; 17:29) and Fabian Rowe (11th; 17:30).
Besides Kirby of Edison, others making the regional meet on an individual
but not team basis were Stuart's David Schlaseman (4th; 16:48) and William
Santos (14th; 17:37) along with the Falls Church duo of Ariel Ortiz (7th; 17:19)
and Eddie Morrison (12th; 17:31).

In the girls race, although Washington-Lee produced a string of good
distance runners in the late '70's and early '80's, it appears that there is a very
good chance that the Generals have won their first ever district cross country
title and if not, certainly the first in a very long time.
W-L put three runners among the top six and all six of their competing
runners earned all district honors as they won with 29 points. The Generals were
strong at the top with Ellen Childress (2nd; 19:03) and Emily Gousen (3rd;
19:10), solid in the middle with Candida Ayala (6th; 20:08) and Margaret Oates
(7th; 20:22) and cetainly respectable after that with Lane Wollerton (11th;
20:34) and Kallie Sims (13th; 20:42).
Perennial National District champ Yorktown put three runners in the top
five as they finished second with 44 points. The Patriots received another strong
performance from senior Katie Read as she led from the outset and cruised to
a 40 second victory in posting a fine time of 18:23.
Yorktown also had two other runners below 20 minutes with junior Becca
Shinners in fourth place (19:51) and Emma Causey grabbing fifth place in 19:59.
Mount Vernon was third with 84 points led by Brandi Tish (8th; 20:33) and
Safiya Myers (10th; 20:34); Edison took the fourth qualifying spot with 106
points as the Eagles had Karen Dickerson (14th; 20:45) and Cynthia Bergstrom
(15th; 20:53) as their top finishers and Wakefield had two individual qualifiers
in Jasmine Riley (9th; 20:33) and Rebecca Zimmerman (12th; 20:37).

National Girls

Team Scores: 1. Washington-Lee 29 (2-3-6-7-11); 2. Yorktown 44 (1-4-5-16-18);
3. Mount Vernon 84 (8-10-17-24-25); 4. Edison 106 (14-15-19-26-32); 5.
Wakefield 126 (9-12-21-41-43); 6. Stuart 152 (23-27-31-34-37); 7. Falls Church 168
(28-29-30-39-42)

Top Individuals: 1. Katie Read (Yorktown) 18:23; 2. Ellen Childress (W-L)
19:03; 3. Emily Gousen (W-L) 19:10; 4. Becca Shinners (Yorktown) 19:51; 5. Emma
Causey (Yorktown) 19:59; 6. Candida Ayala (W-L) 20:08; 7. Margaret Oates (W-L)
20:22; 8. Brandi Tish (Mount Vernon) 20:33; 9. Jasmine Riley (Wakefield)
20:33; 10. Safiya Myers (Mount Vernon) 20:34; 11. Lane Wollerton (W-L) 20:34; 12.
Rebecca Zimmerman (Wakefield) 20:37; 13. Kallie Sims (W-L) 20:42; 14. Karen
Dickerson (Edison) 20:45; 15. Cynthia Bergstrom (Edison) 20:53

Boys Team Scores: 1. Mount Vernon 65 (1-8-13-17-26); 2. Wakefield 72
(2-9-15-21-25); 3. Washington-Lee 74 (5-6-16-18-29); 4. Yorktown 96 (10-11-19-22-34);
5. Stuart 100 (4-14-23-24-35); 6. Falls Church 112 (7-12-20-28-45); 7. Edison
166 (3-37-40-42-44)

Top Individuals: 1. Ermias Regassa (Mount Vernon) 15:56; 2. Mudasar Haidat
(Wakefield) 16:04; 3. Bryan Kirby (Edison) 16:26; 4. David Schlaseman (Stuart)
16:48; 5. Matt Dinan (W-L) 17:04; 6. Bareket Haile (W-L) 17:10; 7. Ariel Ortiz
(Falls Church) 17:19; 8. Matthew Thoman (Mount Vernon) 17:20; 9. Mike
Robertson (Wakefield) 17:24; 10. Benjamin Bartlett (Yorktown) 17:29; 11. Fabian Rowe
(Yorktown) 17:30; 12. Eddie Morrison (Falls Church) 17:31; 13. Phillip Deneault
(Mount Vernon) 17:32; 14. William Santos (Stuart) 17:37; 15. Alfred Simpkin
(Wakefield) 17:47

Notes: Patriot and National Districts held Wednesday, October 22 at Burke
Lake Park's 2.98 mile course. Temperatures in the low 50's with 10-20 mph winds.
From Mike Dobson and Pearl Watts.

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