LOCAL CROSS COUNTRY TEAMS TAKE AIM AT STATE BERTH

November 3, 2011
By Robert Stocks

WINCHESTER- None of the Winchester or Frederick County cross country teams have qualified for the Group AA state meet since 2008, but Northwestern District girls' champion Millbrook and runner-up Handley hope to change that.

Both the Pioneers and Judges know it won't be easy heading into today's Region II meet (at 2 p.m.) at Great Meadow in The Plains.

Only the top four teams and top 15 individuals qualify for next Saturday's Group AA state meet at Great Meadow. And last year, only four of the 30 Region II qualifiers came from the Northwestern District.

"I think we can get there [to state] with a lot of hard work and training," said Crystal Nelson, who finished as the Region II runner-up a season ago.

Nelson won her second consecutive district championship last Wednesday on the Pioneers' home course on the site of the Third Battle of Winchester.

At today's regional meet, Nelson and the Pioneers surely have a battle on their hands against fellow district champions Fluvanna (Jefferson), Warren County (Evergreen) and Potomac Falls (Dulles). Add in Dulles District runner-up Woodgrove, third-place Heritage and Evergreen runner-up Brentsville - as well as Northwestern runner-up Handley - and that's at least eight competitive girls' teams vying for the four state qualifying berths. Millbrook coach Kevin Shirk said it's not going to be easy to land a top-four spot, but he thinks it might not be as difficult as the past two years have been.

"I see it as competitive, but more open than some recent years," Shirk said. "A lot of teams are coming in having had some up-and-down performances lately. With the teams having run their season bests on a lot of different courses, it makes it a little harder to compare and know exactly who's coming in in top shape."

Both the Pioneers and Judges appear to be in peak form for the postseason.

Handley, the regular-season district champions, finished second to the Pioneers in the district meet, but the Judges beat the Pioneers at the Third Battle Invitational and in the regular season district dual meet.

Judges girls coach Emily Budnyk-Putt said her team is definitely motivated after coming up short (39-42) against the Pioneers.

"It's making us hungry for regionals," Budnyk-Putt said. "I think we could be in the mix with the times that we ran [at the district meet]. We could be anywhere from first to eighth in my opinion. It's going to be interesting."

In the boys' meet, Northwestern District champion Skyline hopes to qualify for states again this year. The Hawks, led by Northwestern District champion Thomas Madden, hope to improve on last year's fourth-place effort at regionals.

Skyline coach Mike Tanner said the Great Meadow non-state course is pretty flat and fast, and he hopes his team can make a run at the regional title.

"If we show up and do what we're supposed to do we'll definitely be in the top four, but our goal is to win it," Tanner said. "If we run well and run to our potential, I think we can win."

Skyline will have to contend with district champions Western Albemarle (Jefferson), Brentsville (Evergreen), and Loudoun County (Dulles).

Handley finished seventh at last year's regionals, but the Judges, led by senior Chris Arslan's fifth-place (16:49) effort, qualified as the regular season Northwestern District champ. The Judges placed four (Arslan, Jim Thomson, Chase Anders, and Henry Griffin) in the top 20 at the district meet, but coach Mark Stickley said his team must improve on last week's performance to crack the top four at regionals.

"If you look at virtual meet scoring [on milestat.com] it puts us sixth and kind of a far-back sixth," Stickley said. "Needless to say it's not going to be easy, but we haven't run to our potential yet. We're healthy, we're rested and hopefully we're good enough to make it out. We need five guys having a good day at the same time."

James Wood's boys will send five runners to Region II individually. The Colonels' Joe Davet (16:45) and Danny Aldstadt (16:56) came in fourth and sixth, respectively, at the district meet last week. Wood's Jacob Sunderlin (10th, 17:15), Luke Farinholt (11th, 17:16) and Dylan Wilson (14th, 17:28) also qualified by finishing in the top 15.

James Wood's Samantha Ratcliffe (seventh, 20:36), Madeline Long (ninth, 20:45) and Molly Farinholt (15th, 21:29) also qualified.

"We send five guys and three girls so I'm real pleased with that," James Wood coach Mike Onda said. "Joe and Danny were pretty much at their [personal records] and on the girls' side they all ran real well too."

Other area regional qualifiers from last week's district meet include Sherando's Nisha Moore (10th, 20:57) and Katie Rogers (11th, 21:01); Sherando's James Reese (seventh, 16:59); and Millbrook's Nathan Burgreen (12th, 17:22) and Warren Ramirez (15th, 17:40).

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