Cross Country - Group 4A State Championship

Posted: November 14, 2015
By ROBERT STOCKS
The Winchester Star

THE PLAINS — Sherando High School’s boys’ cross country team wanted to etch its name in the school record book at the Virginia High School League Group 4A state championship at Great Meadow on Friday.

Although the number that goes into the record book might be slightly lower than what the Warriors envisioned, Sherando equaled the program’s best finish ever at a state meet.

The Warriors, making back-to-back state appearances and just their second trip to Great Meadow since 2008, used their depth to place all five scoring runners in the top 60 overall to take third place on a blustery — but clear blue-sky day in The Plains.

Sherando senior Trevor Whiteside led the way, finishing 11th overall with a time of 16 minutes, 44 seconds to earn all-state honors by finishing in the top 15.

Loudoun Valley, led by senior Andrew Hunter’s third-straight state title in 15:03, won the boys’ team title with 47 points. Hunter, who is ranked No. 1 nationally, led a pack of five Loudoun Valley runners in the top 25 to easily defeat runner-up Fauquier (114) by 67 points.

Just eight points separated second through fourth with Sherando (119) taking third followed by Midlothian (122) and Millbrook (144) in the top five.

The Warriors’ third-place effort equals the best finish in team history. It’s the third time Sherando finished third and the previous two times came back in Group AA in 1996 and 2005.

“Today Fauquier showed up but we were still ahead of everybody from the [East] region,” said Whiteside, who was dealing with some IT (Iliotibial) band discomfort in his knee from the second mile on. “We were kind of scared of some of those other teams, like Grafton, Lafayette and Midlothian, so we just knew that every spot counts.

“We just wanted to get [past] as many people [from those teams] as we could. I feel like we showed up and we did our work. We placed [top three] and I’m proud of them.”

Whiteside — who led Sherando to its first postseason title since 2000 (when the team was a member of the Commonwealth District in Group AAA) at the Conference 21A championship on Oct. 28 — was joined in the Warriors’ scoring five by senior Thomas Shea (16th, 17:01), junior Hayden Williams (26th, 17:14), senior Thomas Powars (38th, 17:27) and senior James Kelly (54th, 17:27).

Shea said the team’s ultimate goal was to bring home a trophy — something that’s only awarded to the top two teams since the switch to six classifications.

“We were hoping to be on the podium,” said Shea, who finished three seconds behind the final all-state spot. “I thought top three made the podium but it is what it is.

“[Third] still means a lot. We did pretty well given the conditions. We could’ve gained a couple places but the race is the race.”

Sherando head coach Jamie McCarty said missing out on second by just a few points made it a little bittersweet but he was proud of his team’s effort.

“We raced really well and we had a couple people who ran like they needed to at the state meet,” McCarty said. “Thomas Shea came through for us and was 16th and just missed that all-state spot and Hayden Williams ran really strong today. I think it was [close to] top 25 so he ran really well. Trevor was solid, and I think he wanted to be a little bit higher.

“But all in all, to come out third we’re pleased but missing [second] by five points is a little bit of a heartbreaker. I can’t fault the kids because they left it all out there and we’re pleased with that.”

While Sherando led the way among area teams, Millbrook senior Tyler Cox-Philyaw finished fourth overall in 16:17 to pace area runners.

Cox-Philyaw clocked a 5:01 opening mile in third place and slipped back two spots to fifth at the two-mile mark.

The Pioneers senior standout, who said he slipped probably 10 times on the 3.1-mile course that was muddy from the rain earlier in the week, surged during the final mile after falling back several spots to take fourth.

“It was really windy and the course wasn’t too good either — there was a bunch of mud on the course,” said Cox-Philyaw, who earned all-state honors for the third year in a row after finishing 11th as a sophomore and third last year. “Right before the two mile I started to feel OK but when we went up the steep hill across the gravel road it just hit me and I started feeling really bad.

“We started coming back down [the hill] and I thought ‘if I’m going to go and catch people I’ve gotta go now’ and I caught everybody but the Grafton kid [Price Owens, third, 16:15] and the Lafayette kid [Konrad Steck, runner-up, 15:59]. I think I passed five, I was in ninth.”

Millbrook junior Alec Schrank earned all-state for the third straight year, taking eighth in 16:25.

“It was definitely hard with some of the wind,” Schrank said. “I thought I came through in 15:27 and I looked again and it said 16:27 so I was pretty disappointed.

“It’s actually my worst state performance of my high school career so far. I’ve got sixth, fifth and now eighth, but I’m happy with it. I put it all out today. I came through the finish line and I couldn’t move so I definitely couldn’t have done anymore.”

Cox-Philyaw, Schrank, junior Justin Wiseman (32nd, 17:22), senior Tom Carty (57th, 17:53) and junior Kevin Kleinegger (76th, 18:17) rounded out the Pioneers’ scoring five.

“I thought Tyler ran strong, especially the last half mile or so,” said Millbrook coach Kevin Shirk. “For the type of runner that he is — more of a miler — I don’t think the conditions were really favorable for him with it windy and muddy. It sometimes hurts him more than other kids but he ran well in it despite that.

“I thought we looked a little off at regionals last week when we were sixth so to see them rebound and finish better at states than we did in the region that always says something good about a team.”

Handley senior Aaron Arslan, the Judges’ lone state qualifier, finished 22nd in 17:10.

Arslan joined some elite company at Handley according to Judges boys’ coach Mark Stickley, becoming the first Handley runner with four straight state meet appearances since Bobby Lockhart won a VHSL record four consecutive state titles from 1998-’01.

While Cox-Philyaw paced area boys, James Wood junior Sophia Dorsey turned in a strong race, battling through the 20-mph gusts and muddy conditions, to lead area girls in 17th place with a time of 20:02.

Millbrook’s girls’ team, led by freshman Kaycee Cox-Philyaw in 29th (20:30), placed seventh.

“It’s really special — it’s my first states,” said Kaycee Cox-Philyaw. “I think I’ll remember it for a while.”

The Pioneers’ scoring five included Cox-Philyaw, senior Nadia Dahimene (29th, 20:46), senior Hannah Croyle (38th, 20:48), sophomore Mellany Groll (39th, 20:49) and freshman Emily Muldowney (45th, 20:54).

“I’m really happy with the way they ran as a full team,” Shirk said. “We’re pretty solid through seven girls. I can’t say anything but good things about the girls. One through five we had a 24-second split.”

Sherando, led by freshman Olivia Couillard (19th, 20:13) followed in eighth place. Freshman Camryn Ubert (21st, 20:16), senior Victoria Reese (37th, 20:47), sophomore Paige Conner (48th, 21:04) and freshman Stella Williams (65th, 21:40) completed the Warriors’ scoring five.

“We have a young team with no state experience in any of them [other than Conner who qualified individually last season] and six of those seven girls today are coming back,” McCarty said. “We’re pretty happy about that.”

Heritage, led by sophomore overall winner Weini Kelati (17:22), won the girls’ team title with 86 points. Loudoun Valley (103) finished as the runner-up, edging third-place E.C. Glass by six points. Lafayette (113) and Jefferson Forest (116) completed the top five.

— Contact Robert Stocks at rstocks @winchesterstar.com

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