Most cross country teams from the Northern Virginia area missed out on early season invitational meet action two weekends ago due to the rainy weather. Many of the Fairfax County school teams were scheduled to compete at the annual Monroe Parker Invitational at Burke Lake Park. And a few others were tabbed to take part at the Great Meadows races at the Plains.
But Herndon High had neither of those competitions on its venue. Instead, both the Hornets' boys and girls' teams took part in the Fork Union Military Academy meet (Fork Union, Va., near Charlottesville). The event did not have the expected large field of teams on either the boys or girls sides as a result of a handful of schools dropping out because of the recent hurricane watch. Still, 10 boys' teams were represented and 14 girls’ teams.
It turned out to be a great day for the Herndon boys and girls, as both squads captured first place finishes at Fork Union. In past years, Herndon coach Pete Sherry has taken his teams to the Virginia Tech Invitational for their early season invitational fix. But that event is no longer taking place. So Sherry elected to take his team to Fork Union.
So why would Sherry not just have his teams stay at home and compete at either the Monroe — which was re-scheduled for this past Tuesday — or the Great Meadows meets?
"I like to take the kids away the first weekend," said the coach. "We stay overnight. It's good for team-bonding."
<b>THE HERNDON GIRLS</b>, the defending Northern Region champions, anticipated a strong showing at Fork Union, and the Hornets received exactly that.
"We were expected to win and we did," said Sherry.
The Herndon girls have all of their top runners back from last year's team. As a young team in the fall of 2007, the Hornets surpassed expectations by garnering the region crown and going on to a solid fifth place finish at states. This year's team will be looking for similar success.
"They're all back," said Sherry, of the flux of talented girls he has on his current roster. "Now, the expectations are to [once again] be at the state meet, and maybe to win the state meet. They're all healthy and they've all come back in good shape."
The Herndon team's top runner, senior Hiruni Wijayaratne, was the first place individual finisher at the Fork Union meet. She finished well ahead — more than a minute — of the second place finisher.
Meanwhile, Herndon runners Jessica Wilds (a senior, third place overall), sophomore Carly Kulik (fourth), senior Laura Ortel (fifth) and sophomore Carolyn Hennessey all finished among the top seven finishers.
Of Wijayaratne's dominating showing at Fork Union, Sherry expressed no surprise at all.
"That was expected," he said. "She's not only one of the best [high school] runners in the state, but one of the best in the country. That's a fact. There are only five or six [girls] in the state who can run with her. Her goal is to win the state."
During track season of her junior year, Wijayaratne finished first in the state in the two mile race. In cross country last year, she finished second in the region and seventh in the state.
<b>THE HERNDON BOYS</b>, in taking first place at the Fork Union meet, had outstanding outings from senior Todd Van Luling (second place overall) and junior Jack Jasper (third). The team's next top finisher was junior Alex Anthony, 12th overall.
"I felt they would run very well," said Sherry, regarding Van Luling and Jasper's races. "They were aggressive and that was good to see. They pushed the pace."
Sherry said there were originally supposed to be 30 boys' teams competing at the Fork Union meet. But that number dropped significantly as teams elected not to make the trip to Fork Union because of the weather concerns.
"I was hoping for a top five finish," said Sherry, of his pre-meet thoughts regarding his boys' team in a full field.
Herndon, in what turned out to be a 10-team boys' event, finished first ahead of second place Spotswood High (Penn Laird, Va.).
A year ago, the Herndon boys finished fifth in the always-tough Concorde District, barely failing to qualify for the 16-team region meet field. This year, Sherry anticipates his team will qualify for regionals. The top four teams from the Concorde will advance to regionals. Sherry said the teams to beat in the district are Oakton and Robinson.
Last weekend the Herndon boys and girls teams were slated to participate at the Brentsville Relays. And this upcoming Saturday, the Hornets will take part in the Oatlands Invitational, another large, early season event that takes place in Leesburg.