The Lake Braddock High cross country program enjoyed a solid showing from both its girls’ and boys’ teams at last week’s Patriot District Championships, held Oct. 28 at Burke Lake Park.
The Lake Braddock girls (52 points) finished second to West Potomac (42) in the team standings. Leading the Bruins was first place individual finisher, Sophie Chase, whose winning time of 17 minutes, 42 seconds put her in comfortable distance ahead of second place finisher Bailey Kolonich (18:06) of Lee High.
Lake Braddock had two other runners earn top 15 medals – fifth place Casey Lardner (18:51) and eighth place Katie Roche (19:01). The Bruins also received good runs from Tara Landy (16th place) and Alexis Bruhn (22nd).
The Bruins will next compete at the 16-team Northern Region Championships at Burke Lake Park this week on Thursday afternoon, Nov. 4, beginning at 3:15.
The top four girls’ teams at the Patriot District meet earned automatic bids to regionals. Along with West Potomac and Lake Braddock, the other two teams to qualify for regionals were third place West Springfield (68) and fourth place T.C. Williams (100).
Last week’s other top 15 individual medal winners at districts also included West Springfield runners Lauren Blackburn (9th place), Maddie Wittich (10th) and Jessica Simmons (12th), as well as South County’s Mary Cate Scully (14th).
Other local runners who had good outings included West Springfield’s Lisa Williams (17th), Woodson’s Alanna Kelley (19th), West Springfield’s Jennifer Moore (20th), Lee’s Nina Srikongyos (21st), South County’s Alyssa Campbell (23rd), Woodson’s Shoshana Oppenheim (26th), Lake Braddock’s Anna Markowitz (27th), Woodson’s Anne McAuley (29th) and South County’s Kaitlin Reskovac (30th).
<b>ON THE BOYS’ SIDE</b>, Lake Braddock (61 points) was also a second place finisher behind champion West Potomac (56). West Springfield (94) and Woodson (113) finished third and fourth, respectively, in the team standings to qualify for regionals.
Woodson’s Paul Gates was the individual champion with a time of 15:15. West Springfield’s Colin Taylor (15:20) was second and Lake Braddock’s Sam Rebenking (15:24) was third.
Behind Rebenking on the Lake Braddock ladder were top 15 medal earners Luke Sol (7th place, 15:50), ninth place Nick Tuck (15:54) and 15th place Luke Levan (16:13). Rounding out the Bruins’ top five was Nick Farrell (27th).
Other local top 15 finishers were Lee’s Abraham Yacob (5th place, 15:45); eighth place Dylan Morgan (15:52) of South County; and 14th place James King (16:12) of West Springfield.
West Springfield coach Chris Pellegrini said both of his teams finished about where he anticipated they would in qualifying for regionals.
“There weren’t any major surprises,” said Pellegrini. “I was pleased with James King’s effort to place all-district for the second straight year. Colin [Taylor] ran a good race up front, but unfortunately got surprised at the end by a great finish by Paul Gates from Woodson. I think Colin is in good position to challenge for the regional title on Thursday.”
Lake Braddock head coach Mike Mangan was pleased with the overall showings of his girls’ and boys’ teams.
“We had a good district meet,” said Mangan. “West Potomac is very good on both sides. We are hoping to challenge them in both races at regionals. The top four teams [at regionals] will move on to states and that is our primary goal.”
<b>A DAY EARLIER (Oct .27),</b> the Fairfax High cross country teams competed at the Liberty District Championships at Burke Lake. Neither Rebels’ team finished in the top four but Fairfax received good individual outings from girl runners Katie Robertson (39th) and Stefanie Spitz (41st), and boy runners David Hollinger (10th place, 16:34) and Daniel Vanderplas (30th). Hollinger earned a top 15 medal with his stellar showing.