Woodson junior Paul Gates said he has room for improvement after his fourth-place finish at the Monroe Parker Invitational on Sept. 11 at Burke Lake Park, but the Cavalier harrier noted his performance was still pretty good.
Gates recorded a personal-best time of 15 minutes, 30 seconds at the 2.98-mile course, helping the Woodson boys finish 11th out of 30 teams. Gates, who said his previous course PR was 15:48, crossed the finish line 13 seconds behind meet winner Sean McGorty of Chantilly.
"I could have run better," Gates said, but "I’m really happy with my time."
Gates said he entered the Parker Invite with high expectations, feeling he could stick with the front of the pack. He also said the team has a lofty goal from a season standpoint.
"As an individual, I just want to continue to get better," Gates said. "As a team, we want to go to states."
Woodson senior Jeffrey Peckins finished 64th (17:06) and seniors Michael Orrick (17:19) and Chris DiAntonio (17:20) placed 79th and 80th, respectively. Junior Will Crowley finished 96th (17:33) and senior Abdul Sahyouni was 103rd (17:38).
Lake Braddock had to two top-10 finishers. Senior Sam Rubenking placed second (15:26) and senior Luke Sohl finished fifth (15:37).
Annandale junior Ahmed Bile (third, 15:28), Lee senior Abraham Yacob (sixth, 15:39), Robinson’s Nick Reed (seventh, 15:45), South Lakes senior Will Sickenberger (eighth, 15:49), West Springfield senior Colin Taylor (ninth, 15:54) and South Lakes senior Nick Guarnaccia (10th, 15:55) completed the top 10.
West Potomac defended its team title with a score of 84. South Lakes finished second with 116 points, followed by Lake Braddock (141), Thomas Jefferson (175) and Hayfield (206). West Springfield finished seventh with 257 points and Robinson (294) finished ninth.
On the girls side, Lake Braddock sophomore Sophie Chase won the individual competition with a time of 17:32, besting second place Myah Hicks of Edison by 32 seconds.
Thomas Jefferson won the team title with a score of 44 points. West Potomac was second with 86 points, followed by Lake Braddock (122), Langley (137) and West Springfield (150). South County finished 10th with 287 points, Edison placed 14th (412) and Lee was 16th (481).