Fairfax Station — The West Potomac girls’ cross country team graduated four key members from a team that finished third in the state in 2011. Head coach Jenn Dietz described the boys’ team as “a work in progress” during the 2012 campaign.
Yet when the Patriot District cross country championships arrived on Oct. 25 at Burke Lake Park, both teams performed well enough to qualify for regionals.
The West Potomac boys’ team finished runner-up and the girls’ team finished third on a warm Thursday at the 2.98-mile course. The top four teams from each district advance to the Northern Region championship meet, re-scheduled for Friday, Nov. 2 at Burke Lake Park.
Lake Braddock won the boys’ team title with a score of 55. West Potomac finished runner-up with a total of 66, followed by West Springfield (78) and Woodson (118).
West Potomac’s top finisher, Luca Halladay, placed seventh with a time of 16:02. Halladay said the Wolverines gained a confidence boost from their performance at the Glory Days Invitational on Oct. 13, placing seventh out of 31 teams.
“Just two weeks ago at the Glory Days meet, most of our guys just had amazing personal records — changes in records of about maybe 30 seconds, 40 seconds, which is pretty rare,” Halladay said. “That’s when we really figured it out.”
Halladay, a junior, said he set a 31-second PR during the Patriot District meet. Sophomore Nick Cucinotta placed eighth for the Wolverines with a time of 16:03. Senior Corey Rosenberg finished 10th (16:12), sophomore Eric Turner was 19th (16:24) and senior Crispin Bernier finished 22nd (16:31).
“Just two weeks ago at the Glory Days meet, most of our guys just had amazing personal records — changes in records of about maybe 30 seconds, 40 seconds, which is pretty rare. That’s when we really figured it out.”
— West Potomac’s Luca Halladay
Lake Braddock’s Nick Tuck won the individual title with a time of 15:11. T.C. Williams’ Anteneh Girma placed second with a time of 15:36, followed by South County’s Alec Jones (third, 15:42), Lee’s Biruk Amare (fourth, 15:58), Lake Braddock’s Alex Corbett (fifth, 16:00) and West Springfield’s William Rabil (sixth, 16:02).
T.C. Williams’ Nick Brown was ninth (16:08), West Springfield’s John Amann (16:12) and Joey Spaziani (16:13) finished 11th and 12th, respectively. Annandale’s Aviad Gebrehiwot (16:14) was 13th, followed by Woodson’s David Falcone (14th, 16:15) and Lake Braddock’s Forest Isenhour (15th, 16:15).
Lake Braddock also won the girls’ team championship, finishing with a score of 25. West Springfield finished second with a score of 49, followed by West Potomac (79) and South County (89).
Katie Genuario was West Potomac’s top finisher. The junior placed seventh with a time of 18:16.
“I think Katie Genuario is coming along very well,” Dietz said. “That’s her best time on this course.”
West Potomac seniors Lauren Price (11th, 18:56) and Sophia Passacantando (15th, 19:07) earned all-district honors with top-15 finishes. Junior Katie Murray finished 25th (19:44) and senior Allison McNulla was 26th (19:51).
Lake Braddock’s Sophie Chase won the event with a time of 17:02, followed by West Springfield’s Caroline Alcorta (second, 17:09), Lake Braddock’s Hannah Christen (third, 17:34) and Katie Roche (fourth, 17:39), Lee’s Bailey Kolonich (fifth, 17:58) and West Springfield’s Maddie Wittich (sixth, 18:05).
West Springfield’s Katie Kennedy finished eighth (18:23), and Lake Braddock’s Katy Kunc (18:37) and Misha Suresh (18:41) placed ninth and 10th, respectively. Woodson’s JaHyun Yang finished 12th (18:59), and South County’s Mary Cate Scully (19:02) and Emily Lamontagne (19:02) were 13th and 14th, respectively.