After helping Clarke County to its first state title since 2009, the returners for the Eagles boys’ cross country team will take on bigger roles in their quest for a repeat.
In 2024, James Casey (third), Jackson Ellis (sixth) and Aidan Kreeb (10th) each earned All-State honors to help Clarke County win the Class 2 state title at Virginia Tech’s course by 33 points. All three have graduated.
Clarke County does return its No. 4 through No. 10 runners from last year, though. The group is led by juniors Landon Horton (15th in Class 2, First Team All-Area, season personal record of 16 minutes, 49.8 seconds for 3.1 miles) and Matthew Lisk (31st, Second Team All-Area), who also helped the Eagles win their third straight Region 2B title.
In Region 4D, the local teams will try to break through and earn one of the three state-qualifying spots while competing against Blacksburg (first in Class 4 last year), Charlottesville (second) and Jefferson Forest (fifth).
Handley finished fourth in Region 4D last year, 63 points behind third-place Jefferson Forest.
The Judges bring back two runners who have qualified for the state meet as individuals in junior Noah Meleason (34th in Class 4 last year; season PR of 16:29.6; First Team All-Area) and senior Will Thomas, who qualified in 2023 but missed most of last season with an injury. Judges coach Mark Stickley said Thomas will not compete in races this year until mid-September at the earliest due to another injury.
Handley also had senior Finn Slaughter qualify for the state meet last year, but he will focus on golf this year. Overall, the Judges have five runners back from last year’s Region 4D meet, including junior Everett Otto (Second Team All-Area, 31st in Region 4D).
Sherando (fifth in Region 4D) lost its top runner, state qualifier Ryan Maki, to graduation. The Warriors will be led this year by senior Hatcher Smith (30th in Region 4D, Second Team All-Area). Senior Andrew Ahrens (34th in Region 4D, Second Team All-Area) is another one of four people back from last year’s Region 4D meet for the team.
James Wood (sixth in Region 4D) brings back three of its top seven runners from last year. Winchester Star Boys’ Cross Country Runner of the Year and state qualifier Eli Clark graduated, senior Thomas Newman (the team’s No. 2 runner at the Region 4D meet) is not competing this year, and sophomore Nathan Reynolds will miss the season with an injury. Junior Zach Harringon returns after placing 38th in Region 4D in 2024.
Millbrook (11th in Region 4D) brings back its top five runners from the Region 4D meet. Senior Peter Warner (Second Team All-Area) placed 25th in Region 4D to lead the way.
The following is a glance at each area team:
Clarke County
Coach: Jeff Webster, 11th year.
Last year: Class 2 state, Region 2B and Bull Run District champions.
Key losses: {!–StartFragment–}James Casey, Jackson Ellis, Aidan Kreeb. {!–EndFragment–}
Key returnees: Landon Horton, Jr.; Matthew Lisk, Jr.; Carter Starley, Jr.; Lucas Hornbaker, Sr.; Adam Hillerson, Jr.; Brody Ellis, Jr.; Warren Maiberger, Sr.
Key newcomers: Drew Starley, Fr.; Liam Underwood, So.
Webster’s outlook: “In the footsteps of the championship team lineup where we lost the top three runners to graduation, we still return the next seven of ten runners, and also bring on a nice complement of new running talent to provide a nice balance. With only two seniors, we look to be very competitive within our classification for several years. Landon Horton remains focused and motivated to be a leader both on and off of the race course. Brody Ellis and Adam Hillerson both missed a large portion of their sophomore XC seasons, but returned to enjoy a very successful track season. They remain healthy and are running well.”
First meet: Saturday at Central Invitational in Woodstock
Handley
Coach: Mark Stickley, 23rd year.
Last year: Fourth in Region 4D.
Key losses: Matt Doran, Finn Slaughter.
Key returnees: Will Thomas, Sr.; Noah Meleason, Jr.; Everett Otto, Jr.; Halston Wright, Jr.; Samuel Plitt, So.; Ethan Truban, So.; Tristan Wheeling, So.
Key newcomer: William Mayfield, Fr.
Stickley’s outlook: “Our numbers are thin and losing Finn who is focusing on golf definitely hurts our chances of going to state as a team. But I think the sophomores will contribute a lot this year and help make us competitive. We have small numbers so we need to stay healthy as we are not deep. Making it out of the region and onto state will be difficult and will hinge largely on how Will Thomas progresses back from injury. Likely he won’t be racing until mid- to late-September. If he is close to 100% our top three will be very strong but we’ll need to see how the rest of the top seven shape up. I would guess we are starting the season at best as fourth or fifth in the region. So there is work to be done. Noah has picked up right where he left off from last season when he qualified for the state meet as an individual. Everett is much improved after transferring in last year. My three sophomores are figuring it out and well ahead of last year but not yet where we need them to be competitive as a team.”
First meet: Friday at Patriot Season Opener in Nokesville
Sherando
Coach: Megan Roberts, eighth year.
Last year: Fifth in Region 4D.
Key losses: Ryan Maki, Jed Bell, Sebastian Berrios.
Key returnees: Hatcher Smith, Sr.; Austyn Zeis, Jr.; Gus Barbe, Sr.; Owen Leatch, Jr.; Andrew Ahrens, Sr.; Quintin Priest, So.; Chester Konisiewicz, Jr.
Key newcomers: Gavin Flynn, Jr.; William Norris, Fr.; Andrew Schaefer, Fr.; Noah Farringer, Fr.
Roberts’ outlook: “Losing Ryan Maki will be difficult, but Hatcher Smith is ready to take over as front runner. We also have many guys ready to step into the spots left by Jed and Sebastian. I’m very happy with the depth we have this year and I expect a handful of guys fighting for the last few varsity spots. Our order of runners could change up every meet, with someone new ready to step up if a teammate is having a bad day. We should be ready to put up a good fight at the regional meet. Every one of our returning varsity runners dropped time in our time trial, but Quintin Priest, Owen Leatch, Austyn Zeis and Chester Konisiewicz all dropped a very significant amount.”
First meet: Saturday at Central Invitational in Woodstock
James Wood
Coach: Matthew Lofton, sixth year.
Last year: Sixth in Region 4D.
Key losses: Eli Clark, Nathan Reynolds, Thomas Newman.
Key returnees: Carrick Amerine, Sr.. Zach Harrington, Jr.; Cade Freeman, Jr.; Zane DeWarf, Jr.; Abe Miller, So.
Key newcomers: Creed Olah, So.; Alec Kluge, Fr.; Michael Nasheed, Fr.; Santiago Sanchez, Fr.
Lofton’s outlook: “With only one senior on the whole boys’ team, we definitely have one of the younger squads. We’re going to rely on the newcomers to make an impact on the varsity team which will hopefully make us competitive in the district with a decent presence at the regional level. Our returning varsity boys put in a great summer of training. We got in a lot of talented younger runners who have been training hard and it’s already paying off.”
First meet: Saturday at Central Invitational in Woodstock
Millbrook
Coach: Jamie McCarty, sixth year.
Last year: 11th in Region 4D.
Key losses: Graham Davidson, Kingston Guerrero.
Key returnees: Peter Warner, Sr.; Sam Lapp, So.; Sam Lopez, So.; John Robbins, Jr.; Jackson Carr, Sr.; Bennett Weiss, Sr.
Key newcomers: Nigel Foster, Sr.; Shawn Fameni, Sr.; Steve Luna, Sr.; Jackson Reid, Fr.; Evan Gong, So.
McCarty’s outlook: “We return an experienced and deep group from last year’s team. We also have several athletes that ran cross country for us in the past and several newcomers that have never ran, so depth and competition are going to be the key to how much we improve this season. I could see a situation where we don’t have a true top seven set until we get to the regional meet. Making states is always the goal, but seeing some real improvement and moving up from last year’s 11th-place finish is the ultimate goal. It’s been a good summer for all the guys, with so many new faces. The combination of new faces, talent and competition will only make us a better team than last year.”
First meet: Wednesday in six-team meet at Third Battle of Winchester Battlefield course
— Contact Robert Niedzwiecki at rniedzwiecki@winchesterstar.com
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