Preview: Conference 21 Cross Country Championships

Posted: October 28, 2015

By ROBERT STOCKS
The Winchester Star

WINCHESTER — Millbrook High School’s boys’ cross country team has won the past two Conference 21 championships, but Sherando appears to be poised to change that at today’s first Conference 21A meet at Woodgrove High School.

The Warriors finished as the top area team at the Third Battle Invitational at Millbrook on Oct. 17, besting a field that included all of the conference boys’ teams except Harrisonburg.

While the fourth-place performance gave Sherando a big boost, Warriors coach Jamie McCarty knows his team must perform well when it counts today, especially with three other teams — Millbrook, Handley and host Woodgrove — which placed in the top 10 at the Group 4A state meet last year vying for just three regional berths in today’s races (set for 3:30 p.m. for the girls, 4:15 p.m. for the boys).

“This is the time of the year where everybody tries to be at their best and I think we’ll see that from everybody,” McCarty said. “I think we saw a little bit of it at Third Battle. I don’t think much will change. Everybody has run there [at Woodgrove] so I don’t think it will be anything unexpected.

“Everybody will have their A-game, so we’ll have to show up with that in order to advance.”

Sherando’s strength has come from its ability to run as a pack, placing all of its scoring five within a 54-second span at Third Battle.

The Warriors’ veteran lineup includes seniors Trevor Whiteside, Thomas Shea, Thomas Powars, James Kelly and junior Hayden Williams. Sherando has placed in the top 10 at all seven invitationals on its schedule this season.

McCarty said the team’s depth has been key.

“There are some teams that have a couple guys faster than us but we’ve been able to keep those guys pretty tight [together],” McCarty said. “Trevor has been consistently in the top five in a lot of meets and we want to keep the next four guys as close to him as possible.”

The Pioneers, led by defending Conference 21 champ Alec Schrank and conference and 4A North Region runner-up Tyler Cox-Philyaw, hope to contend for one of the top three spots.

“I think we’re in the hunt for a conference title,” said Cox-Philyaw following the Third Battle Invitational. “Obviously, Sherando’s going to be really, really hard to beat. I think their No. 4 was in front of our No. 3 [at Third Battle] so they’ll be tough to beat but it should be a good race.”

Millbrook coach Kevin Shirk said he hopes Cox-Philyaw and Schrank can sweep the top two spots and then have the rest of his lineup finish as close as possible in the top 25.

“Sherando is the heavy favorite coming in and Woodgrove has put together a few solid performances as well, but a single bad race by any runner on any team leaves the door open for others to sneak in there,” Shirk said. “I think Harrisonburg is coming in as a highly-under-ranked team and may surprise people because they haven’t run on any of the traditionally fast courses this season but they are very capable of being top three.”

Handley, led by Conference 23 defending champ Aaron Arslan, hopes to earn another regional berth, but Judges boys’ coach Mark Stickley knows that his team must run one of its best races of the season to finish in the top three.

“It’s real simple — if we run well, we move on. If we don’t, we don’t,” said Stickley, whose team won the Conference 23 title last year before moving to Conference 21A this season. “We’re definitely a bubble team. It’s between us Harrisonburg and Woodgrove for the third spot. It’s a tough conference. We could run well and not get out.”

Although the Warriors boys’ appear to be the clear favorite, the girls’ race could be just as competitive for the top three regional team berths.

Sherando, led by freshman Camryn Ubert, finished as the top local team (in 14th) at Third Battle. The Warriors finished fourth in the conference last year behind two teams which are no longer in Conference 21A — Heritage and Loudoun County — and also third-place Woodgrove.

“We need to show up with our best seven and see what kind of position we can put ourselves in,” McCarty said. “From what we’ve seen, we can be as competitive as anybody.”

Ubert, Woodgrove sophomore Emma-Jane Kimmett — who won the rain-soaked Judges Classic on Sept. 12 — and James Wood junior Sophia Dorsey could all contend for the top three overall. Millbrook has a trio of state-qualifying runners in seniors Hannah Croyle and Nadia Dahimene and sophomore Mellany Groll.

James Wood, Millbrook and Handley — which was the Conference 23 runner-up a season ago and did not compete at Third Battle — could also be in the hunt for a regional berth.

“There’s not as clear of a favorite in the girls’ race, though Sherando leads the way,” Shirk said. “I think we’ll see a top three within 15 points of each other. There are probably five teams capable of being in the top three qualifying spots.

“Our goal will be to put four girls in the top 15, or as close to it as we can, and then rely on any one of our three other girls — who are all within a few seconds of each other — to step up and run out of their normal comfort zone.”

The top three boys’ and girls’ teams — and the top 15 finishers not on the top three teams — advance to next Thursday’s 4A West Regional at the Smith River Sports Complex in Martinsville.

With four or five teams vying for three spots in both the boys’ and girls’ races, James Wood coach Mike Onda said he’s not concerned about the rainy forecast but knows each team’s top five runners must perform well to advance.

“I really think you’ll see one of most competitive conference in region and maybe in the whole state in terms of 4A,” Onda said. “If one person has a bad day — or one person has a really good day — it could be a big swing.

“I think we’ll get a few guys out and a few girls out [to regionals]. Team-wise it’s so competitive and we’ll just have to see how the chips fall.”

— Contact Robert Stocks at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

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