Region 4A West Cross Country Championship

Posted: November 6, 2015

By WALT MOODY

Millbrook’s Alec Schrank and Tyler Cox-Philyaw placed second and third in the boys’ race to highlight the local contingent of runners at the Region 4A West Cross Country Championship on Thursday in Martinsville.

Sherando, led by Trevor Whiteside’s eighth-place finish, took second and Millbrook placed sixth to qualify for the state championships Friday at Great Meadow. Millbrook, paced by Nadia Dahimene’s 17th-place finish, finished third and Sherando, led by a 21st-place finish from Paige Conner, took sixth as both teams also qualified for the state title meet in The Plains.

No one was catching Loudoun Valley in the boys’ meet. Led by individual champion Andrew Hunter, Loudoun Valley had 31 points. Sherando was second with 122, 12 points clear of Freedom. Milbrook (168) edged Jefferson Forest by a point as the final team qualifier.

“We were really pleased,” Sherando coach Jamie McCarty said via telephone. “The guys finished runner-up to probably the best team in the whole state.”

Hunter blasted through the 3.1-mile course in 15 minutes, 25.01 seconds.

Schrank, who finished second to teammate Cox-Philyaw in last week’s Conference 21A championship, was next in 16:10.59. Cox-Philyaw ran 16:24.52 to place third.

“They’re always pretty close,” Millbrook coach Kevin Shirk said of Schrank and Cox-Philyaw. “That was the first time this season that Alec has finished ahead of Tyler. It’s great to have a one-two punch like that.”

Sherando had four runners place inside the top 30 overall and inside the top 25 as far as scoring purposes (the top individuals who are not part of the 15 teams competing).

Whiteside, who was third in the Conference 21A meet, led the Warrior charge with a time of 16:43.14.

Several of his teammates were not far behind. Thomas Shea (17:12.59) placed 22nd overall, Hayden Williams (17:14.94) took 26th and Thomas Powars (17:16.34) was 27th. James Kelly (17:50.09) finished up the scoring runners.

“Our two, three and four runners were packed really tight,” McCarty said. “We have a nice tight pack and that’s been our strength all year.”

Millbrook had to sweat out the tight finish.

Tom Carty (56th, 17:59.02), Justin Wiseman (58th, 18:03.24) and Brad Hambrick (80th, 18:31.89) rounded out the Pioneers scoring.

“The boys’ side didn’t perform as well as I had hoped,” Shirk said. “Ithink we’re a better team than that.”

Handley’s Aaron Arslan qualfied for the state meet as an individual. Arslan placed 17th in 16:58.75.

The Judges’ John Delaney (39th, 17:28.44) and Bennett Crow (65th, 18:14.33) and James Wood’s Max Lindquist (88th, 18:41.06) also competed as individuals.

Shirk felt much better about the performance of his girls’ squad, which was third in a much tighter meet,

Heritage won with 76 points, followed by E.C. Glass (115), Millbrook (120), Jefferson Forest (122), Loudoun Valley (123) and Sherando (142).

Led by Dahimene, the Pioneers had four runners place in the top 35.

“I was thrilled with the way they ran,” Shirk said of his team. “I was really hoping to steal sixth, but they ran boldly and we were able to pick off some good teams.”

Dahimene, the runner-up in the Conference 21A meet, took 17th in 20:23.07. Close behind were Melanie Groll (25th, 20:47.73), Hannah Croyle (26th, 20:48.54) and Kaycee Cox-Philyaw (35th, 21:08.08). Sophie Edlich (46th, 21:17.19) rounded out the scoring.

McCarty was elated for his girls, which had a 24-point margin over Woodgrove for the final state qualifying position. “It was great getting the team back to states,” McCarty said. “It’s been several years and it’s been a goal of ours this season. They rebounded a little bit from the conference meet.”

Conner was 21st in 20:38.02 and Olivia Couillard was 23rd in 20:47.45 to lead the Warriors. Camryn Ubert (29th, 20:49.73), Victoria Reese (45th, 21:15.54) and Gillian Liedke (57th, 21:40.97) also scored for Sherando.

James Wood’s Sophia Dorsey also is going to the state meet as an individual. Dorsey placed 20th in 20:35.36.

Heritage’s Weini Kelati smoked the girls’ field winning in 16:56.60. E.C. Glass’ Libby Davidson (18:16.20) was a distant second.

Both McCarty and Shirk are looking forward to the states.

“At the state meet, anything can happen,” McCarty said. “Getting there is the important part.”

“Our teams are capable of being among the top five or six in the state,” Shirk said.