Boys' Conference 21 West Cross Country

WINCHESTER — Although the top time at the Conference 21 West boys’ cross country championship race belonged to Millbrook senior Alec Schrank, Handley couldn’t have picked a better time to run its best race.

The Judges, led by junior John Delaney who placed third with a time of 16 minutes, 44 seconds, put three runners in the top 10 to edge runner-up Millbrook by just five points for the team title at the Kernstown Battlefield course.

Handley totaled 57 points, Millbrook followed with 62, and Woodgrove earned the final regional berth in third with 66 points.

Delaney, senior Kevin Heredia (fifth, 17:18), senior Bennett Crow (eighth, 17:32), sophomore Brian Tufts (19th, 18:09) and freshman Grayson Westfall (22nd, 18:18) completed the Judges’ scoring five.

Delaney said Handley was seeded third in the virtual meet on Milestat.com, so to win the team championship shows how well each runner raced.

“I think the team did awesomely,” Delaney said. “Kevin, Bennett and then Brian — he didn’t get top 15 — but I think he ran really solidly along with Grayson. Those guys really brought us along.”

Handley boys coach Mark Stickley said his team couldn’t have run any better on its home course than it did on Wednesday.

“I kind of had Kevin and Bennett pegged at 10 and 11, and they were fifth and eighth and that’s huge right there,” Stickley said. “You still have to have your [No.] 4 and 5 and even my 6. They moved up so nicely during the race and had their head in the game. They were aware of where they were and moved up nicely and got some key people. Everybody pulled their weight.

“Brian [Tufts] is a little bummed because he fell out of the top 15, but still, those guys ran extremely well. I’m really happy with how they performed.”

Stickley said only two runners returned from last year’s team that placed fifth at the conference meet.

“It’s a whole new, revamped team, and boy did they come through,” Stickley said. “It’s pretty surprising. I know John [Delaney] is disappointed [with third], but to a man, I think we ran as well as we could.”

Schrank, who won the Judges Classic back on Sept. 10 on the Kernstown course, pulled away after the opening mile.

The second mile of Wednesday’s conference race was altered compared to the course at the Judges Classic in September, but Schrank didn’t have any issues with the new layout.

He built a four-second lead over Delaney and Woodgrove’s Rylan Pettit before the hill that leads to the two-mile mark.

Over the final mile, Schrank kept surging and finished with a time of 16:05. He finished nine seconds ahead of Pettit, and 39 better than Delaney.

Schrank said he was content to just stay with Pettit and Delaney through the opening mile since the pace was pretty good, but then he began to make his move.

“Coming through the second [mile] I was kind of pushing more,” Schrank said. “Probably about halfway through the race where the little dip is, I kind of just took it and kept going off of it. Everyone just kind of dropped back a little bit [from there].”

Schrank said the new second mile, which was done to alleviate any issues with fans potentially arriving late and trying to park their cars while the races had already started, wasn’t a drastic change.

“It’s a little different because it puts a little more geography and a little more topography into the course instead of having a really flat second mile,” Schrank said. “You have a couple more turns and a little uneven grass over there with a slight uphill and then a pretty quick downhill which is where I broke away from everyone.”

Schrank was one of three Millbrook runners to earn all-conference honors by finishing in the top 15. Senior Kevin Kleinegger (ninth, 17:34) and sophomore Brad Hambrick (12th, 17:44) also earned all-conference. Sophomore John Pullen (17th, 18:06) and senior Gabriel Espinoza (23rd, 18:24) rounded out the Pioneers’ team scoring.

Millbrook coach Kevin Shirk said it wasn’t an exceptional race by his team, but still a quality performance.

“I’m pleased to have three guys that were all-conference — Alec, Kevin and Brad,” Shirk said. “I was really glad to see that, and we had another [Pullen] who was right there in 17th, so I thought they all ran well and did what they were supposed to do.”

While the top three teams advance to next Wednesday’s 4A West Region Championship at Kernstown Battlefield, runners in the top 15 also qualified for next week’s regional.

James Wood senior Max Lindquist placed sixth (17:23) to lead a trio of Colonel runners in the top 15. Junior teammate Kevin Konyar (13th, 17:49) and sophomore Ethan Pierce (15th, 18:02) joined Lindquist in earning all-conference honors and a berth in next week’s regional.

Sherando senior Hayden Williams, the lone returning runner from the Warriors’ conference championship team from a season ago, placed 14th (17:57) as the team’s only regional qualifier.

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