High School Boys' Cross Country Preview

By ROBERT NIEDZWIECKI The Winchester Star

Aug 20, 2018

At Millbrook High School’s picture day on Aug. 10, the photographer hired for the event asked for all of the seniors to raise their hands so their picture could be taken separately.

She couldn’t help but be impressed by the number of hands that went up. Millbrook hopes the members of that senior class continues to impress over the next few months.

The Pioneers were the only one of the five local high schools that did not qualify for regional competition last year. But Millbrook does bring back five seniors who competed in last year’s Class 4 Northwestern District meet.

Fifth-place Millbrook finished only four points behind fourth-place James Wood, 14 behind No. 3 Sherando and 17 behind No. 2 Handley, so the battle for the four Region 4C meet berths that will be handed out at Millbrook’s Third Battle of Winchester course on Oct. 24 should be an interesting one.

“I haven’t really done my homework, but my gut feeling right now is that Fauquier is going to be the No. 1,” said Handley coach Mark Stickley of a Falcons team that won the district title with five scoring underclassmen runners last year. “But I kind of feel like it’s Millbrook at No. 2. They come down to Handley for their time trials [two miles on the track], and they did that one day when we were finishing up practice. I stuck around and watched to see where they are, and they’re definitely ahead of us, at least at this point.

“I think James Wood and Sherando are pretty solid even though Sherando lost their No. 2 [in junior Christian Arellano, who transferred to Loudoun Valley High School]. I think they’re all ahead of us right now, but I think we can close the gap. Whether that means we can beat them, I don’t know. But I think we can keep it kind of interesting.”

The Judges only lost two runners from the team that competed at last year’s district meet, but one of them was district champion John Delaney, who went on to earn all-state honors at the Class 4 state meet and earn Winchester Star Boys’ Cross Country Runner of the Year honors.

Handley does bring back junior Grayson Westfall (eighth at the district meet), who Stickley said has established himself as the team’s “clear-cut No. 1,” senior Brian Tufts (18th) and junior Bennett Cupps (23rd). The newcomers include Stickley’s freshman son Ryan. Mark Stickley — a Virginia Tech Hall of Fame runner — said Ryan is shaping us as the team’s No. 5 runner right now.

Sherando is hurt by the loss of Arellano — one of just three Winchester/Frederick County runners to qualify for the Class 4 state meet — but the Warriors do bring back sophomore James Harris. Harris placed 23rd at the state meet, 13th in the region and fifth in the district last year. Other top returners for Sherando are junior Ty Waits (16th in the district meet) and sophomore Jonathan Gates (22nd).

James Wood lost its No. 1 runner in Kevin Konyar, who is now competing at NCAA Division II Bloomsburg University.

But the Colonels bring back senior Josh Arce (seventh in the district meet) and three runners who placed between 28th and 32nd in the district meet in senior Ethan Pierce, junior Nathan Shade, and sophomore Colin Stanaert.

The Colonels’ newcomers include freshman Nathaniel Woshner, a strong candidate to be in the team’s top five or top seven and the son of James Wood coordinator of student activities Craig Woshner. Craig was an All-Big East runner at the University of Pittsburgh and coached the James Wood boys to the 2002 Group AA state cross country title.

Millbrook’s senior class includes Brad Hambrick, John Pullen, and Angus Derrick, who placed 11th, 14th and 19th, respectively, in the district meet last year.

“I hope that our boys surprise some people,” Millbrook coach Kevin Shirk said. “We finished a disappointing fifth last year [in the district], but our varsity boys have worked tirelessly since then. Our top four to five guys transformed in the past year into more serious and more committed athletes, and I’m proud of where they are now and excited to see them race. Our first goal is to simply improve and make it out of the district. I think we are good enough to finish in the top two at the district meet, but it will be a fight.”

In the Bull Run District, Clarke County is coming off a season in which it qualified for the Region 2B meet by placing third in the Bull Run District, but the Eagles will have to make do without their top runner from last year even though he’s still in school. Clarke County coach Jeff Webster said all-state runner Nick Dawson is focusing on playing in the school’s marching band this fall.

The Eagles do bring back seniors Connor Hanson (a state qualifier last year) and Kyle Erickson, who placed 14th and 17th, respectively, at last year’s Region 2B meet. Central is the defending district champion, but the Falcons lost their top three runners from last year.

James Wood, Millbrook, Sherando and Clarke County start the season on Saturday at the Central Invitational in Woodstock. Handley opens on Sept. 5 in a Class 4 Northwestern District mini at Kernstown Battlefield.

The following is a glance at each area team:

Handley

Coach: Mark Stickley, 16th year.

Last year: 2nd in Class 4 Northwestern District; 6th in Region 4C meet.

Key losses: John Delaney, Joe Rosenfeld.

Top returnees: Grayson Westfall, Jr. (season PR 17:05); Brian Tufts, Sr.; Bennett Cupps, Jr.; James Morrison, Sr.; Andrew Dearth, Sr.; Jack Applin, Sr.

Top newcomers: Ryan Stickley, Fr.; Brendan Love, Fr.; Neil Parikh, Fr.

Stickley’s outlook: “It’s tough losing John [Delaney]. It was really kind of nice, no matter how everybody else is, knowing that you were going to look good up front. But sometimes when you have a runaway No. 1, the guys behind him rely too much on that guy. Cross country’s not how one person does, it’s how five do. I feel like in a lot of ways, collectively the group is working harder this year. I really like where we are right now. I’m not sure how good we are yet, but I like what we’re doing. The guys I’ve got are in better shape than they were at this time last year, by far, so that’s exciting.”

Sherando

Coach: Megan Roberts, first year.

Last year: 3rd in Class 4 Northwestern District; 5th in Region 4C meet.

Key losses: Christian Arellano (transferred to Loudoun Valley); Jacob Carr.

Top returnees: David Berry, Jr.; Jonathan Gates, So.; James Harris, So. (season PR 16:51); Ty Waits, Jr.; Lucas Williams, Sr.; David Berry, Jr.; Adam Brown, Jr.

Top newcomers: Justin Dante, Fr.; Tyler Grzeda, Fr.; Camden Palmer, Fr.; Graham Schultz, Fr.

Roberts’ outlook: “We’re definitely glad to have James [Harris] back. He’s very talented, and he works really hard. A new element that he’s going to have this year is that experience, and how to not go out too fast, how to pace a little bit better, knowing more about race strategy. With all those elements coming together, I think we’ll see big things out of him. He’s also been a good role model for the rest of the team with his work ethic. He’s pulling his teammates along, so that’s good. David Berry and Adam Brown are training on a whole new level this year, so I’m looking to see good things out of them. We have some very promising freshmen. I’m not sure how they’re going to be in a race yet, but they’re working very hard and I’m expecting them to do well. If they can’t help us this year I definitely expect them to help us in the future. Making it to regionals is definitely going to be a goal for us. We’re building a lot more depth than we have in the past, and I think that will help us.”

James Wood

Coach: Mike Onda, 13th year.

Last year: 4th in Class 4 Northwestern District; 8th in Region 4C.

Key losses: Jacksen Costa; Aaron Curd; Kevin Konyar; Bryce Ratlief; Daniel Woodrum.

Top returnees: Josh Arce, Sr. (17:01); Jimmy Burdock, So.; David Dorsey, Sr.; Luke Matthews, So.; Ethan Pierce, Sr.; Nathan Shade, Jr.; Colin Staneart, So.

Top newcomers: Caleb Kemer, Fr.; Chris Linares, Fr.; Liam McDonald, Fr.; Chris White, So.; Nathaniel Woshner, Fr.

Onda’s outlook: “I think the team is looking really good. We had a strong crop of freshmen last year who are now sophomores that are looking good. They’ve put in the work, and we’ve seen the results on the road. We lost some strong folks, but returners like Josh Arce, Nathan Shade, Ethan Pierce are all looking really strong. I think Josh is right there where he left off last season. He’s one of the fastest guys on the road and he’s really strong in the hills. We’ve had some freshmen that are coming up into the mix, too. It will be interesting to see how things sort out.”

Millbrook

Coach: Kevin Shirk, ninth year.

Last year: 5th in Class 4 Northwestern District.

Key losses: Aaron George, Luis Rivas.

Top returnees: John Pullen, Sr.; Brad Hambrick, Sr.; Angus Derrick, Sr.; Daniel Croyle, Sr.; Silas Schoer, Jr.; Dylan Wallace, Sr.; Justin Sharp, Sr.

Top newcomers: Raphael Espinoza, Fr.; Jonathan Wiseman, Fr.; George Wang, So.

Shirk’s outlook: “Our top four have improved dramatically — John Pullen, Dylan Wallace, Silas Schroer, Brad Hambrick. Silas, in particular, looks to be a top runner for us, and he wasn’t even in our top seven last season. Angus Derrick took off track season, but has come into this season in great shape and should help tremendously. Justin Sharp was injured for much of last cross country season, but he’s fully healthy and running strong again.”

Clarke County

Coach: Jeff Webster, fourth year.

Last year: 3rd in Bull Run District; 4th in Region 2B.

Key losses: Nick Dawson, Chase Ervin, Spencer Jackson.

Top returnees: Kyle Erickson, Sr; Connor Hanson, Sr.; Josh Hinton, So.; Reid Cox, Jr.

Top newcomers: George Roberts, Fr.; Trace Mansfield, Fr.; Evan Hanley, So.

Webster’s outlook: “We lost some really good talent last year, three out of our top five. Kyle and Connor are running really, really well, and we’re hoping that some of the younger runners can continue to develop and kind of back-fill the scoring positions. But this is somewhat of a developmental year for the boys. We’re just hoping they can kind of rise to the challenge and fill in some of those voids. [In the Bull Run], Central had a lot of turnover, but they also have a very robust program with a lot of talent deep into the JV level, so I suspect they will continue to be good. George Mason graduated a lot, but they have the ability to generate a good, strong team year after year just from transferring students.”

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