Colonel girls barely miss state cross country berth: Millbrook's Murphy places 6th

THE PLAINS — When it came to competing against runners from their own district, the top five runners on James Wood’s girls’ cross country team performed just as well if not better on Tuesday against their rivals than it did in winning the Class 4 Northwestern District title on Oct. 23.

A better-than-expected performance from Dulles District member Lightridge left Colonels coach Matthew Lofton giving consoling hugs instead of celebratory ones this week, though.

Only the top three teams at Tuesday’s Region 4C Cross Country Championships at Great Meadow advanced to the Class 4 state meet, and James Wood placed fourth with 86 points, three points behind Lightridge (83) in the eight-team competition.

Three-time defending state champion Loudoun Valley won with 47 points and Tuscarora was second with 63 at Tuesday’s meet, which was held with a light, steady rain falling and not held on the state meet course. The top five individuals outside those three teams advance to the Class 4 state meet on Nov. 13, also at Great Meadow.

Four local runners secured those spots —Millbrook junior Madison Murphy (sixth in 18:51), James Wood senior Lauren Beatty (ninth in 19:10), Sherando junior Emma Ahrens (10th in 19:19 to earn the last All-Region medal) and Colonels senior Elena Farinholt (13th in 19:36). Class 4 Northwestern District champion Cassidy Scott of Fauquier took fifth to earn the other individual state spot.

Millbrook placed fifth with 105 points and Sherando placed seventh with 163. Two-time defending Class 4 champion Ava Gordon won by 38 seconds in 17:30.

Results were posted online before the awards ceremony, so James Wood cross country coach Matthew Lofton and his runners already knew they’d have to watch other schools celebrate the team state berth announcements. That wasn’t what Lofton was expecting, though.

“I told the girls I’m pretty sure we’re a lock for third,” Lofton said. “Lightridge, their times showed that they beat us, but their girls just hadn’t been consistent all season. I knew we’d been consistent in getting better.”

Lofton was impressed that Lightridge’s top two runners were able to finish in front of Beatty. The second-year school in Aldie had its No. 1, 2, 3 and 4 runners each finish ahead of James Wood’s corresponding No. 1, 2, 3 and 4 runners.

“They just kind of beat us in every spot, and that was the difference,” Lofton said. “It’s heartbreaking, because I was pretty confident we’d make it. It just wasn’t the day today.”

It was a pretty good effort from the Colonels, all things considering. At the district meet, Beatty and senior Izzy Newman (15th in 19:39), finished third and sixth, and that’s where they finished among district runners Tuesday. Though Sherando junior Eva Winston (seventh in the district meet) did not compete, Farinholt was eighth in the district and fifth among district runners on Tuesday. Freshman Ruby Ostrander (26th in 20:12) moved up one spot and sophomore Jocelyn Kluge (27th in 20:27) moved up four spots among district runners on Tuesday compared to where they finished at the district meet.

“Lightridge, they had an amazing race,” Beatty said. “But our team, we gave it everything that we had. Everyone had a great race. It’s good to see that as a team. It’s a little sad for the seniors, but hopefully next year’s team will be able to go to states.

“I don’t race as well in the cold, especially not in the rain, but I gave it everything I had.”

Millbrook’s Murphy was concerned about how well she’d fare in the rain and cold and the prospect of running on a new course for her. But she held her own and cut the gap with Scott to 14 seconds after Scott beat her by 37 seconds at the district meet.

“Today felt pretty good,” she said. “The first mile, I wanted to hang back a little bit just to see what everyone was going to do around me. And then as we got past the first mile and definitely into the second and third mile, I started to pick up the pace.

“I was around seventh, and I was right on the shoulder of the girl in sixth. I knew in the last mile I wanted to pass her. I didn’t get to fifth, but I was close.”

Millbrook coach Jamie McCarty feels like Murphy is progressing well after battling injuries earlier this season.

“She’s still probably not all the way back from injury,” McCarty said. “But she’s looking better and she said she felt better today than last week.”

McCarty liked what he saw from both his girls’ and boys’ teams.

“We had a great day,” he said. “We’re in a tough region. I thought our girls ran well and I thought our guys ran well. We knew coming in we were going to have to be really good to have a chance [to qualify for states in team competition], and we gave ourselves a chance. I can’t be more proud of the effort from everybody.”

Ahrens will be heading to the state meet for the first time after improving on her PR by a second from last week.

“I’m really excited,” Ahrens said. “I knew I would be right on the edge for qualifying, so I just tried to just really stay focused during the race.”

Warriors coach Megan Roberts said Ahrens came out on her own to get a look at the course prior to the meet.

“She came into this mentally prepared, had a plan and went out and executed it,” Roberts said. “We were trying to count spots to make sure she was going to make it through. It’s kind of hard to do that, but we were counting and giving her an idea and telling her who to hang with, and she ran smart and ran with heart.”

The Warriors will bring back most of their runners next year.

“The team was just kind of motivated to be here,” Roberts said. “We’re thinking about what we can do next year.”

Other Millbrook scorers: 16. Lina Guerrero 19:46; 28. Becca Edlich 20:33; 31. Angela Dojcak 20:38; 32. Cailey Johnson 20:45.

Other Sherando scorers: 33. Cassidy Crittenden 20:52; 39. Addy Wallin 21:16; 46. Julianna Duke 22:06; 49. Ryleigh Combs 22:20.

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