Boys' cross country notebook: Hayden, Pratt-Perez deliver thrilling finish

WINCHESTER — Not long after Saturday’s Class 4 Northwestern District boys’ cross country race, Millbrook senior Nick Hayden and James Wood junior Ethan Pratt-Perez could be spotted having a conversation with each other.

Neither was 100 percent certain which one of them was the winner at that point. But they sure enjoyed the journey that brought them together for that moment.

Millbrook’s Third Battle of Winchester course produced a true battle between the duo, with Hayden edging out Pratt-Perez in a sprint to the finish through the flagged closing chute to defend his district title. Both runners had personal-record times of 15 minutes, 24.9 seconds over the 3.1-mile course.

The duo was never too far away from each throughout the race. Pratt-Perez pulled even after he was a few steps behind approaching the closing chute, but Hayden found an extra gear to win.

The biggest reason for the uncertainty? Hayden thought he got to the finish line first, but wasn’t sure if the proper part of his body crossed first. That’s how close it was.

“I had my [timing chip] on my right foot, and I crossed the line with my left foot first,” Hayden said.

Hayden figured coming into Saturday that the winner would be him, Pratt-Perez, or either Handley’s Will Pardue or Garrett Stickley.

Pratt-Perez ran a PR of 15:31 to take second at the Oct. 15 Third Battle Invitational, while Hayden took fourth in 15:41.1.

“I knew it was going to come down to the last 1,000 meters,” Hayden said. “I just tried to be there when the moves were being made, and be the one making the moves or matching the moves.”

At the very end of the race, Hayden needed to surpass Pratt-Perez’s move when he pulled even with him.

“You don’t know what going all-out feels like until you have somebody there really making you go all-out,” said Hayden, who improved on his PR by 11 seconds. “I was hoping I wouldn’t have to go that far into the well to finish it off, but I’m glad I did. Ethan pulled up beside me, and I felt I had to give it everything I had the last 30 meters.”

It was an impressive feat by Pratt-Perez to pull even. Hayden is the defending Class 4 state champion for 800 meters in outdoor track and ran a 49.5-second split on the 4x400 relay at the state meet. But Pratt-Perez nearly had the endurance and speed to pull out the win.

“I gave it everything,” said Pratt-Perez, who improved on his PR by seven seconds. “I didn’t have any more at the end. Not in a sprint, anyway. I’m not displeased. And I’m pretty happy with 15:24.9.”

Hayden’s goal at the Third Battle Invitational was to break the school record of 15:27 set in 2015 by Tyler Cox-Philyaw, now a James Wood assistant coach. The record wasn’t the goal Saturday, but Pratt-Perez pushed him to it.

“I can sincerely say, I don’t care if I got first or second, that was probably my favorite cross country race I ever ran,” Hayden said. “It was really good.”

Their coaches had high praise for the duo.

“Nick has the ability to accomplish great things,” Millbrook coach Jamie McCarty said. “You look at last week and you’re like, ‘I don’t know what that was,’ and he comes back today and he runs really great. When he’s on like that, he can run fast, and he knows that.

“His ultimate goal is still Nov. 12 [for the state meet], and I think he’s going to continue to get better these next couple weeks. But to defend your title as a senior adds to kind of the things he’s done around here, and being a special runner for us.”

James Wood coach Matthew Lofton was proud of Pratt-Perez.

“Ethan had a fantastic race, and he was hanging on with a 800-meter state champion who’s got the wheels,” Lofton said. “Ethan’s kind of showing he’s not someone to be taken lightly. He’s ready to make a push in the region and maybe the state and show what’s he capable of.

“The way he’s been training this year, I’m not surprised by the way he raced. He’s worked really hard, and it’s really paying off.”

Millbrook

For a brief period of time, the Pioneers thought they had won the team title on Saturday. But then it was discovered that Handley’s Elliott Redcay had been omitted from the final results, and the team title went to the Judges.

Still, it was an impressive day for the Pioneers. All nine of their runners improved on their Third Battle Invitational times to help Millbrook take second and qualify for the Nov. 2 Region 4C meet at Morven Park in Leesburg.

“We put it together when it mattered most,” Hayden said. “I knew we had [the potential to perform this well]. It was just a matter of putting the pieces together.”

“Going in, if we would’ve even been thinking about announcing us as the team champions, I wouldn’t have dreamt that,” McCarty said. “We had been running OK, but we needed to be better. [To have so many improved times], that’s what you want to do this time of year. Hopefully, we can keep that confidence, and we can line up again [on Nov. 2] and keep it going.”

James Wood

Four of James Wood’s five scoring runners improved on their Third Battle Invitational times, and the Colonels accomplished their goal of qualifying for the Region 4C meet.

Only the top three teams (and the top five individuals outside of those teams) from the ultra-competitive region will move on to the state meet, though.

“Trying to get out of region, it’s going to be really tough,” Lofton said. “Some state-caliber team from this district is not going to make it to the state meet, which shows how tough this district is and how good everyone is. There’s going to be a team from Loudoun that’s going to be state caliber that’s not going to move on.

“Next week is the week that really counts for us. We’re putting all our eggs into that basket and try to be one of those that make it on.”

Sherando

Sherando scored 94 points to take fifth place on Saturday, 17 behind Fauquier for the fourth and final regional-qualifying spot.

But six of the seven Warrior boys who ran at the Third Battle Invitational improved their times on Saturday, and Sherando is still sending junior Dylan McGraw (sixth in 16:16.9) and senior Ben Freilich (11th in 16:54.4) to the region meet. Freilich missed the Third Battle race because of an illness.

“We knew we had an outside shot of qualifying as a team as well, and those guys all ran for each other,” Warriors coach Megan Roberts said. “They all had huge races trying to be part of the team effort to catch Fauquier. I couldn’t ask any more of any of them.”

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