Wood, Handley girls' XC teams qualify for states

FOREST — The James Wood High School and the Handley High School girls’ cross country teams qualified for the Class 4 state championship after placing second and third, respectively, at Tuesday’s Region 4D Championship cross country meet at the Poplar Forest course.

The Colonels placed second with 66 points, 26 points behind first-place Blacksburg. Handley was nine points behind Wood, finishing with 75 points. Those top three teams and the top five individuals not on those teams from Tuesday’s race earned berths to the Class 4 state meet at Oatlands in Leesburg on Nov. 16.

With their performances, Wood earned its third straight state meet berth, and Handley earned its second straight. Millbrook (115 points) placed fifth, and Sherando (207) placed seventh. There were no qualifying girls from either of those teams.

Wood’s Kate Konyar placed second in the 3.1-mile event, running it in 18:28.5, 34.5 seconds behind first-place finisher Elaina Pierce of Charlottesville. There were 13 teams and 92 individuals in the girls’ race.

Handley placed fourth in the boys’ race with 143 points. Blacksburg (first, 23 points), Charlottesville (second, 66) and Jefferson Forest (third, 80) were the top three teams that qualified for states. Sherando (144) was one point shy of Handley, and James Wood placed fifth with 169 points. Millbrook placed 11th out of 14 teams with 296 points.

Wood’s Eli Clark ran the fastest time among local schools, placing 10th out of 99 individual runners with a 16:32.2 time to qualify for states. Blacksburg’s Asher Roach placed first, running the event in 15:59.5.

Among other state qualifiers in the boys’ race were Handley’s Noah Meleason (14th, 16:46.5), Sherando’s Ryan Maki (17th, 17:09.3) and Handley’s Finn Slaughter (20th, 17:24.6).

Other Wood girls’ scorers: 6. Ruby Ostrander 19:45.3; 10. Alina Kieffer 20:23.9; 16. Katelyn Palmer 21:08.5; 32. Lauren Thompson 22:33.2.

Handley girls’ scorers: 8. Evelyn Mullins 20:02.5; 11. Ella Warren 20:26.7; 15. Sage Welpott 21:06.8; 17. Seneca Welpott 21:14.0; 24. Jayleh Porter 21:50.5.

Millbrook girls’ scorers: 19. Caydence Bayne 21:27.8; 20. Caroline McCurry 21:28.4; 21. Harper Weiss 21:29.7; 27. Marisol Lara 22:11.2; 28. Adilyn Steinmetz 22:18.2.

Sherando girls’ scorers: 26. Gracie Defibaugh 22:10.4; 37. Cassidy Crittenden 23:19.6; 45. Regan Caplan 24:07.0; 48. Ariela Rivera 24:16.8; 51. Alli Lawson 24:30.9.

Other Handley boys’ scorers: 31. Everett Otto 18:03.5; 32. Matthew Doran 18:15.9; 46. Halston Wright 18:54.7.

Other Sherando boys’ scorers: 26. Jed Bell 17:53.6; 30. Hatcher Smith 18:02.7; 34. Andrew Ahrens 18:19.8; 37. Sebastian Berrios 18:25.2.

Other Wood boys’ scorers: 22. Thomas Newman 17:35.5; 38. Zachary Harrington 18:26.4; 45. Nathan Reynolds 18:47.6; 54. Carrick Amerine 19:16.5.

Millbrook boys’ scorers: 25. Peter Warner 17:52.8; 64. Jackson Carr 19:38.9; 67. Samuel Lopez 19:58.4; 68. John Robbins 19:59.7; 72. Bennett Wiess 20:31.3.