Boys' Cross Country Runner of the Year: James Wood's Eli Clark

WINCHESTER — When Eli Clark graduates from James Wood High School this spring, he’ll pursue a path that will be a lot different from most of his peers — focusing on his window cleaning business.

Given his businesslike approach to cross country this fall, it probably shouldn’t come as a surprise that Clark has already started his professional career. Clark’s commitment didn’t produce everything he wanted on the trails this fall, but it certainly paid off in a special season.

Clark is The Winchester Star Boys’ Cross Country Runner of the Year after a season in which he had the fastest 3.1-mile time of any local boy and finished as the top local boy in every meet he entered except the Class 4 state meet. In that competition, he ran with the leaders for the first half of the race before suffering quad muscle issues in the second half of the race.

Clark’s goal was to be a state champion, so anything less was going to be tough to stomach.

He certainly had the potential. He defeated eventual Class 4 state champion Michael Tafe of Loudoun County at both the Oatlands Invitational — the same course as the state meet — and the Judges Classic, with the latter meet bringing an end to the first half of Clark’s season.

“I don’t think I’ve ever coached anyone more dedicated and focused than he came in this summer,” said fifth-year Colonels head coach Matthew Lofton, who also spent 10 years as a Millbrook assistant. “He had a goal in mind. He wanted to do it. He did everything he possibly could as far as his sleep, his nutrition, his training. It showed at the beginning of the season.”

But ultimately, the second half of Clark’s season wasn’t quite as good as the first. Clark’s not sure why. The quad problems were only an issue at the state meet.

“We still don’t fully know what happened,” Clark said. “We’re testing my iron and stuff. I still don’t feel perfect in training. What I do know is that I did not give up in any of those [cross country] races. It’s a good feeling and really bad feeling at the same time. I feel like I should have done so much better.”

Clark hopes that big things are in store for him with track, but overall, it’s been a memorable cross country career.

Clark planned on making his competitive running debut in seventh grade with track, but then COVID wiped out track and his eighth grade cross country season.

He couldn’t have asked for a better introduction to cross country in ninth grade. That James Wood team featured seniors Nathaniel Woshner (now at NCAA Division I Duquesne University), Liam McDonald (NCAA Division I Radford University) and Danilo Rincon, as well as sophomore Ethan Pratt-Perez (NCAA Division I Bucknell).

“They were kind of like idols when I came in, especially Nathaniel and Liam,” said Clark, who was James Wood’s No. 6 runner at the state meet that year. “They were very hard-working, so I kind of realized what it took to be on their level, especially Nathaniel. And Danilo was very influential to me.”

The following two years, it was Pratt-Perez who would inspire Clark. In 2022, Pratt-Perez was the Colonels’ top runner, but it was Clark who had the best state finish. He earned a state medal by placing 11th in the Class 4 meet in 16:47.

“It was a great season,” Clark said. “I loved it. It’s still my favorite season I’ve ever ran. But it definitely gave me a little bit of ego, which I regret. I thought, ‘I’m good now. It’s going to be easy.’ [That season] boosted my confidence a lot, almost in a bad way. But I would not go back and change anything.”

In comparison to his sophomore season, Clark’s junior campaign was not the same. He placed 30th in Class 4 while running 24 seconds slower at the state meet, and did not improve on his PR from his sophomore year.

A conversation with former James Wood track coach Craig Woshner last winter in which Woshner challenged Clark to be better helped Clark improve his focus and training. But then he broke his collarbone in a car crash in early spring, and he wasn’t able to run in track again until the postseason. Clark’s elliptical training made a difference while he was sidelined from competition, and Clark set a PR on his leg in the 4x800 relay to help James Wood’s relay team go to the state meet after he returned.

Heading into this cross country season, Clark’s focus remained razor-sharp. In early October, Clark said he hadn’t had a night where he slept less than eight hours in three months.

Clark’s commitment to proper rest and training led to numerous highlights, including winning the Central Invitational by 10.8 seconds, taking ninth in the Oatlands Invitational in a personal-record time of 16:06 (six seconds faster than Tafe), and taking the Judges Classic in 16:25.75, almost 22 seconds faster than Tafe.

“I was having a great season,” Clark said. “I was doing all the right training, doing all the right sleep and everything. I was pretty consistent with all the stuff. I was arguably the most dedicated I’ve been.”

The Judges Classic took place on Oct. 5. At the Albemarle Invitational at Panorama Farms on Oct. 12, Clark placed 38th in 16:55.4. At the Third Battle Invitational on Oct. 22, Clark was 22nd in 16:31.3.

Clark showed progress at the Northwestern District meet (also held at Millbrook’s Third Battle course) by winning with a 16:07.2. But then he had another frustrating performance at the Region 4D meet, taking 10th in 16:33.2 at the Poplar Forest course in Forest on Nov. 5.

“I got my butt kicked,” Clark said. “Most of Blacksburg is ahead of me. It definitely took away a little bit of confidence, but I really don’t think the amount of confidence I had would have mattered.”

At the state meet on Nov. 16, Clark fell back after struggling on the hill in the woods after being with the leaders more than halfway through the race. He finished 39th in 17:30 for his worst career state time at Oatlands (Great Meadow in Warrenton hosted the state competition in the fall of 2021). Handley’s Noah Meleason passed Clark in the last tenth of a mile.

“I don’t have anything to be ashamed of,” said Clark of his season. “I wish it would have been a better result, but I can go to sleep and be like, ‘Ok, I did my best.’”

Lofton felt Clark did give his all even when it appeared circumstances beyond his control were holding him back.

“When you’re out there and you think you’re going to be at the top of the race, and you’re falling back and falling back, the desire to drop [out of the race] has got to be pretty high,” Lofton said. “You see it a lot with professional runners. But he’s tough. He’s not going to do that. He’s not going to like where he finished, but he would go home and focus on, ‘Ok, what do I need to do change this?’ Unfortunately, we just couldn’t find what was going on with him.”

If Clark can get back to feeling 100 percent, his goal is to win a state title in track, whether indoor or outdoor, and perhaps set some school records. Clark has run 4:26.06 for the 1,600 in indoor (Pratt-Perez owns the record of 4:23.55) and wants to go after Nathaniel Woshner’s mark of 9:14.69 for the 3,200 in outdoors. Clark ran a 9:39.57 at a meet in Boonsboro, Maryland, in outdoor track in March before breaking his collarbone.

Lofton — who coaches indoor track — feels Clark is better at track than cross country, so he’d love to see Clark have the chance to run to his potential.

This winter and spring could be the end of Clark’s scholastic running career. He’s not ruling out running in college in 2026-27 — for example, Old Dominion Athletic Conference power University of Lynchburg has offered him a spot on its team — but Clark is leaning heavily toward not attending college at all. Clark for sure won’t attend college in 2025-26 so he can focus on his business, Spotless Home Solutions.

Clark started the business in the middle of the summer. Clark said he contracted two employees over the summer and would like to have close to 10 eventually, with an emphasis on door-to-door sales representatives and cleaners.

“I plan in the next decade for it to be a pretty large company,” Clark said.

Clark will continue to run even as he focuses on his business. He’s grateful for the people who have taken him to where he is now in his running career.

“I appreciate all the support,” Clark said. “I’ve had three amazing coaches, but especially Lofton this year. He worked with me to an extreme depth, especially after [the] Central [Invitational]. He helped me get on the elliptical double [workouts] every other day, and do some harder stuff, and really encouraged me.”

— Contact Robert Niedzwiecki at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

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