Cross Country: Northwestern District Mini-Meet

September 1, 2011

By Robert Stocks

WINCHESTER- Millbrook senior Crystal Nelson says she's definitely ahead of where she was a year ago with her training.

Based on Nelson's first two cross country meets this season, she certainly appears to be more than a few steps ahead of the competition as well.

Nelson, who opened the season by taking first at the Great Meadow Invitational Saturday, completely ran away with the title at the Northwestern District mini-meet on the Pioneers' home course on the site of the Third Battle of Winchester Thursday.

Handley High School's boys' team, led by senior Chris Arslan's first-place finish, edged a defending district champion Skyline team that did not have defending district champ Thomas Madden in the lineup by three points (43-46).

The Hawks' and Judges' boys teams finished 1-2 at last year's district meet, but Millbrook's girls' team served notice that the lack of depth that plagued the team last year might be a thing of the past. And considering how well Millbrook ran in its first real team race (only Nelson and Karly Knechtel ran at Great Meadow last weekend), the Pioneers appear to be a legitimate district contender.

Nelson finished with a time of 19 minutes, 25 seconds, crossing the finish line 1:05 ahead of James Wood junior runner-up Amber Hawkins (20:30).

Nelson's first-place finish, along with senior teammate Knechtel's third-place performance (20:51), helped Millbrook take the team title in what turned out to be a very tight race between four of the five district teams.

The Pioneers finished with 49 points, and just 11 points separated second through fourth. Handley (57) finished as the runner-up, James Wood (60) took third, Sherando (68) followed in fourth and Skyline (124) rounded out the team scoring.

"Our goal is to do really well as a team this year," Nelson said. "I think we have a really strong team overall. Inpidually, I was hoping to stay out in front and push it."

Nelson certainly pushed the pace from the start, pulling away for almost a 30-second advantage just before the halfway mark of the 3.1-mile race.

Hawkins and Knechtel followed Nelson at the midway point, and all three held their positions the rest of the way.

Millbrook sophomore Sophia Lee (21:40) followed in seventh, sophomore Brooke Hagenbuch (22:48) came in 15th, and freshman McKenzie Schrank (23:58) finished 23rd to complete the Pioneers' team scoring.

"This year we have the same talent, but we have a lot more runners," Knechtel said. "We're closer together. We're sort of like a pack now."

Millbrook coach Kevin Shirk said Wednesday's meet would be an "eye-opener" just to see how the teams would stack up against one another. But now Shirk's team will wear the bull's-eye going forward with a 4-0 district record after taking first place.

"Last year was depressing with a couple of injuries so it's good for us to start out on top," Shirk said. "It's a great start for us. I'm thrilled."

Handley (3-1), led by senior Cindy Quarles' sixth-place finish (21:18), edged Wood for second place by a point and Sherando finished 11 points back in fourth.

"I'm super pleased right now," Handley coach Emily Budnyk-Putt said. "We didn't run a couple in our top ten, and we haven't really done much yet so I'm really pleased. It's nice to see everybody and it's a neat way to start off the year."

While Handley didn't have all of its varsity runners in the race Wednesday, the biggest surprise was Madden's absence. The defending district champion warmed up with his teammates, but he did not compete.

Skyline coach Mike Tanner said Madden has been dealing with bursitis, but he's almost ready to return.

And Madden's presence likely would have been the difference between first and second place with the Hawks finishing just three points behind Handley despite not having their No. 1 runner.

"I wish we had Madden [today], but I'm pleased with the result," said Tanner, whose team will take a 3-1 record into the head-to-head dual meet portion of the schedule. "We were out to win it still. It's a little disappointing. We had a good, solid top four but our [number] five went down."

With Arslan (16:55) leading the way, the Judges' depth was on display with eight runners finishing in the top 25.

Arslan was part of a pack of five runners setting the pace throughout much of Wednesday's race. The Judges' senior, who finished in 16:51 on the same course at last year's Third Battle Invitational, made his move with just under 1,000 meters to go.

"There was nice pack in the back field with a little over 800 [meters] to go, and I just thought if I waited any longer I might get outkicked at the finish line," Arslan said. "I thought I'd just try to take it then, and I took off with about 800 to go and just kept pushing until I got [to the finish].

"With Tommy [Madden] not here I thought I had a pretty good shot of winning it. I just wanted to stick with the lead runner and whatever happens, happens."

Handley's Jim Thomson (17:25) came in fifth, Chase Anders (17:53) followed in ninth, Sam Thomson (18:22) took 13th and Adam Arslan (18:30) rounded out the Judges' scoring by finishing 15th.

James Wood (58 points) took third with four runners finishing in the top 15. Joe Davet (17:18) finished fourth to lead the Colonels.

Sherando finished fourth with 93 points, followed by Millbrook (103).

"For our first meet, I thought we came out looking very good," Handley boys' coach Mark Stickley said. "It's nice to come out and put down a marker and now we've got a target on our back for better or for worse. I thought we looked good. First races are always kind of tough to know if their heads are into racing and if their legs are into racing. It's why they have the state meet at the end of the year and not the beginning, so you kind of work toward it."

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