Third Battle Invitational

Posted: October 21, 2013
By GREG BRILL
Special to The Winchester Star

WINCHESTER — Millbrook cross country coach Kevin Shirk had hoped for a top-three finish at Saturday’s Third Battle Invitational, hosted by the Pioneers on their 3.1-mile course on the Third Battle of Winchester battlefield.

Shirk got exactly what he wanted as Millbrook earned third place in the 29-team boys’ section of the race.

The Pioneers (143 points) had two runners pick up medals (top 20 placement) and finished behind just Group 6A schools Battlefield (63) and Osbourn Park (78).

Not a bad accomplishment for Millbrook, which also finished ahead of Conference 21 rival Dominion (seventh, with 250 points) and fellow Group 4A member Fauquier (fifth, with 214).

“I’m thrilled,” Shirk said. “The two teams coming in that we were really trying to beat were Fauquier, because they’re regional competition for us, and Dominion, because they’re regional and conference competition for us. I mean, we got both of them today so it feels good.

“[My kids] all just kind of run their own races. Obviously, we know this [course] better than anyone because we train back here. They’re all familiar with it, they run their own races, they get out nice and fast here, and once you get along those paths, people pull you a long a little bit. They ran some fast times and did well.”

Millbrook had all five of its counting cards within the top 45 of a race that included 223 finishers. Pioneer sophomore Tyler Cox-Philyaw (16 minutes, five seconds) leaned just ahead of freshman teammate Alec Schrank (16:05.50) at the finish line to pick up 14th place overall, and good races from Israel Lockhart (33rd, 16:30), Max Bader (42nd, 16:43), and Nathan Burgreen (44th, 16:44) helped the Pioneers easily outdistance fourth-place West Springfield (195 points) and all other local schools.

“Today was definitely a confidence boost for us,” Shirk said. “Especially coming off our last invitational two weeks ago at Octoberfest, where our boys got beat there by Dominion and Fauquier. Tyler had a bad race that day with his [strained] calves and we had to pull him out of the race. So to come back here — and Tyler’s sort of our No. 1 again, right side-by-side with Alec — it’s good to see them battling and back on the right track again.”

Handley also gained a top-10 finish, coming in ninth (308). Sherando was 13th (381), James Wood 19th (497), and Clarke County 27th (670).

Loudoun Valley sophomore Andrew Hunter set a fast pace and came in with a course-record time of 15:23, winning by 10 seconds over Osbourn Park senior Nick Causey. The previous record was held by former Handley standout Tom Delaney, who ran 15:39 in 2010.

“I was going for a time under 16 [minutes], but after the first mile I was at like 4:57, so it was tough to recover from that, especially with the up-hill coming through the woods,” Cox-Philyaw said. “I had to cope with it and then Alec ended up passing me going into the third mile, so that’s when I had to kick it to the end.

“It was a good place overall. I knew [Hunter] was going to set a fast pace. He’s going to be my toughest competition later on in my career. He’s a sophomore too.”

The Judges received solid races from Aaron Arslan (27th, 16:25), Cole Talton (32nd, 16:30), and Adam Arslan (51st, 16:50) to finish in the upper-third of the large field gathered for the meet.

Sherando was led by Thomas Shea (49th, 16:49), and James Wood received its usual strong outings from both Luke Farinholt (24th, 16:20) and Mark Bohler (43rd, 16:44). Clarke County was led by Matt Dietz (76th, 17:09).

The biggest treat for the large crowd gathered was getting to see a nationally-ranked runner dominate her section of the race.

Ranked eighth nationally, West Springfield senior Caroline Alcorta blitzed the field and was already comfortably in front at the 1.6-mile mark. No one was in sight when Alcorta crossed the finish line in 17:10 and shattered current Iowa State sophomore and former Millbrook standout Crystal Nelson’s previous course record of 17:59 (set in 2011) in the process.

The next finisher to come across in the 220-runner section was Alcorta’s West Springfield teammate, Katie Kennedy (18:43).

Coming off wins last month at the Adidas Cross Country Challenge in Raleigh, N.C., (17:18) and the Maymont Cross Country Festival in Richmond (17:55), Alcorta was thrilled everything worked out so well for her on a cool day and on an unfamiliar course.

“It felt great and that’s probably the best I’ve felt in a race this season,” said Alcorta, who has the University of Virginia on her short-list for college choices. “My coach told me to go conservative for the first portion, but I think that actually helped me along because I’m usually sluggish in the middle [of the race]. But [today] was the first time for me breaking 11 [minutes] for two miles in cross country [she was at 10:57 at that point].”

With three runners placing in the top five, West Springfield easily won the 30-team field with 52 points. Osbourn Park was second with 91, and Potomac Falls was a distant third (212) to capture the final plaque.

James Wood was one point shy of a top-five finish, coming in with 268 points to lead area schools. Freshman Sophia Dorsey led the way by placing 18th (19:40) overall. She was followed by Brittany Arnold (31st, 20:12), Autumn Hottle (35th, 20:16), Zoe Schopick (88th, 20:59) and Maria Harter (101st, 21:19).

Even without one of its top runners, Rylee Learn (shin splints), Millbrook still finished a respectable ninth, with 296 points.

Millbrook sophomore Nadia Dahimene ran solid all the way through, earning 10th overall and running a personal-record time of 19:18 to post the best local finish.

Dahimene handled course-familiarity well and said she was pleased with how things turned out for her.

“In the bunny-loop, down in the last mile, I kept thinking ‘I’ve ran this before,’” Dahimene said. “I knew what was coming up and tried to pick people that were in my area, time-wise, and stick with them. It was good weather to run in. It was a little chilly in the morning, but I’m glad it was this [type of] weather.”

Others to medal included Handley’s Ashden Personius (17th, 19:38) and Dorsey. Millbrook’s Hannah Croyle (24th, 19:53) and Handley’s Nichole King (28th, 20:03) cracked the top 30. Sherando was led by Katie Rogers (54th, 20:32), and Clarke County was paced by Sophia Biddle-Snead (57th, 20:38).

Team-wise, Handley (333) gathered 11th place, Sherando (530) was 22nd, and Clarke County (692) came in 27th.