Wood's Pratt-Perez takes second at Third Battle XC meet

WINCHESTER — Losing two NCAA Division I runners to graduation would be a major transition for any cross country team, but it sure is a lot easier to handle when you have someone like Ethan Pratt-Perez.

The James Wood junior had the best local finish for either boys or girls on Saturday at Millbrook’s Third Battle Invitational, placing second out of 285 runners in a personal-record time of 15 minutes, 31.2 seconds on the 3.1-mile Third Battle of Winchester course.

Pratt-Perez finished 6.3 seconds behind South County senior Isaac Garcia — last year’s runner-up — but ran almost 10 full seconds faster than Millbrook senior Nick Hayden, who placed fourth overall in 15:41.1. Pratt-Perez and Hayden figure to be two of the main contenders at next Saturday’s Class 4 Northwestern District meet, which will also be held on the Third Battle Course.

James Wood wasn’t at full strength on Saturday but the Colonel boys led all local teams by placing ninth out of 43 scoring teams with 334 points. Millbrook was 17th with 489 and Sherando was 33rd with 749. Handley — which sent its best boys to the MileStat.com meet in Mechanicsville on Saturday — was last with 1,313 points. W.T. Woodson won with 97 points and Oakton was second with 139.

Senior Madison Murphy — the only runner from Millbrook in the girls’ varsity race — was the top local female, placing 23rd out of 233 runners in 19:12.5. Led by senior Emma Ahrens (25th in 19:21.5), Sherando placed 12th with 344 points. James Wood was without the services of its No. 1 runner, freshman Kate Konyar, due to illness, and the Colonels placed 13th out of 34 scoring teams with 409 points. West Springfield (85 points) edged out W.T. Woodson (88) for the girls’ title.

The James Wood boys lost Nathaniel Woshner (Duquesne) and Liam McDonald (Radford) from last year’s team that won its fourth straight district title. How this year’s postseason goes remains to be seen from the Colonels, but they can pretty much always count on Pratt-Perez finishing near the top.

Some of the highlights include opening the year with victories at the Central Invitational (Handley participated) and Hood College Invitational, posting the third-fastest 2.5K time of any runner at the RVA Relays, and having the top local finish at the Oatlands Invitational, which featured every local school but the Judges. Pratt-Perez had a season-best time of 16:13 at Oatlands.

On Saturday, Pratt-Perez couldn’t match Garcia’s early pace, who came through the halfway point at 7:37.2, eight seconds faster than Pratt-Perez. But no one was faster than Pratt-Perez in the second half of the race. Hayden, for example, was just eight-tenths of a second behind Pratt-Perez at the midway point.

“I was kind of waiting on going sub-16,” said Pratt-Perez, who last achieved that with his 15:57.5 which earned him fourth place at last year’s district meet on the same course. “This was a good race for that, and sets me up well [for districts].”

James Wood coach Matthew Lofton wasn’t surprised in the least by how well Pratt-Perez did.

“Ethan’s been racing really well this season,” Lofton said. “He’s been training really well. This is about what I was expecting out of him. This was a really, really good result. I’m very happy with it.”

Lofton feels the Colonels might have fared a little better on Saturday if freshman Thomas Newman, the team’s usual No. 4 runner, wasn’t out of town, but he was definitely pleased.

“I think we performed a little better than what I expected,” Lofton said. “I think it just finally clicked for everyone, and everyone ran a good, solid PR. I think we were due to run fast, and we were able to capitalize on it today. Perfect weather, perfect course, lots of good competition. It was a good day.”

Other scoring runners for the Colonels were sophomore Eli Clark (22nd in 16:18.1), senior Jacob Oliver (37th in 16:47.2), junior Samuel Jackson (131st in 18:03) and junior Tyler DeWarf (166th in 18:23.2).

The girls’ varsity race preceded the boys, and it featured the usual array of teams huddling together for pre-race chants to get their energy up for the challenge ahead. The last harmonious chant was a little different, though — just one girl in uniform and two other young women in blue.

The three ladies were Murphy and former Millbrook runners Katie Borland (class of 2020) and Maddie Lloyd (class of 2019). Due to a combination of injuries and inexperience, the rest of the Millbrook girls’ team hasn’t competed in a top-level varsity race with Murphy all season, so Murphy enjoyed the chance to get fired up with some friends.

“I’ve been teaching the JV girls our chant, but since no one else is on the line with me for varsity I usually just go out there and race,” Murphy said. “It was really special to have [Borland and Lloyd] out there today. It made it feel like old times.”

The three-time All-State runner then proceeded to go out and run her fastest time of the season. It was the latest moment in an encouraging season for Murphy, who managed to earn All-State status last year despite battling injuries much of the year.

Murphy didn’t run under 19 minutes on Saturday like she hoped, but she’s been feeling healthy and progressing.

“I hope I can decline some time every single race in the postseason, and get back to states,” Murphy said. “I felt very strong at the finish today. I wish I could have had just a little bit more, but I gave it my all.”

Murphy has been working out with Millbrook’s boys’ runners to challenge herself, but she has a strong bond with the other Pioneer female runners. Millbrook coach Jamie McCarty said the Pioneers will actually field a full girls’ team at the district meet because of how hard the rest of the girls have worked to get better.

“They support me constantly, and I’m always pushing them to want to get better,” Murphy said.

McCarty said Murphy has done a good job of being a leader with the unique girls’ team dynamic, and he’s looking forward to seeing how she finishes the year based on her good health and progression.

“We feel like as we get toward the postseason, we’re on target for where we want to be,” he said.

Herndon’s Gillian Bushee won the girls’ race in 17:19.4, 29 seconds faster than West Springfield’s Aidan MacGrath (17:48.4).

Other Millbrook boys’ scorers: 88. Tyler Mallen 17:28, 98. Austin Conley 17:36.9, 146. Teague Mendez, 18:08, 157. Carter Luden 18:17.1.

Sherando boys’ scorers: 28. Dylan McGraw 16:28.4, 143. Brock Smith 18:08.1, 170. Ryan Maki 18:25.9, 199. Chris Walsh 18:46.2, 214. Jed Bell 18:53.6.

Handley boys’ scorers: 255. Gavin Way 19:58.2, 260. Gabe Cooper 20:04.6, 277. Afnan Akhand 21:26.1, 278. Sean Campbell 21:28.8, 279. James Mabe 21:33.1.

Other Sherando girls’ scorers: 55. Eva Winston 20:26.2, 77. Cassidy Crittenden 21:04.5, 93. Addy Wallin 21:16.5, 122. Gracie Defibaugh 21:44.7.

James Wood girls’ scorers: 59. Sarah Moss 20:34.7, 76. Lillian Lovelace 21:01.2, 99. Quetzali Angel-Perez 21:22.4, 103. Carrie Schneider 21:24.9, 104. Ruby Ostrander 21:26.1.

For more coverage on Saturday’s meet, see Tuesday’s edition of The Winchester Star.

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