Meet Story by Rollie Jacobs
More than 90 teams and 3,800 runners gathered under threatening skies at the Oatlands Plantation in Leesburg, Va., to compete at the Oatlands Invitational. Considered to be one of the premier high school cross country meets on the East Coast, this year’s event drew one of the strongest fields in meet history, including many of the top runners in Maryland and Virginia. Competing in the Varsity A division, Jefferson runners drew notice as they posted strong finishes in the boys and girls races.
The Girls Varsity A race featured top Virginia runner Allie Klimkiewicz (Oakton) and top Maryland runner Emily Mulhern (Urbana), and both girls lived up to their reputations. It was a fast race from the start. Jefferson sophomore Abby Colbert broke ahead of the pack early and paced with a small pack just behind the leaders most of the way. At the 2.5-mile mark, Colbert kicked it home past six runners to move from ninth to a third-place finish in 18:57 behind Mulhern (18:32) and Klimkiewicz (18:43). Emma Lindberg posted the second-fastest time for Jefferson with a mark of 21:10. Molly Briggs (21:54), Nathalie Walker (22:13) and Alison Munnis (24:29) rounded out the scoring for Jefferson.
Of note for Jefferson as they approach the West Virginia championship season, senior Anya Wallace returned from injury in the upperclassman JV race, finishing third with a time of 21:40.
The Boys Varsity A race featured the top four runners in Virginia, including Virginia No. 1 Louis Colson (Edison) and Maryland No. 1 Chase Weaverling (Poolesville). Jefferson’s Andrew Milliron pushed the race early as the leaders passed through the mile mark in approximately 4:42.
Colson stayed with the lead pack of six runners until the two-mile mark and then made his move to finish in a meet-record time of 15:16. Weaverling gave chase but could not hang on and finished second with a time of 15:28. Milliron and Catoctin (MD) runner David Dorsey raced strong to the line with Dorsey (15:38) finishing just ahead of Milliron (15:40).
Milliron was joined in the medals by Jefferson teammate Jackson Jacobs, who made a move from 28th to 17th in the last 800 meters to finish with a time of 16:17. Rhett Zillinger posted a strong 16:46 to support the Jefferson cause. Freshmen Colin Hayes (18:05) and Dylan Stamper (18:40) rounded out the scoring for Jefferson.
In the Girls Varsity B race, Sophie El-Masry of Richard Montgomery (MD) sprinted away from Stone Bridge (VA)’s Heather Stone to seize the title. El-Masry posted a time of 19:55 for the win, while Stone’s time of 20:12 was good for second place. Washington's Destiny Harrison ran an excellent race to finish in the medals at 12th with a time of 21:07. Teammate Catrina Russell also finished in the medals in 22nd with a time of 21:43. Rounding out the Washington girls scoring was Megan Carr (22:51), Emma Locarnini (26:02) and Faith Stone (26:32). Juliana Butcher paced Frankfort, finishing just outside the medals in 22:12. Other Frankfort girls scoring for their team included Casidy White (22:54), India Yates (23:38), Amelia Miller (23:59) and Cameron Dyson (24:59).
In the Boys Varsity B race, Rockville’s Jonaton Baginski outpaced the field to take the victory. The Maryland runner posted a time of 16:31 to finish ahead of Centreville (VA) runner Bobby Dunn by 18 seconds. Frankfort's Lucas Young led the way for West Virginia with a 10th-place finish in 17:39. Teammate Jason Detrick finished just out of the medals in 27th place with a time of 18:15. The remaining Frankfort scorers were Kyle Jarrell (19:06), Simon Digon (19:37) and Joshua Carder (19:42). Washington's top finisher was Kendall Cole, who posted a time of 19:20. He was joined in Washington’s scoring by Ethan May (19:30), Ross Carpenter (19:53), Gabe Woods (20:32) and Hunter Carr (20:39).
Jefferson returns to action on October 5th at the Buffalo Wild Wings Stampede at Hampshire High School. Washington will host a quad meet at Sam Michael’s Park on Wednesday, while Frankfort has a short turnaround and will compete at the Broadford Invitational in Oakland, Md.