Weekend of October 19

The Jefferson boys defended their conference championship and were once again led by Andrew Milliron as he raced to victory in 17:15.5 on the 5k course.  Milliron finished well ahead of second place finisher Shane Rigby (17:42.6) of Musselman to easily capture the boy’s title.  But the team victory was far from easy as the Musselman runners raced strong and errors and illness beset Jefferson.  Jackson Jacobs overcame a wrong turn on the course to finish in third in 17:58.8. He was followed by Musselman’s rapidly improving Josh Leake (4^th, 18:35.1) and Martinsburg’s Vlad Bauer (5^th, 18:37.1).   With Musselman’s also improving Austin Jenner (18:45.0) crossing the line in sixth, it appeared Musselman was in position to score the upset.  Washington’s Kendall Coles (18:52.2) broke up the mostly Jefferson-Musselman parade with his seventh place finish before Jefferson’s Rhett Zillinger overcame his own wrong turn to finish in 18:53.4.  Zillinger was followed by Martinsburg’s David Sullivan (19:08.5).  Still the outcome was uncertain as word spread that a Jefferson runner had dropped out due to illness.  In the end, it was Jonathan Royster who came through for Jefferson, sprinting in for a tenth place finish in19.24.1.  The final team tally was Jefferson 33 and Musselman 38.  Washington tallied 79 points to earn their third place finish.

In the girl’s race the story was different.  Race than seeking to maintain their dominance of the local cross country scene like the boys, the Jefferson girls’ story was one of striving to return to the conference champion ranks.  Led by sophomore Abby Colbert, this was their year.  Colbert took the girl’s individual title with ease, racing around the course in 21:03.5.  As good as Colbert can be, an individual runner cannot win a team title without strong teammates and Colbert had plenty of talented support.  Teammates Anya Wallace (2^nd place, 22:06.9), Emma Lindberg (6^th, 23:00.3), Malika Briggs (7^th, 23:17.7), and Nathalie Walker (9^th, 23:52.9) all placed  in the top ten, scoring just 25 points  to secure the conference crown for Jefferson.  It was the first conference title for the Jefferson girls since 2010. 

The battle for second place was much tighter.  Washington made a strong statement early as teammates Destiny Harrison (22:17) and Catrina Russell (22:38) raced in to seize third and fourth place respectively with teammate Megan Carr capturing tenth in 24:07.3.  But it was Musselman’s depth that ultimately carried them through as Kayla Hoffmaster’s fifth place finish in 22:51 supported by Sydney Rigsby (9^th; 23:35.6), Antonia Dunnigan, Kirsten Campbell, and Leah Ratliff’s 12^th, 14^th and 17^th place finishes allowed Musselman to just edge Washington 56 to 59. 

Capping off Jefferson’s day was the announcement of Coach Suzy Munnis’ well-deserved selection as girl’s conference coach of the year and boy’s conference coach of the year.  Jefferson also swept the JV races with Payton Hoxton taking the girls’ race and Brendan Jarrell taking the boys’ race.

All of these teams will travel this Thursday to Hampshire High School in Romney, WV to battle for the Region II AAA Championship.  With strong teams and runners from others conferences also arriving to contend for the crowns, it should be a hard fought contest.