Surprise showing for MHS

All the Monticello boys cross country runners knew was that they were close. The announcer at Tuesday’s Region II meet was counting down the top teams in reverse order, and a murmur began as soon as he said, “Fifth place, John Handley.”

Seconds later, the reaction was more pronounced when it was revealed that the Mustangs had finished fourth, giving them their first trip to the Group AA tournament in school history.

“It was definitely a surprise,” said Monticello senior Thomas Campbell, who finished 32nd overall. “…I’m not really sure how we pulled it off.”

They got it done with depth, placing four runners in the top 35 to earn 152 points, four clear of Handley. Nathaniel Hermsmeier finished 11th with a time of 16 minutes, 59.09 seconds, while Campbell, Mike Albert, Dakota Thompson-Diggs and Jeremy Malm rounded out the Monticello scorers.

In the girls race, the local leaders provided much less of a shock. Claire Johnson ran what her coach, Kate Pugh, called “the race of her season so far” to lead Western Albemarle to a second-place finish behind champion Brentsville District.

“I think our pack did really well today,” Johnson said after clocking a 19:52.84 to place ninth overall. “We were able to talk to each other really well.”

Katie Farina finished two spots behind Johnson and Emily Moffett placed 15th to give the Warriors a trio of all-region performers. Peri Bowser and Mattie Webb were the other scorers for Western.

“The whole team really stepped up,” Johnson said. “Times have dropped for the whole team.”

That has also been the case for the Monticello boys, whose leading runner, Hermsmeier, didn’t compete in the season-opening meet at Panorama farms. He made up for it on the same course on Tuesday, sending the Mustangs to the state meet at Great Meadow in Warrenton on Nov. 14.

“I was just happy for the guys,” said Monticello coach Doug Bloor. “We hadn’t been able to pull it together as a team, and we knew if we did it, we could qualify.”

Louisa County sophomore Chris Springer was the top local finisher, clocking in at 16:52.51 to place seventh. Tommy Curtin of Loudoun County ran a 16:08.92 to finish first, followed by Tom Delaney of Handley and Seamus O’Reilly of Warren County. Western Albemarle junior Henry Giles also earned all-region honors with his 15th-place finish.

Potomac Falls won the team championship with 69 points, 24 ahead of second-place Skyline. Brentsville was third with 122 points.

Allison Bartels of Brentsville District won the girls race in 18:58.53, five seconds ahead of Loudoun County’s Julie Strange. Tammy Cheung of Millbrook was third.

Brentsville finished with 64 points, seven fewer than Western.  Potomac Falls and Loudoun County also qualified for the state meet.