Western promises

The Jefferson District cross country championship had a familiar feel on Wednesday, as Western Albemarle’s boys and girls teams swept the meet.

The Warriors, who have won the boys title since the district was created, were powered by senior Tyler Stutzman, who took the individual crown. Stutzman finished the 5k course in a time of 15:36 on a picturesque fall day at Panorama Farms.

Stutzman passed teammate Kyle Satterwhite just before the two-mile mark and continued to pull away.

“I’m happy we won again. That’s what we were thinking going into the race, and I’m glad it turned out,” said Stutzman, who was chosen as the district’s runner of the year. “Some of our guys didn’t have as good of a race as they wanted, but other guys coming back from injuries — Adrian Sitler and Carlos Gomez — ran really well. So we’re definitely looking good for the upcoming races.”

Not far behind Stutzman was Louisa County’s Thomas Baker, who took second after battling for position with Satterwhite.

Baker, a senior, posted a personal-best of 15:47 in helping lead the Lions to a third-place finish behind Monticello.

“I just went out with them [Stutzman and Satterwhite] the first mile and tried to push it and not let them set the pace too comfortably,” Baker said. “My goal was to stick with them up the two-mile hill and that’s what I did. Once I got to the top I passed Kyle Satterwhite. After that I just tried to work on catching up with Tyler.”

Western Albemarle accumulated 27 points in the win, and was followed by Monticello with 55. Louisa finished third with 58 points, while Fluvanna (115) was fourth.

The Warriors, last year’s Group AA runners-up, had six runners finish in the top 15. Despite the strong finish, Western coach Lindy Bain knows the next couple of weeks will be tough.

“I was happy with it, but we still have some more to go,” said Bain, who was named the district’s top boys coach. “So hopefully we can come on a little bit stronger in the next couple of weeks. Tyler had a great day and Baker and Kyle ran well too. Certainly we would have loved to have gone 1-2 today, but Thomas had other ideas.”

Western’s James Howard-Smith was fourth, while Brian Huffman was the top finisher for Monticello in fifth (17:20).

Not to be outdone was the Western Albemarle girls team, who also took top honors in the race.

Western’s Clair Johnson won the girls individual title as she held off Louisa County junior Hannah Best, who was on her heels for much of the race. Johnson, a sophomore, finished the course in a time of 19:42, while Best, who is Baker’s cousin, followed closely with a time of 19:43 as Louisa finished third overall.

The Warriors asserted their dominance, though, with six runners in the top 11. Western coach Kate Pugh, who was named the girls coach of the year in the district, couldn’t have been more pleased with her team.

“They did so well. They’ve worked hard all season and it just came together today,” Pugh said. “Clair Johnson really fought for it today and was really challenged by an excellent runner, Hannah Best. She fought the entire race and came through for us. Mattie Webb, who came in fifth, ran a PR and Hilary Wayland, who has been struggling this season, came in third for us and had a breakthrough race.”

Jordan Haws and Emily Moffett finished seventh and eighth, respectively for the Warriors, while freshman Katie Farina was 11th.

Other notable performances included Holly Rich, who took third to help Monticello to a second-place finish. Fluvanna’s Melissa Messier, last year’s girls champion, was fourth, and helped her team to a fourth-place finish.

The top 15 individuals and top four teams advance to the Region II meet next Thursday at Oatlands in Leesburg.