Albemarle teams move on

With their strong showing at the Commonwealth District championship last week, both the Albemarle girls and boys cross country teams got to the opportunity compete in the Northwest Region championship on their home course at Panorama Farms on Thursday.
The Patriots made the most of the home field advantage as both teams finishing second and qualified for the VHSL state championship.
Andy Kostelac and Luke Noble paced the way for the boys by finishing second and third overall. Just two seconds separated the two teammates, and Kostelac was six seconds behind from Mountain View’s Thomas Porter who won his third consecutive regional championship.
It’s the second straight week that Kostelac and Noble have come up with a 2-3 finish, and once again it has prolonged the Patriots season.
“We knew we had to stay together if we wanted it to work for the team,” Noble said. “Most teams don’t have that advantage and I think we used it today. I wish we could have caught Thomas Porter, but it was still a good race.”
Nathan Rouse also did his share of the heavy lifting for Albemarle by finishing 15th overall.
“Six of the seven runners ran their personal bests,” said Albemarle coach Buz Male. “This was the last race on this course for our seniors but we’ve got one more race. Our goal is to finish in the top three in the state meet.”
Mountain View won the team portion by placing five runners the top 25 and three in the top 10.
In the girls race, Liz Barclay made her much anticipated return for Albemarle.
“Liz Barclay was the wild card,” said Patriots girls coach Lance Weisend. “She’s obviously one of the best runners around but she really hasn’t trained to compete at this level so I was interested to see how she would hold up and she did very well.”
Despite having spent the last month and a half rehabbing her ankle, Barclay managed to lead the way for the Patriot girls by finishing ninth overall.
“I’m just really excited to be back,” Barclay said. “I think that’s what made me run today. I did get tired a lot quicker than usual. The first mile and a half I was good but once I hit the big hill I was just dead.”
Finishing just behind the Patriots senior were teammates Elizabeth Sinclair and Lauren Brady, who placed 10th and 13th, respectively.
“Every one of our girls attacked the finish line,” Weisend said. “That’s all you can ask for so I’m really proud of them.”
Mountain View’s Kaitlyn Davis was the top finisher and won by a convincing
35-second margin while Osbourn Park took top team honors.
Having Barclay line up at the starting line more than paid off for Albemarle, but getting her there was perhaps the biggest challenge.
“I dreaded districts so much last week,” Weisend said. “I’ve never carried so much stress because I knew I couldn’t run her and I was afraid that something might go wrong and our team wouldn’t make it through and thought about just how unjust and unfair that would’ve been. That was probably the most relief I’ve ever felt when that race was over and we finished second.”
With Sinclair and Brady picking up the slack last week, the Patriots managed to give Barclay seven more days to healthy. She repaid her teammates with a top ten finish and a trip to the VHSL state championship.