Continuing what was an outstanding season last fall, Bishop O’Connell High School cross country runner Molly Weithman, now a senior, already is off to a strong start this year for the Knights.
Last season, Weithman won many big races, including the girls Division I private-school state meet, the Virginia Catholic School title and the Arlington County championship. She also placed high in a number of other big races and set school record.
Weithman opened the 2023 campaign with a second-place finish at the Hood College Invitational in Frederick, Md., completing the 5,000-meter course in 19:30.3. The winning time was 19:01.2.
A week later, at the Monroe Parker Invitational on the 2.9 Burke Lake Park trek, Weithman finished third in 18:07 in the varsity race, getting passed on the final downhill stretch by the second-place finisher.
She also finished third in last year’s Monroe Parker meet in 17:48.
As for this season’s race, Weithman had mixed feelings.
“I was satisfied with how I went out at the start, but the last mile I could have been more focused and done better,” she said. “I have to build up my endurance more. I’m not happy, but it’s just one race and won’t ruin my season. My best is yet to come.”
The Yorktown Patriots were the top finishing girls team in the meet in fourth, and led individually by Sofia Sheldon in 17th in 19:18.
Also for Yorktown, Ellen Malloy was 22nd (19:47), Eleanor Whitehouse 33rd (20:07), Ella Dunn 34th (20:07) and Sofie Keppler 44th (20:46). Also, Sophia Onur was 49th (21:06) and Hannah Hawkins 65th (21:32).
The Washington-Liberty girls finished third at the Monroe Parker meet, with Meg Lubas leading the way in 28th (19:57), Hannah Bellrose in 41st (20:26) and Alba Edsall 43rd (20:44).
For the Wakefield girls at Monroe Parker, Addison Young was 27th in 19:56.
In the boys Monroe Parker varsity meet, Washington-Liberty was 10th, Yorktown 12th, Wakefield 20th and O’Connell 25th.
For Washington-Liberty, Emmett Engelhardt placed ninth in 16:01 with Nathanel Fritz 47th (17:19).
For Yorktown, Matthew Pedicano was 12th (16:08) and Roman Steis 14th (16:25).
Wakefield’s Noah Gunville was 57th (17:31) and O’Connell’s top finisher was Lance Jayme in 85th (17:59).
At the earlier Hood College boys meet for O’Connell, Sean Wilcox finished 64th (18:14.5) and Jayme was 85th (18:35.6).
The boys were 20th in the team standings.
The O’Connell girls were 18th at the Hood meet.
• Wakefield High School runners had strong finishes at the recent Trials of Miles Opening Night Invitational on Sept. 2 at Morven Park in Leesburg.
In the boys varsity race, Liam Keish finished fourth with a personal-best time on a 5,000-meter course.
Also in the boys race for Wakefield, Logan Ward finished 51st, Ian Maguire was 53rd, Finn Sherlick 58th, Andrew Cole 59th and Connor Moore 60th.
The Wakefield boys finished seventh in the team standings.
In the girls race, Wakefield’s Addison Young also had a big personal-best and finished seventh overall.
Quincy Daigle (12th), Leah Wargo (13th) and Grace Armitage (22nd) also ran well and helped the girls team place third overall in the team competition.
In addition for Wakefield in the meet, Gennesee Rivera Dobbler was 33rd, Clara Crawford was 44th and Corinne Breyault was 46th.
The Washington-Liberty and Yorktown tams did not participate in that competition, starting their seasons at the Sept. 9 Monroe Parker Invitational at Burke Lake Park.
NOTE: The Arlington varsity teams will face off in the two four-team girls and boys Arlington County meets at Bluemont Park on Tuesday, Oct. 10. The meet usually starts around 4 p.m. and often finishes in darkness with the awards ceremonies. The Yorktown boys and girls teams are the defending champions.
