As much as any runner, Emmett Engelhardt was poised and ready to begin the 2024 cross country season.
The Washington-Liberty High School senior proved as much by winning the boys varsity race at the opening Monroe Parker Invitational meet the morning of Sept. 7 on the 2.98-mile course at Burke Lake Park. His winning time was 15:14.00, holding off Elijah Post of Centreville, who had the same time.
That time was a 31-second personal best on the course for Engelhardt .
The victory in a big high-school race was the first for Engelhardt, who finished second in last fall’s Arlington County meet on the Bluemont Park course.
At Burke Lake Park, Engelhardt was ahead at the two-mile mark and led the rest of the way.
“The pace was kind of slow, so I went for the lead,” Engelhardt said.
Leading up to the race during the summer weeks, Engelhardt, a team captain, prepared and got race fit by running some 10 miles each day.
“Emmett has worked so hard and it’s so good to see that hard work paid off,” Washington-Liberty cross country coach John Bacon said. “He was very dedicated.”
Prior to that Sept. 7 race, Engelhardt warmed up by running around the school building at Washington-Liberty prior to the team bus leaving for the meet.
“Emmett likes to be prepared,” Bacon said.
Now that Engelhardt started the season well, he wants to continue that success, by winning the county title later this month and eventually qualifying for the Class 6 state meet, that he missed doing so by one spot last season.
The next highest finisher from an Arlington school in the boys race was last year’s Arlington County meet champion Reid Dalley of Yorktown High. He was sixth in 15:46. Bishop O’Connell High School sophomore Jayse Brefczynski was 12th in 16:12.
In the boys team scoring, Washington-Liberty finished seventh, O’Connell 15th and Yorktown 18th.
The top individual finisher from an Arlington school in the girls varsity race was the Yorktown Patriots’ Ellen Malloy in 21st in 19:11. Her teammate Sofie Keppler was 23rd (19:25). Washington-Liberty’s Alba Edsall was 36th (19:51) and Yorktown’s Ella Dunn was 40th (19:59).
The Yorktown girls finished fifth and the Washington-Liberty girls seventh.
• The Langley High School boys were the highest finishing local team from the GazetteLeader’s coverage areas in Fairfax County with a third at the Monroe Parker Invitational meet Sept. 7 at Burke Lake Park. The two-time defending Division I state private-school champion Potomac School Panthers were next highest in sixth.
Langley’s top finishers were Gavin Silva in 23rd (16:27), Zain Rasheed 30th (26:39), Aiden Raoufinia 38th (16:45) and Carlos Janada 41st (16:50).
For Potomac School, Eli Levine was 33rd (16:41), Luke Carter 35th (16:44), Noah Altschuler 37th (16:44) and Trip Moser 48th (16:57).
In the girls varsity race, Langley placed fourth, Madison sixth and Marshall 10th.
For Langley, Lila Pesavento was 13th (18:40) and Madeleine Spaner 15th (18:48).
Madison was led by Kiki Van Der Weide in fourth (18:03) and Lydia Mikhin in fifth (18:07). Samantha Dabich was 19th (19:01) for Marshall.
