In the worst conditions, the Washington-Liberty Generals were the best during the rain-soaked girls and boys Arlington County cross country meets.
The Generals won both high-school team titles the afternoon of Sept. 24, had the boys individual champion and the runner-up in the girls race in the annual event run on the Bluemont Park course.
The races were run in a steady rain, causing issues with runners slipping and falling and having to negotiate streams and puddles that formed.
The course for the girls race was changed to six loops of 800 meters because the section of the normal trek (through a tunnel under Wilson Boulevard) flooded with kneehigh water from the adjacent Four Mile Run Creek.
The Washington-Liberty girls won with 25 points and the boys were first with 30.
“Our teams hadn’t won these meets in a while, so our runners were saying we need bad weather for the county each year,” Washington-Liberty coach John Bacon said. “Under the circumstances, there was some great racing. It was miserable out there, but everyone was so upbeat and having fun.”
Washington-Liberty senior Emmett Engelhardt, second a year ago, won the boys race in 15:47.6, with defending champion Reid Dalley of the Yorktown Patriots second (15:50.4), and the Bishop O’Connell Knights Jayse Brefczynski third (16:03.5).
“It sure was crazy out there,” Engelhardt said. “Reid and I both fell and slipped a bunch. My goal was to win and the team’s goal was to win, so it all worked out.”
The W-L boys had five runners finish in the top 10. Morgan Fritz was fifth (16:48.6), Henry Brys seventh (17:08.6), Andrew Klinger eighth (17:09.9) and Jackson Fowler ninth (17:12.2).
Wakefield’s top runner in the boys race was Noah Gunville in fourth (16:38.4), with Andrew Coe 11th (17:13.4) and John Guy 12th (17:21.1). O’Connell’s Lance Jayme was sixth (17:00.2) and Peter Fleenor 10th (17:12.3).
Yorktown’s Sameer Jones was 13th (17:28.1) and Colin Riley 14th (17:28.9).
The Wakefield and Bishop O’Connell boys both had 63 points and defending champion Yorktown 66. Lower scores are better in cross country.
Yorktown senior Ellen Malloy won the girls race (21:11.1), with W-L’s Alba Edsall second (21:24.2) and Yorktown’s Sofie Keppler third (21:39.21).
Fourth in the race a year ago, Malloy’s goal was to win.
“It was crazy and hard out there, not something you practice for in cross country, running the same six laps,” said Malloy, who helped the defending champion Yorktown girls finish second (33 points). “I took the lead early and stayed in front. I hoped to win.”
The Wakefield girls finished third (86 points) and O’Connell fourth (106).
The Washington-Liberty girls had five runners finish in the top eight. Margaret Lubas was fourth (21:49), Sienna Williams fifth (21:53.1), Mina Dowler sixth (22:00) and Katherine Floom eighth (22:03.6).
Wakefield’s Quincy Daigle was ninth (22:08.1), Grace Armitage 17th (23:15.4) and Dru Kukawa 20th (23:49.5).
Also for Yorktown, Ali Mathews was seventh (22:01.3), Ella Dunn 10th (22:13.7) and Hannah Hawkins 12th (22:28).
O’Connell’s Grace Fumich was 15th (22:55.7) and Lauren Smith 24th (23:59).
NOTES: The Washington-Liberty boys last won the county meet in 2016, with the girls last victory in 2018 . . . There were 181 finishes in this year’s boys race and 151 in the girls . . . Engelhardt has two big victories already this season, previously winning the Monroe Parker Invitational at Burke Lake Park.
