With sweeps of the team and individual titles in both races, the Yorktown Patriots again dominated much of this fall’s Arlington County girls and boys cross country meets.
The races were held the afternoon of Oct. 4 on the Bluemont Park course.
The Yorktown boys won the team championship for the fourth straight time, scoring 27 points and had five runners in the top 10, and the girls won for the third year in a row, having 24 points and five runners among the first 11.
Leading the Yorktown girls was individual winner Sofia Sheldon, a senior, in 18:26, and the boys winner was Patriots junior Reid Dalley in 15:37. The victories were the first ever for the runners in cross-country meets.
This year, Sheldon finished ahead of defending champion Molly Weithman of the Bishop O’Connell Knights (second in 18:35). Weithman recently had COVID and the senior said she is still recovering from the illness, which slowed her in the race. She won in 17:59 last year.
Sheldon finished second in the county meet the past two seasons, and in a much slower time of 19:04 last fall. This season she made her move for the lead on uphill portions of the course and moved ahead for good about a half-mile before the finish.
“I really trained hard and a lot over the summer and wanted to win this race. I’m a little surprised I did because Molly is so fast,” Sheldon said. “I’m happy to win.”
Said Weithman: “I’m feeling better but my breathing is still not great. I had the lead early in the race, but Sofia had a strong race and kick, and I couldn’t respond to that.”
Also for the Yorktown girls, Eleanor Whitehouse was third (18:36), Ellen Maloy fourth (19:17), Sofie Keppler fifth (19:35), Sophia Onur 11th (20:16) and Ali Matthews 12th (20:20).
The Washington-Liberty Generals were second in the girls race (53 points), the Wakefield Warriors third (69) and Bishop O’Connell fourth (96).
Meg Lubas was seventh for W-L (19:36), Mina Dowler ninth (20:08) and Hannah Bellrose 10th (20:16). For Wakefield, Quincy Daigle was sixth (19:36) and Addison Young eighth (20:02).
Dalley also made a late move to win the boys race, with W-L junior Emmett Engelhardt a close second, also in 15:37. Yorktown’s Matthew Pedicano was third (16:04).
The race was the first of the season for Dalley, who has been recovering from injuries.
“I was not expecting to win and I really didn’t know how I would do,” Dalley said. “My goal was just to run, and see what happened. Then, I was so close to the front at the end I went for the lead. I’m 100 percent surprised I won. I had been hurt, but I’m back now.”
Engelhardt was third in last year’s race and had a goal to win this fall.
“I got off to a good start, but he [Dalley] was just a little faster than me at the end,” Engelhardt said.
Also for the Yorktown boys, Roman Steis was fourth (16:31), Theo Wargo ninth (16:57) and Hayden Carpenter 10th (17:23).
Wakefield’s Noah Gunville was fifth (16:38) for the third-place boys (70) and Liam Keish eighth (16:57). Washington-Liberty’s Nathanael Fritz was seventh (16:49).
The fourth-place O’Connell boys were led by Sean Wilcox in sixth (16:44) and Lance Jayme in 14th (17:40).
“Both of our teams had high enthusiasm today and the runners wanted to keep the streak going of winning these meets,” Yorktown coach Emily Stewart said. “Sofia has been a very focused runner and Reid felt good today at the start and the end of the race.”
