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Fluvanna girls, Western boys both repeat at Jefferson XC championship

Were it not for the venue and some individual performances, it would have been a carbon copy of the 2011 meet. The favorites coming into the Jefferson District cross country championship had a different course than the usual Panaram Farms setting with Powhatan hosting the meet, but at the end of the day both the Fluvanna County girls and Western Albemarle boys were able to defend their championships in style.

Last year the Flucos made a big splash on the scene to win their first XC title in the JD, and with so much ammunition returning, Fluvanna held firm to repeat. In 2011, Nicki Douma was the first to cross for the Flucos, but she finished second individually to Powhatan’s Rachel Byrd. The script was flipped this time around with Douma posting a time of 19:48 to win by nearly 30 seconds. Just 11 seconds after Byrd crossed, Devon Burger and Stephanie Bossong came through in third and fourth place to give the Flucos an outstanding start. It took roughly two more minutes for Fluvanna to get its fourth and fifth scoring, but Bridget Bossong and Peyton Olinger came through with respective 19th and 20th showings to wrap up the title.

Western Albemarle made things interesting by finishing just nine points behind Fluvanna as all five of its runners also placed in the top 20. It started with Sarah Grupp and Annie Taylor coming in at sixth and seventh place. Alice DuCharme and Selena Coles then took 13th and 14th. And placing the fifth and final time was Erica Grupp who took 18th.

Both teams advance to the Region II championship, but so to did any individual runner placing in the top 15. Charlottesville had three runners advance with Kellyn Kusyk, Virginia Kitchin and Katherine Bouchard finishing in succession in 10th, 11th and 12th. Joining Byrd for Powhatan is Taylor Holt and Kaitlin Adams who ran through for seventh and 15th. Monticello and Louisa County each will send one runner. The Mustangs had Isabelle Mersmeier take eighth while Samathan Madison was next in line at ninth for the Lions.

In the boys race, Western Albemarle finished comfortable ahead of Monticello. Senior David Taylor finished out front in first place for the Warriors with a time of 16:41. Trevor Stutzman was next for Western in third. Andrew DeJong, Noah Oakland and Cyrus Webb finished the job with their respective eighth, ninth and 13th place finishes.

Anthony Tamberrino led the charge for the Mustangs with a fifth place effort. The Mustangs finished 11 points ahead of Charlottesville to take the second Region II bid. Ben Stern’s 10th place run was followed by steady line of Monticello runners with 16th, 17th and 18th place going Mac Sochar, Daniel Poehailos and Thomas Michener in that order.

Earning Region II honors as individual runners include Fluvanna’s Chris Markham who took second overall, finishing just behind Taylor at 17:15. The Fluco senior will be joined by Travis Moe and Austin Early who took seventh and 11th. The Black Knights’ Malloy Owen took fourth place, finishing just a few tenths of a second behind Stutzman for fourth place. Charlottesville’s John Little and Riley Covert took 12th and 14th respectively.  Powhatan’s Sidney Noble took sixth.

 

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