Today in the mud at Great Meadows the cross country team concluded what has been an outstanding season. The girls took to the course first and had a very solid day. The team placed 6th as a team after finishing 4th place in the region.  We defeated every team from Region I and Region IV which shows the strength of our team as well as the strength of our region. Julie Strange led the way with a strong 5th place finish. She chased two nationally ranked runners from Blacksburg for the beginning of the race and faltered slightly toward the finish to end up 5th. However, as the saying goes, "No guts, no glory". If she wanted to have a shot at winning the state meet she had to take a risk. I was quite impressed with her race and she concludes her Loudoun County cross country career with another sub 19:00 race and another state medal.  Running a strong #2 for LCHS was Becca Hinch who finished in the top 25. Kathryn Eder ran a strong race to run a PR on this sloppy course for our #3 finisher. Leslie Lyford went out very agressive and took a page from Julie's "No guts, no glory" effort for a strong #4 finish for the Raiders. Rounding out the scoring was Shelby Rombach who was only 4 seconds behind Leslie. The other two runners were Emily Seifert and Devin Bowers who also ran fine times. Devin ran #7 for the team today. There were 16 teams at this meet, and  Devin was the 4th fastest #7 for all of these teams. This shows that our team depth was as strong as I stressed all year. The best thing about this girls team is that we return 6 of the 7 who ran today plus the 3 alternates and also the next 4 or 5 girls after that.

The boys race had to be seen to be truly appreciated. Tommy Curtin entered the race as the #2 seed behind Colin Mearns of Jamestown. The plan was to shadow Mearns the entire race and try to take him in the home stretch. The plan immediately went away as Mearns took off as if he was in a much shorter race. Tommy went through the mile mark in 4:51 and was about 11 seconds behind Mearns. Now, instead of being drug along, Tommy was forced to be the pace car for another runner, Kyle King, of Grafton. Tommy went through the 2 mile mark in about 10:05 and was about 15 seconds behind. He begins to close the distance on the next hill and the three runners enter the final home stretch of about 600 yards with Mearns in front and Tommy and the Grafton runner closing, but it looked like not enough course left to catch the leader.  The early pace caused Mearns to begin to slow as Tommy and the other runner are flying up the towards the finish. With about 100 meters to go, Tommy and the Grafton runner catch the leader. After running together as a trio for a few meters the Jamestown runner collapses as the early pace really hurt him. After chasing the Jamestown runner and dragging the Grafton runner for 3 miles Tommy was unable to respond to a final burst from the Grafton runner as Tommy crossed the finish line in 2nd place. This was an incredible year for Tommy. As the season began, my goal was to try to qualify Tommy for states. While a state championship would have been fantastic, to go from last year not even qualifying for the state meet to this year placing 2nd, it is hard to be too disappointed. Using my best research, in 1971 a runner from Broad Run was 2nd place at the state meet. Tommy's 2nd place finish today was the only other runner from the entire County of Loudoun to place this high at this meet. There has never been a state champion in cross country from the County of Loudoun. Stay tuned for next year.

Congratulations to all of these runners on an outstanding season. It has been a great ride. Thank you to all the parents and coaches and administration for all of their support.

It was a banner day in Charlottesville today as the Raider Cross Country teams ran well. Tommy Curtin was the individual Region II champion as he pulled away in the final half mile to win by 12 seconds. The other fantastic news of the day was that the girls team qualified for the state meet as a team. They will be one of 16 teams in the state who will be running next week-end at the VHSL state meet at Great Meadows. This was an outstanding team effort for all seven of the ladies who ran today. Julie Strange and Becca Hinch were All-Region as Julie placed 2nd and Becca was 13th. There were 7 teams running today for the girls who have been ranked in the top 10 in the state at different points during the season and only 4 of them were going to advance out of the region. The Raider girls had lost to Millbrook twice during the season at different meets. Today they needed to beat them to qualify for states. After three girls had finished for each team, the Raider girls were trailing Milllbrook by 5 points. This is where the girls showed their depth and desire to go to states. The #4 runner,#5 runner, #6 runner and the #7 runner for Loudoun defeated the #4 for Millbrook to vault Loudoun to a 29 point win over Millbrook. This assured Loudoun of a trip to the state meet. There are not enough accolades to describe the desire and effort of this group of young ladies today. While only Julie and Becca earned medals, this victory was the result of ALL SEVEN girls: Julie Strange, Becca Hinch, Leslie Lyford, Emily Seifert, Devin Bowers, Kathryn Eder, and Shelby Rombach.

The Raiders will run on Saturday, November 14th at 11:45 for the girls and 12:30 for the guys. Come out and support these outstanding runners.

Today at Ida Lee, Tommy Curtin and Julie Strange both earned the title of District Champions. Julie defended her title that she won last year. Tommy Curtin pulled away over the final mile to earn his first district title. Both teams placed 2nd in the district meet and advanced to the regional meet. Other girls earning All-District honors were Becca Hinch, Kathryn Eder, and Emily Seifert. Other guys earning All-District honors were Austin Talbot and Tanner Tibbits.

Today at Ida Lee, both the boys and girls cross country teams were victorious. The girls defeated Broad Run by a score of 15 - 50 and Briar Woods 19-42. With these two wins the girls team finishes the regular season with a an undefeated record of 8-0 and gives them the regular season title. The top 5 scorers for the Raiders were Julie Strange, Becca Hinch, Kitty Foster, Leslie Lyford, and Emily Seifert. The guys defeated Broad Run 17-44 and defeated Briar Woods 19-41. The guys finished the regular season with a record of 7-1. The top 5 scorers for the Raiders were Tommy Curtin, Austin Talbot, Tanner Tibbits. Josh Showalter, and Stephen Person. The Raiders have the District Tournament next Thursday at Ida Lee at 4:00 for the girls and 4:30 for the guys.

The cross country team traveled to the Glory Days Invitational for part of the squad and to the Albermarle Invitational for the rest of the team. They ended the day with 59 runners having their fastest times of the season. It was an outstanding day at both venues. Ben Heberling earned a medal in the freshman race at the Bull Run meet. At the Albermarle Invitational there were a few landmark times. Tommy Curtin ran an incredible race by going through the first mile in 4:51. He came through mile 2 in sub 10:00. Going up the large hill at about 2.5 miles Tommy was in 6th place. In the final half mile Tommy moved to 3rd overall with an incredible time of 15:48. He became (to the best of my research) the first runner in Loudoun County history to break 16:00 minutes. Julie Strange also had an outstanding day as she ran 18:53 on this tough course. She is the only runner(to the best of my research) to break 19:00 on a course. Becca Hinch ran a PR for this year of 19:55 to become only the 4th Raider since at least 1994 to break 20:00. The article would be way too long to go through all of the incredible performance turned in today. I will mention one last time and that is Devin Bowers who has been running about #10 for the team this year turned in a 20:46 which is outstanding. The Raiders conclude their regular season on Wednesday against Briar Woods and Broad Run. The girls are looking to end the regular season with a mark of 7-0 and the guys are looking to go 6-1. Come on out to Ida Lee at 5:00pm on Wednesday to see the final meet for the seniors.

The cross country team rode the mini-bus for 6 1/2 hours to participate in the Great American Cross Country Festival. The team ran well in the Seeded Division. Tommy Curtin placed 3rd  overall with an outstanding 16:03 time. He almost became the first Raider to break 16:00. Austin Talbot ran a great 16:36 and Matt Gambogi, Josh Showalter, and Scott Cypher rounded out the scoring to pace the team to a 4th place finish out of the 22 teams in the Seeded Division.

The girls also ran very well. They were led by Julie Strange who ran 18:57 to place 2nd overall in their race. Becca Hinch just missed the 20:00 minute barrier by running 20:09. Rounding out the scoring were Emily Seifert, Shelby Rombach and Chloe Passarello. The girls placed 3rd in their race. They missed 1st place by only 7 points which is nothing in a large invitational.

This was a great trip and a nice run as we prepare for the end of the season.

On Wednesday, 9/29 the Raider cross country teams had strong victories over Dominion. The boys team had the top 6 finishers in the race to win by a score of 15-27 and the girls had 7 of the first 8 finishers to win 18-45. Tommy Curtin and Julie Strange were the overall winners of the meet. Rounding out the scoring for the guys were Austin Talbot, Scott Cypher, Stephen Person, and Matt Gambogi. The scorers for the girls were Becca Hinch, Leslie Lyford, Emily Seifert, and Chloe Passarello.  The Raiders take to the road this week-end as they travel to North Carolina for the Great American Cross Country meet.

The 5th year of the Oatland's Cross Country Meet has come and gone and all reports are that the meet was a success. Coaches from around the area are posting on milestat.com about how great the meet was. In the end there were about 3500 runners spread through the eight races. LCHS came away with only 2 medals, but they were both earned in the most competitive races in the Varsity A. Julie Strange and Tommy Curtin both earned medals with Tommy finishing in the top 10. James Spence had one of the best stories of the day. He was stepped on about 200 yards into the race and lost his shoe. Not wasting any time he continued to race with one shoe for the next 3 miles. He finished with an outstanding 18:31. With about 90 runners competing for LCHS there were lots of outstanding performances in addition to the few mentioned. There are only 2 home meets for the team, so you need to get out to one of them to see all of these runners. Your first chance is this Wednesday, September 30th at Ida Lee.

For more coverage:
3000 Runners, 85 Teams Race Through Oatlands - Dan Sousa, Loudoun Times Mirror

Today at Algonkian Park, the boys and girls cross country teams opened up the district competition with a meet against Potomac Falls and Park View. The girls had an outstanding win over both Potomac Falls and Park View. The win over Potomac Falls was a nail biter with the score 27-28. A sprint finish by Shelby Rombach saved the meet from being one point in the other direction. Top 5 for the girls were Julie Strange, Becca Hinch, Leslie Lyford, Chloe Passarello and Shelby Rombach. Rounding out the varsity were Emily Seifet and Kathryn Eder.

The guys defeated Park View but lost to a very strong Potomac Falls. Tommy Curtin was the overall winner of the meet with an outstanding 16:12. Austin Talbot also had a sub 17:00 finish. The other scorers were Scott Cypher, Stephen Person, and Kyle Frazier who were all under 18:00.

Overall, a good day for the team. Next on the schedule is the Oatlands Invite on Saturday September 26th. You should come out to Oatlands and see the meet with about 87 teams.

      On Thursday night the cross country team competed in the Handley Invitational at Kernstown Battlefield. There were 19 schools in attendance from Virginia, Maryland, and West Virginia. The varsity teams fared well and placed 3rd in both the girls and guys varsity races. The girls lost to Millbrook who is currently ranked 5th in the state, but they defeated Potomac Falls who was ranked 4th in the state. The girls entered this meet ranked 7th in the state. The boys lost to Potomac Falls who is ranked 6th in the state and to Clarke County who is ranked 1st in the state in single A. This was a good team showing by both teams. Julie Strange placed 3rd overall to earn a medal and Tommy Curtin also placed 3rd to medal. Austin Talbot rounded out the medal winners with an 11th place finish.

     There were lots of other outstanding performances with some runners knocking 3 minutes off their best times for the year. Rounding out the varsity scoring for the girls was Becca Hinch, Leslie Lyford, Emily Seifert, Kitty Foster, Chloe Passarello, and Shelby Rombach. Rounding out the guys varsity was Austin Talbot, Scott Cypher, Patrick Joseph, Tanner Tibbits, Matt Gambogi, and Stephen Person.

    The team next travels to Algongian next week for a meet with Potomac Falls.