Western Albemarle’s girls cross country team stuck together Wednesday. Quite literally.
The Warriors won the Jefferson District title at Pleasant Grove with a pack finish, taking third through seventh place in the race with five runners separated by just 22 seconds. The pack started with Jenna Stutzman, followed by Sterling Hull, Kate Ratcliffe, Emily Winder and Caroline McGahren.
Ahead of the Warriors’ pack, Fluvanna County’s Emily Smeds clocked a 19:16.67 to win the individual title. The Flucos took third behind Western and Monticello, who got a big boost from Lilly Linneweber taking eighth and Maria Vizcaino taking ninth. Louisa’s Cierra Caicedo took the runner-up spot behind Smeds and the Lions’ Alayna Campbell finished 10th to spark Louisa to a fifth place finish.
Albemarle finished fourth as a team despite not running Arianna DeBoer, Meme Zarzyski, Madeline Kronebusch, Elynore Zarzyski and Abby Murphy, their top five finishers in the Albemarle Invitational. The Patriots finished fourth in that race, two spots behind the Warriors, who perhaps lack a threat for an individual title but have that incredibly tight pack that makes them a team title threat in any race.
Louisa finished fifth as a team while Charlottesville and Orange took sixth and seventh respectively.
Regional races are the next step for these squads, with most of those events taking place next week.
