This past Saturday, several schools representing one of the toughest private school conferences in the region gathered on one of the most difficult courses in the region. Only a limited number of runners have ever gone under 17-minutes on this incredibly challenging course. This course represents what true cross country is. The hills, the flats, the broad 'spectrum' of terrain run on. The course begins on an uphill which stretches for about 200m. This is followed by a downhill of approximately equal length. The runners make a U-turn and tackle the hill they just conquered once more immediately after that. This is followed by two stream crossings, the first being by far the more significant as the second can be hurdled by many runners. This is an exciting part of the race since the athletes run in between two walls of spectators as they enter and then exit the stream. The runners then have their first of the steep hills, which crests at the first mile marker. This is followed by a short exit from the woods and then after about 300m or so, they reenter to tackle two more huge hills which challenge the runners physically and, perhaps even more so, mentally. This course is comparable even to Bull Run at Hereford. Certainly Lake Fairfax doesn't have The Dip, or anything really close to it for that matter. But anyone who has run Lake Fairfax can honestly say that it will be one of the toughest courses they will ever run.

After two years of Gonzaga and DeMatha fielding the only full freshman teams, this year there were five, with the most competitive being Gonzaga (no surprise there) and Good Counsel. Both teams made excellent showings. Gonzaga, as usual, had their 25-50 freshman (not 50 but it certainly seems it). However, Good Counsel putting runners through in the first four spots was too much for Gonzaga to handle. The Purple Eagles put their first four in by the ninth position. However, Good Counsel's number five finished in 10th while Gonzaga's was 17th. This race would not have been nearly as close in a larger meet. Good Counsel dominated this competition.

I didn't catch much of the JV races either. Good Counsel had some of the top positions early on, but Gonzaga quickly took over the race and easily scored a perfect 15, taking the top 10 spots.

Unfortunately, I don't have much information on the girl's race after the stream crossing because I was getting ready for my varsity race. However, I do know that Bishop O'Connell senior Megan Fitzpatrick went out at a torrential pace. Very few who went with her at the start were able to hang on to survive this course. However, this year's girl's varsity race was one of the more competitive of the past few years. Sophomore Chinyelu Asher of Holy Cross was able to finish within 15 seconds of the O'Connell star, but was not the only runner to finish in eyesight of Fitzpatrick. Lizzie Greene (PVI), Katie Koenig (GC), and Claire Whitesell (O'Connell) each finished within five or six seconds of Asher. Several freshman girls made their Championship debut in this race as well. Nicole Carty of O'Connell was the highest placing freshman in this race (6th), with a time of 21:06. Nicole Puffett (Elizabeth Seton) finished 8th with a time of 21:24. Also, Ireton's top three girls were freshmen, Aubrey Gartlan (24:09, 19th), Hannah Cooke (24:11, 21st), and Ellie Marrin (24:23, 23rd).

Once again, what I know about the boy's race isn't exactly thorough. Much of this info comes from spectators, and unfortunately, that means mostly DeMatha spectators since I didn't talk about details with people from other teams. Cory Puffett finished first in 16:41 (about 12 seconds or so off the course record). Junior Bill Ledder of Gonzaga finished in second (17:13) and the mud on the side of his jersey as he came in suggested that he may have fallen during the race. DeMatha senior Robert Patterson was third in 17:20. He fell during the reentry into the woods on a new path, one of the course alterations from last year. Ian McGinn from PVI finished close behind in 17:33. After that, Good Counsel put three guys across the line quickly with Graves , Rainard, and Riely finishing within ten seconds of each other and Charles Horne of Paul VI getting the edge on Riely by less than a second. After that it became the 'Gonzaga Show.' The Eagles had runners finish in five of the next six places and the race was pretty much over. The Falcons' only shot would have been to have their number five runner, sophomore James Henriksen, move up about 23 seconds and finish just ahead of DeMatha's number three, freshman Onyx Johnson.

With the Private School State meet in two weeks, it will be very interesting to see how the WCAC is represented. Variables (like slippery hills) created by the rain starting within 15 minutes of the Varsity Boy's race beginning certainly played a role in how the race developed. However, Gonzaga's win was very convincing and it's hard to believe that runners not falling would have made enough of an impact on the outcome to have the WCAC trophy change hands. Good luck to all the runners over the next two weeks. Gonzaga should represent well at the Agricultural Farm Park.

Please leave comments since I know I missed plenty, such as the JV girl's race. Any details I missed would be well received and educational for the readers so we can all know exactly what's going on, or what went on.