Two of Abbey Daley's best races of the season came on the famously difficult course at Hereford High School. After winning the medium school race at the Bull Run Invitational, she was named Mocorunning.com athlete of the week for clocking a time of 20:21, the fastest time by a MoCo freshman at the Bull Run Invitational in over ten years. In her return to Hereford at the state championship meet, she stuck with the leaders in the 3A race and blew by one runner in the final half mile to take second place in 20:40. She won the Frank Keyser Invitational in 18:09.3 on a three mile course and clocked 19:28 in a dual meet on her home course, her fastest 5k time of the season. She was seventh at the county championship meet in 19:41.
Sula Ndousse-Fetter placed 11th in the Glory Days Invitational freshman race in 21:25 and won the freshman/sophomore race in 21:20 at the Montgomery County Championship Meet to earn herself a spot on the varsity team. She placed 20th at the 4A West Region Championship Meet in 21:38 to help her team take second place and advance to states in the absence of other varsity runners. She was 36th at the state championship meet in 22:20, making her the top Montgomery County freshman in the 4A race.
Emma Tolerton's season came to an end when she placed 23rd in 21:44 at the 4A West Region Championship Meet, one place shy of qualifying individually for the state championship. Despite coming up short by one place, her rapid improvement did not go unnoticed. She began the season with conservative starts, but soon learned she could start faster and still finish hard. Her times dropped from over 22 minutes in September to 20:37.3 on the three mile course at Frank Keyser in early October. She ran 21:13 at the B-CC tri meet, her fastest 5k time of the season, and placed 32nd at the county championship in 21:28.
Morgan Kershner started off the season surprising herself and her coach and teammates by placing second in the Woodward Relays novice race, although the time was over 25 minutes. She gained confidence and went undefeated in division IV dual meets and won the first ever Down County Consortium Championship Meet title. She ran 21:40 to place 37th at the county championship meet and 21:54 to finish 9th in the 3A West Region, qualifying individually for the state championship meet. She placed 32nd in the state in 22:46.
Kylee Patton improved from races in the 23 minutes range early in the season to 21:51 at the Tidewater Invitational. She was a consistent varsity runner throughout the season and helped her team to 5th place in the county with her 41st place finish in a season best 5k time of 21:49. She placed 11th at the 3A West Regional Meet, helping her team win the regional crown and advance to the state meet. She was 42nd at the 3A state meet in 23:18.
Caroline Elmendorf was a scoring varsity member of Whitman's injury plagued team from the first dual meet of the season. She dropped her personal best time to 21:55 at the Maymont Invitational, and 21:22 at the Great American Invitational. She placed 31st at the county championship meet in a season best time of 21:19 and 73rd in the state in 23:25.
Hedda Boege is a triathlete who won the PVAC middle school championships in 7th and 8th grade. This year in high school, nerves got the best of her in several races including PVAC Midseason Challenge where she ran 24:08 on the Covenant Life home 5k course. She returned to Covenant Life for the PVAC Championship where she loosened up and ran away from the field to win the title in a personal best time of 21:34.
Natalie Somerville dropped over five minutes from her first race in 27:12 in August to her runner-up finish at the PVAC Championship meet in late October. She ran 22:44 at the Midseason Challege at the Covenant Life School. Later that season on the same course, she set a personal record of 21:49 to place second at the PVAC Championship Meet.
Annie Rice ran over 25 minutes in her first two dual meets, but dropped two minutes off of her PR at Maymont where she ran 23:15. She ran on the varsity team at the Great American Cross Country Festival where she ran 22:48. She was one of Whitman's top five scoring runners in the final three races of the season, finishing 40th at the county championship in a season best time of 21:49, 29th at regionals in 22:08, and 74th at states in 23:27.
Whitman knew that Annie Rice and Caroline Elmendorf would be joining the team because they ran in middle school, but Justine Wood was a pleasant surprise. Her progression was almost identical to Rice's, jumping from over 26 minutes early in the season to 21:55 at the county championship meet where she placed 44th. She was one of a few girls in any grade to actually run faster at regionals than counties. She was the second fastest freshman in the girls 4A west region race and 22nd overall in 21:43. She finished up the season 84th in the state in 23:44.
