Chasing glory

By Shane Mettlen

Published: October 15, 2008

Charlie Bayne is creeping closer. The Eastern View sophomore couldn’t overtake James Monroe’s Will Helfrich Wednesday afternoon at EVHS, but he was close enough to come away with a belief he could compete for the Battlefield District title next week.

“I’m coming a lot closer,” Bayne said after the race. “Catching him would definitely be one of my goals coming into districts.”

The Cyclones will compete in the Battlefield District meet next Wednesday at Pratt Park in Stafford County.

Helfrich finished first in a time of 17:37, 12 seconds ahead of Bayne in second place, to lead the Yellow Jackets to the team victory. James Monroe finished with 19 points in the boys race and took five of the top six places. Eastern View finished second with 45 points.

On the girls’ side, Rebecca Fisher finished first for JM in a time of 20:47 and the Jackets swept the top three spots on the way to victory. JM finished with 17 points and Eastern View was second with 51.

Bayne said he was pleased to hang around with Helfrich, who beat him by more than a minute in races earlier this season.

“I hung with him for maybe two and half miles then he started to pick up the pace and I couldn’t keep up with him,” Bayne said. “He just went ahead and won.”

Helfrich and Bayne will be among the top runners at the district meet and EVHS coach Paul Lutz doesn’t think winning the district is an outlandish goal for his top runner.

“It will be interesting next week,” Lutz said. “I think if the temperature is cooler and he is in the right mindset he can get up there and challenge that boy. It seems like every team has at least one or two really strong boys so it’s going to be interesting to see how it plays out. I think it’s a reasonable goal. He might be a long shot this year, but I think he can do it.”

Patrick Wallach was the second EVHS runner to finish, coming in eighth in a time of 19:54 and Mike Letts also finished in the top 10 with a time of 20:32.

For the Cyclones girls, Logan Clore and Justine Weaver finished in seventh and eighth place, respectively. Clore came across the line at 23:22 and Weaver was just seven second behind her.

Lutz thinks both girls may have a shot to make an impact at the district meet.

“I think both of those two have an outside shot at qualifying for regionals,” Lutz said. “Right now they are both on the outside looking in, but the runners they have to beat are about 20 seconds ahead of them. We’re going to go down to districts with the mindset of getting those two to advance.”

Shane Mettlen can be reached at 825-0771, ext. 127 or

Team Scores
Boys: James Monroe 19, Eastern View 45, Caroline no score. Girls: James Monroe 17, EVHS 51, Caroline no score

Top EVHS finishers

Boys
2. Charlie Bayne, 17:49
8. Patrick Wallach, 19:54
10. Mike Letts, 20:32
16. Nick Sites, 21:59
19. Jesse Gilman, 22:25
Girls
7. Logan Clore, 23:22
8. Justine Weaver, 23:29
11. Katie Batiste, 25:21
14. Antoinette Hall, 25:42
15. Mandy Martell, 26:09