Leading the pack

By Shane Mettlen

Published: October 7, 2008

Mountain View’s Thomas Parker borrowed Culpeper coach Kim Williams’ phone after Tuesday’s all-area cross country meet at CCHS and left a message for former Culpeper star runner Devin Cornwall.

Parker had just broken Cornwall’s course record, winning the meet in a time of 15:53 and leading Mountain View to a sweep of the boys and girls races. Mountain View finished with 35 points in the boys race, 18 ahead of second-place Colonial Forge. Kaitlyn Davis won the girls race for the Wildcats, who finished with 53 points, nine ahead of Colonial Forge.

Culpeper finished eighth out of 15 teams in the boys race with 226 points and Eastern View was 15th with 378, but did have the top local finisher with Charlie Bayne taking 17th for the Cyclones in a time of 17:24. The Eastern View girls finished 12th with 319 points and the CCHS girls did not have enough runners to place.

Bayne took the early lead in the race, but came back to the pack before settling in for a respectable finish.

“I thought Charlie ran a smart race,” Eastern View coach Paul Lutz said. “I wanted him to go out the first 200 meters hard so he didn’t get pinched in. I didn’t necessarily want him leading, but he backed off there and got a second wind. I think he’s going to be peaking at just the right time.”

Culpeper’s Daniel Austin was the second local runner to finish, coming in 20th with a time of 17:36. Austin led a pack of Blue Devils runners that finished between 20th and 58th with Alex Wyman the next CCHS runner to cross in 42nd place with a time of 18:17. Colton Elliott finished No. 48 for the Devils in a time of 18:26 and Kyle Lombardi took 58th place in a time of 18:40.

“We did well,” CCHS boys coach Kim Williams said. “These numbers are a little too spread out, but that’s not bad. This course is really tough and overall I thought the guys did well. If you look at the teams that beat us, there’s no slouches.”

Justine Weaver led the Eastern View girls with a 63rd-place finish and a time of 23:10. Logan Clore finished 71st for EVHS with a time of 23:29 and Lauren Odend’hal was 87th in 24:58. Katie Batiste finished 87th in a time of 25:08 and Natalie Martel was 94th in 25:31.

“The girls have to learn how to start,” Lutz said. “They started too slow and really didn’t score out well because they got in too big of a hole. After the start, I though they did well.”

CCHS was without top girls runner Cassie Elliot, but freshman Rachel Harding had her best race, finishing 45th in a time of 22:29. Brooke Malloy came in No. 70 in a time of 23:27 and Sarah Clemmer was 97th in a time of 26:04.

“They are basically all rookies,” CCHS girls coach Justin Harding said. “So for being rookies and this being a huge meet I think that they ran up and ran very well. I think this was a great experience for them.”

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

Top finishers

Boys
Thomas Parker »
Mountain View, 15:53
Grif Ashoof »
Colonial Forge, 16:43
William Hazel »
Fredericksburg Academy,
16:46

Girls
Kaitlyn Davis »
Mountain View, 18:58
Colleen Wade »
Colonial Forge, 19:47
Kellie Hall »
Brooke Point, 19:57