2019 WCAC Championship

I'll start this evening by saying congratulations and thank you to everyone for a terrific season!

This was a special year for a number of reasons. This was essentially my senior year since I returned to DeMatha. I don't graduate and will be back next year, but I feel more connected to this year's senior class than any previous.

Technically last year's senior class of Manuel, Ashby, Westley, Keme, and Drew was the first I had that didn't know another cross country coach, but this year's was the first one that couldn't have. This was a class of seniors who have known since their freshman year, for those of them who ran cross country then, what I hoped for this program to look like and for the first time I can say with confidence that we're very nearly there.

Thank you to our captains, Hayward, Thomas, and Lucas for their work all season. With a team as big as this one is, and a schedule as busy as mine has been, the pressure they were able to take off me was greatly appreciated. Caleb, Mathias, Bodior, and Dominic - thank you for the dedication and hard work you demonstrated over the two to three years each of you spent running on the team. You were great role models for a very young team (22 of our 35 athletes are still in blue coats this year).

Without further ado, here are the results for our championship meet. In blue, I have noted all athletes who set a new PR (personal record) in the cross country 5k (3.1 mile). In red, I have noted all athletes who set a new SB (season best), but not PR, in the cross country 5k. And in silver, I have noted all athletes who set a new PCB (personal course best) for Bull Run Regional Park.

Freshman

Here are the results for our freshmen athletes (75 total entries in the race). The number in front of each name signifies their overall place in the freshman race. In brackets are their first mile, second mile, and last 1.1 mile splits:

2 Christopher Toomer - 19:04 [(1) 6:09, (2) 6:25, (3.1) 6:30] Ties PR and Ties PCB

5 Ian Parsons - 19:17 [(1) 5:49, (2) 6:25, (3.1) 7:03] PR by 18 seconds - PCB by 36 seconds

6 Michael Metz - 19:19 [(1) 5:59, (2) 6:22, (3.1) 6:58] PR by 11 seconds - PCB by 11 seconds

20 Sam Cockrell - 20:22 [(1) 6:09, (2) 6:46, (3.1) 7:27] PR by 8 seconds - PCB by 20 seconds

35 Jaden Davis - 21:34 [(1) 6:36, (2) 7:08, (3.1) 7:50] PR by 14 seconds - PCB by 21 seconds

37 Michael Duarte - 21:40 [(1) 6:17, (2) 7:17, (3.1) 8:06] PR by 44 seconds - PCB by 56 seconds

54 Georges Tadonki - 23:21 [(1) 6:55, (2) 7:51, (3.1) 8:35] PR by 7 seconds - PCB by 7 seconds

56 Yaphet Negussie - 23:28 [(1) 7:03, (2) 7:26, (3.1) 8:59] PR by 1 minute 13 seconds - PCB by 1 minute 17 seconds

63 Maximo Legaspi - 24:36 [(1) 7:08, (2) 8:25, (3.1) 9:03] PR by 3 seconds - PCB by 1 minute 57 seconds

67 Jonah Lyke - 25:14 [(1) 7:19, (2) 8:24, (3.1) 9:31]

68 Andrew Foreman - 25:30 [(1) 7:18, (2) 8:54, (3.1) 9:18] PR by 2 minutes 14 seconds - PCB by 2 minutes 14 seconds

Great job by all of our freshmen!

Jonah tore a muscle in his ribs back in the summer and it likely never fully healed. He was out of practice for a few weeks and still doesn't seem to be fully recovered, so today was all about giving him a chance to see the course since he didn't race at Glory Days. Hopefully the next couple months will allow him to fully recover in time for tennis season in the spring.

Other than Jonah, we had 100% PRs from our freshmen today (including our lone freshman representative in the Varsity A race, which we'll get to in a bit. Jaquada didn't race today because he has plantar fasciitis. It's really a shame it had to pop up this week because I would have loved to see him race today, too.

Chris didn't set a new PR but he did equal his time from Glory Days and came from relatively far back in the race to get second place. For reference, our first finisher in the freshman race last year (keeping in mind Dawson and Langston ran varsity) was Ronald in 39th place. We had six finishers in the top 37 this year and three well inside the top 10.

Congrats to Michael Duarte for breaking into the 21s for the first time, to Yaphet for breaking 24, and to Andrew Forman for not only breaking 27 for the first time but 26, as well!

Team Results

1. Gonzaga 51 points

2. St. John's 59 points

3. DeMatha 64 points

4. The Heights 80 points

5. Our Lady of Good Counsel 159 points

6. Paul VI 166 points

7. Bishop O'Connell 168 points

8. Bishop Ireton 174 points

Inc. St. Mary's Ryken (4 finishers)

Inc. Bishop McNamara (3 finishers)

I knew we didn't beat Gonzaga or St. John's. I didn't expect us to be so close to St. John's and within 15 points of Gonzaga. This is an absolutely incredible result for us! The last time we performed this well in a freshman race at the WCAC Championship was in 2012 when we placed third with 61 points. To be fair, we didn't have a freshman running varsity in 2012.

If Jayden had run in the freshman race today, he would have won, we would have had four athletes in the top 7, and we would have scored 38 points!

Certainly I take a little bit of credit on the coaching side, but this result really comes from what I've witnessed from our freshmen runners every day in practice. They push each other in a way that I don't even think I've seen our veteran runners push themselves - until this year that is. Some of it obviously comes from their competitive nature and being in a large group of peers who they were able to compete with on a daily basis and some of it came from the upperclass leaders on the team. This is definitely something I look forward to seeing continue in the future.

Varsity B

Here are the results for our Varsity B athletes (104 total entries in the race). The number in front of each name signifies their overall place in the Varsity B race. In brackets are their first mile, second mile, and last 1.1 mile splits:

9 Jaiden Mosley (Jr.) - 19:07 [(1) 5:46, (2) 6:18, (3.1) 7:03] PR by 3 seconds - PCB by 46 seconds

14 Ronald Rucker (So.) - 19:38 [(1) 6:08, (2) 6:40, (3.1) 6:50] PR by 1 minute 58 seconds - PCB by 4 minutes 17 seconds

24 Desmond Holt (So.) - 20:09 [(1) 6:03, (2) 6:41, (3.1) 7:25] PR by 26 seconds - PCB by 26 seconds

30 Tariq Lewis (So.) - 20:31 [(1) 6:00, (2) 6:47, (3.1) 7:44] PCB by 13 seconds

50 Dominic Williams-Dzirasa (Sr.) - 21:42 [(1) 6:13, (2) 7:32, (3.1) 7:57] PCB by 16 seconds

60 Caleb Ghatt (Sr.) - 22:35 [(1) 6:32, (2) 7:40, (3.1) 8:23]

64 Cameron Polk (Jr.) - 22:41 [(1) 7:00, (2) 7:39, (3.1) 8:02]

72 Jacob Robertson (So.) - 23:13 [(1) 7:06, (2) 7:44, (3.1) 8:23]

73 Lucas Arzayus (Sr.) - 23:16 [(1) 7:05, (2) 7:45, (3.1) 8:26]

78 Mathias Roy (Sr.) - 24:03 [(1) 7:11, (2) 8:03, (3.1) 8:49] SB by 35 seconds

81 Gavin Foran (Jr.) - 24:13 [(1) 6:37, (2) 9:06, (3.1) 8:30]

82 Jon Kasner (So.) - 24:14 [(1) 7:09, (2) 8:14, (3.1) 8:51]

84 Jackson McCormick (So.) - 24:31 [(1) 7:21, (2) 8:23, (3.1) 8:47] PR by 1 minute 13 seconds - PCB by 1 minute 13 seconds

96 Bodior Elliott (Sr.) - 26:29 [(1) 7:58, (2) 8:40, (3.1) 9:51]

102 Ian Brown (So.) - 28:37 [(1) 8:02, (2) 9:42, (3.1) 10:53]

We didn't have quite the same PR success as our freshmen did, but several of these guys were very close to PRs and course bests. Our five scoring runners all set new course bests.

Congratulations to Jaiden for finishing in the top 12 and earning a Varsity B medal! You gave me a very difficult decision to make this week and I hope that's at least a small consolation for not putting you on the varsity team.

Ronald nearly joined Jaiden in that top 12 lineup. What a race! He'd been congested earlier in the week and felt something reminiscent of the shin splints he dealt with last year during the course walk, but he said he felt great during the race and boy did it show. He went from the mid-21s to the mid-19s and demolished his time from last year's WCAC Championship (he didn't race at Glory Days this year because he was late getting out to Bull Run that day).

Jackson also ran yet another big PR and broke into the mid-24s. His improvement throughout the season has been inspiring and I can't help but wonder whether he's fully figured out how to run the 5k or if he might take of another chunk or two next season.

I also want to shout out Mathias, who, until last week, hadn't been able to run since early September due to a hip injury. This was all about finishing out his senior season. He was not in 5k shape but he pushed through it and did a fantastic job!

Team Results

1. Gonzaga 32 points

2. St. John's 55 points

3. Bishop O'Connell 62 points

4. DeMatha 106 points

5. Bishop Ireton 129 points

6. Our Lady of Good Counsel 165 points

7. Paul VI 172 points

Inc. The Heights (4 finishers)

Inc. Bishop McNamara (1 finisher)

That point total likely would have been under 100 if Steven hadn't suffered a knee injury and deep bone bruise on Wednesday's workout. Looking back at past results, in 2013 and 2012 we finished 4th with 111 points and 103 points respectively in the Varsity B race at WCACs. Way to go guys!

Varsity A

Here are the results for our Varsity A athletes (69 total entries in the race). The number in front of each name signifies their overall place in the Varsity A race. In brackets are their first mile, second mile, and last 1.1 mile splits:

17 Jayden Keels (Fr.) - 17:57 [(1) 5:27, (2) 5:55, (3.1) 6:35] PR by 9 seconds - PCB by 1 minute

23 Dawson Grogan (So.) - 18:16 [(1) 5:32, (2) 6:06, (3.1) 6:38] PCB by 9 seconds

24 Langston Stovall (So.) - 18:18 [(1) 5:36, (2) 6:04, (3.1) 6:38] PR by 17 seconds - PCB by 17 seconds

25 James Hudson (Jr.) - 18:18 [(1) 5:27, (2) 6:06, (3.1) 6:45]

40 Hayward Smith-Cassidy (Sr.) - 19:02 [(1) 5:41, (2) 6:18, (3.1) 7:03]

41 Julius Gamble (Jr.) - 19:03 [(1) 5:45, (2) 6:26, (3.1) 6:52] PR by 17 seconds - PCB by 3 minutes 12 seconds

57 Thomas Parsons (Sr.) - 19:48 [(1) 5:47, (2) 6:31, (3.1) 7:30]

For established runners, it gets more difficult to set new PRs at this point in the season as we've seen in the past, especially since they get to run on this same course just a couple weeks before championships and usually in better conditions. So this was a great race for both Langston and Julius to set new personal best.

Julius's previous course best was last year's championship time. While on one hand it may seem a bit "cheap" since he didn't run this course at Glory Days this year like most of the other guys, it's cool to see just how much he's improved in the past year. He was the other part of that tough decision I had to make this week. I told him to prove me right (and I told Jaiden to prove me wrong). Julius won out, but by a very slim margin. I know both of them are going to be going for it next year in a competitive varsity group.

James and Hayward were both less than 20 seconds off their PRs (which were both set on this course two weeks ago). James ran through a calf cramp. Hayward ran similar mile and 2-mile splits to Glory Days (he was five seconds faster through the mile today), but just couldn't hold it in the final mile.

Thomas had a bad fever in the triple digits on Friday and wasn't over it so that affected his race pretty badly.

I promise I haven't forgotten Jayden, but I want to highlight him in my final thoughts.

Team Results

1. Gonzaga 31 points

2. St. John's 41 points

3. Bishop O'Connell 65 points

4. DeMatha 129 points

5. The Heights 146 points

6. Our Lady of Good Counsel 164 points

7. Bishop Ireton 172 points

8. Paul VI 231 points

9. St. Mary's Ryken 239 points

Inc. Archbishop Carroll (3 finishers)

Inc. Bishop McNamara (4 finishers)

My goal for the team all year was a top 3 finish. We didn't get there. But that was going to be a tall order with the way Gonzaga, St. John's, and Bishop O'Connell ran today. It's never a bad thing to have lofty goals like that, but it's important to take a realistic approach to reflecting on the season after falling short of that goal.

Our varsity team ran well today. They should all be very proud of their effort; I certainly am. While we fell short of my goal in comparison to the rest of the league, I am of the opinion that we ran every bit as well as I thought we'd need to to compete for a top three spot. O'Connell was just better than us this year. I have no ounce of disappointment for the season the way I did coming out of WCACs last year. I was burned out mentally after that meet last year, not to mention how I was feeling physically following that meet. You guys, as well as our freshmen and JV runners, have rejuvenated my desire to coach this season, certainly with your performances but even more so with your work ethic. I sincerely cannot wait for next cross country season.

Final Thoughts

As promised, I can't wrap this up without talking about how impressive Jayden's performance was today.

Dating back to 2000 (I only have incomplete DeMatha XC records from before them), Jayden's time of 17:57 today:

• is the 89th fastest 5k time for DeMatha

• it the 7th fastest freshman 5k time for DeMatha

• makes Jayden the 4th fastest DeMatha freshman

• ranks Jayden #21 among all DeMatha cross country runners, regardless of classification

Jayden's time is the fastest DeMatha freshman time at the WCAC Championship dating back at least to 2000. I told him today he had equaled my freshman time from Lake Fairfax. He actually beat my time by a second!

Additionally, Jayden was, in fact, the fastest freshman in the WCAC today. None of the 16 athletes who beat him in the Varsity A race are in the class of 2023 (there are a few sophomores in that group though, so we definitely have our work cut out for us as a team to climb further in the standings in the next couple years) and he finished faster than any athlete in the freshman or Varsity B races.

After a bad race at Glory Days due to an early mishap with a bad step, Jayden came back last week for the parkrun with a fire in him that, with no disrespect to any of the very competitive athletes we have and have had on this team, I haven't seen in anybody I've coached in my four years here (Dawson deserves to mentioned in that same breath for the way he ran that parkrun, too). To come back and top that again today... I lack the vocabulary to express how impressed and proud I am of his effort.

I will reach out via email this week regarding a few things to wrap up the season. Congratulations again to everybody on a terrific season. Thank you athletes for your effort and thank you parents for your support. It's been a privilege to be your coach this season and I can't wait to do it again starting Summer 2020.