The inaugural 2A Conference 33 cross-country meet went about as well as Bruton coach Mark Tompkins could have hoped.
The Panthers’ boys and girls teams both finished runner-up to Maggie Walker, a Richmond-area Governor’s School and former AAA state powerhouse widely regarded as one of the top programs in the state that entered the meet as heavy favorites.
The girls raced first and Bruton was led by Carley Shannon, who ran her fastest time of the year — 19 minutes, 48 seconds — to finish in third place. Zoe Ferebee also contributed a top-10 finish for the Panthers, who edged third-place King William 59-68. Ferebee finished 10th in 23 minutes, 27 seconds while her sister, Alexis, crossed the finish line 15th in 25 minutes, 30 seconds.
Shannon, last year’s Bay Rivers District and Region I champion, has dealt with shin splints and other injuries that have slowed her times a bit this season, but said she was pleased her performance.
As she approached the final 400 yards of Eastern State’s 3.1-mile course, Shannon’s field hockey coach, Joe Dougherty, offered some helpful advice.
“He told me that I was all alone,” Shannon said. “I thought someone was right behind me, so that really helped me concentrate on the finish line.”
Maggie Walker Governor’s School stole the show in the boys’ race by taking each of the top seven individual spots to sweep all-conference honors, but Bruton landed three in the top 15 to edge King William, 70-81, for second place.
The Panthers were led by Cameron Wojcieszak in ninth place (18:49), Andrew Cadwell in 11th (19:35) and Zachary Brown in 13th (20:19).
“The boys team had some gutsy races,” Panthers coach Mark Tompkins said. “Freshman Ian Salder stepped up and placed 4th for my boys; He has typically been the number 6 or 7 runner throughout the year. Cameron Wojcieszak, Andrew Caldwell and Zach Brown have all put in a great efforts throughout the season and they ran great yesterday. We knew our race was primarily against King William and our boys ran a well-focused race with that task in mind.”
Bruton’s boys and girls both qualified for next Wednesday’s Region 4A meet in Earlysville.
Click here for complete results of Thursday’s meet, courtesy of milestat.com
