George Mason High School’s cross country team had a week of mixed results last week. They led the pack in their meet at Clarke County High School last Wednesday.
They didn’t fare as well in the Oatlands Invitational in Leesburg on Saturday, but still had runners among the head of the pack.
Runners from Mason’s girls’ team ran the four fastest times against Central High School and Clarke County as the Mustang girls took first place. Runners from Mason’s boys’ team ran the two fastest times as the Mustang boys took second place in the meet.
Freshman Logan Funk (20:34) led the Mustang girls with a first place finish at the Clarke County meet.
Junior Blaise Sevier (20:41) and freshmen Linnea Skotte (20:47) and Estelle Timar-Wilcox (20:49) placed second, third and fourth in the race, respectively. Three other Mason girls’ runners placed in the top 15.
Senior James Pala (18:53) led the Mustang boys with a first place finish at the Clarke County meet. Junior James Schneider (18:54) placed second in the meet. Three other Mason boys’ runners placed in the top 15.
Mason cross country has three large invitational meets on their schedule this season – Saturday’s meet at Oatlands in Leesburg was the biggest one, with runners from over 90 schools present from the Mid-Atlantic region.
The course directors deemed conditions “perfect,” but many runners found the heat and dust challenging as the day wore on and temps climbed into the 80s.
Mason’s best finishes of the day were in the girls’ races. Senior Kate Atkeson (22:47) placed 7th in the girls upperclassmen race. Senior Kaitlin Kutchma (21:51) finished 12th in the Varsity B race and junior Blaise Sevier (20:20) placed 31st out of 379 in the Varsity A race.
The girls’ team secured a 9th place finish out of 56 teams in the Varsity A race and placed 14th out of 31 teams in the Varsity B race. At the invitational, team scores are made up of the best 5 finishes from one school’s team.
The girls’ 9th place finish in the Varsity A race was their best finish since 2011 when they placed fifth at the Oatlands Invitational.
Sevier, Funk (49th –20:42), Timar-Wilcox (69th – 21:06), Skotte (88th – 21:20) and sophomore Brooke Meinhart (185th – 22:30) were the top five for Mason in the Varsity A race.
The Mason boys were led by Julian Grippo’s 127th place finish (20:07) in the Varsity B race, where the team came in 24th place.
In the boys’ junior varsity upperclassmen race, Mason was led by Frank Williamson (21:55), who placed 262nd out of 457. Pala (18:38), who came in the 232nd place in the Varsity A race, ran his and the boys’ team’s best time of the season.
Mason cross country ran in a meet against Rappahannock County High School and William Monroe High School at Rappahannock County last night, but results of the meet were not available at press time.
They’ll compete against Madison County High School and Warren County High School next Wednesday at Warren County.
