They didn’t win a seventh straight team title, but the Oakton Cougars still enjoyed a strong showing, led by individual race winner Junior Allen, at the boys 6D North Region cross country championships.
The squad finished third in the Nov. 3 event with 78 points on the 2.98-mile Burke Lake Park course, behind winner Chantilly with 54 and Centreville with 70.
Allen sprinted past runner-up Tristan Thurneysen of Chantilly on the final downhill home stretch to win in 14:30. His time was a personal best on the course in addition to second fastest ever by an Oakton boys runner on that trek.
A week earlier, Allen, a senior who was fifth in last year’s region race, won the Concorde District meet on the same course in 14:48 with Tristan Thurneysen second (15:01).
My goal was to win and get one point for my team,” Allen said.
“He [Thurneysen, 14:32] ran a great race and got ahead of me. I didn’t know if I could catch him. Over the last 250 [meters] I closed the gap on the hills, then I used the momentum on that last downhill stretch to pick up the pace.”
Also for the Oakton boys, Landon Newell was third (15:20), Conor Eklund 19th (15:59), Daniel Malakoff 30th (16:21), Shane Roy 34th (16:28), Tristan Welsh 35th (16:28) and Harrison Willens 36th (16:32).
“We are peaking at the right time of the season with one meet left,” Oakton coach Matt Kroetch said. “Junior’s time today was outstanding because Oakton has had a lot of very good runners over the years.”
The fastest time ever recorded by an Oakton runner on the Burke Lake Park course was 14:26 by Jim Hill in 1978.
Oakton now moves on to the season-ending Virginia High School League’s Class 6 state meet.
The Langley boys finished seventh in the region and Marshall eighth. Marshall’s Simon Barnes was 14th (15:51) and Langley’s Wes Knaggs 21st (16:09).
In the girls region meet, defending- champion Langley finished third, McLean fourth, Oakton fifth and Madison sixth.
For Langley, Lila Pesavento was fourth (18:11), Hazel Calway ninth (18:24), Madeleine Spaner 13th (18:33) and Corinne Jaggard 14th (18:34).
Leading McLean was an 11th by Daniela Diaz (18:31), a 16th by Calypso Rolly (18:41) and a 20th by Ingrid Shumway (19:12).
For Oakton, Caroline Sapperstein finished sixth. For Madison, Kiki Van Der Weide was third and Lydia Mikhin seventh.
For the Marshall girls, Amelia Shoemaker was 12th (18:32).
