Waynesboro Girls, Wilson Boys Claim XC Titles

FISHERSVILLE – Waynesboro broke a decades-long title drought to win the girls championship and Wilson claimed the boys title Wednesday at the Shenandoah District cross country championship meet hosted by Wilson Memorial.

Alleghany High School participated in the meet for the purpose of regional qualifying, but the team did not count in the team scoring or standings.

In the girls’ race, Alleghany junior Kiera Lowman was the race winner and set a new Wilson course record with a time of 19:03.5, eclipsing the previous mark of 19:10.

In the race for the district championship, all five Waynesboro counters finished among the Top 17 to earn the Little Giants the title with 32 points, the first title for a Waynesboro girls cross country team in more than three decades.

“The girls were really nervous,” said Waynesboro head coach Julie Stevens. “The last time a Waynesboro girls team won a cross-country title was 1990 and the girls knew that. The temperature today also made them nervous. At the 1-mile mark I could still see the nerves, but they were unable to come through in the end.”

As expected, freshman Macy Rowe led the Little Giants as she finished second behind Lowman with a time of 19:52.0. Rowe finished just more than one minute ahead of the next finisher.

Waynesboro’s Lacey Keagy, another freshman, placed sixth overall with a time of 22:08.1. Lydia Kimmell (22:43.6), the lone senior among the Giants top five, was next to cross the finish line for Waynesboro, placing ninth overall, one slot ahead of sophomore teammate Alexis Austin (22:54.3). Another sophomore, Amelia Kimmell was 17th overall with a time of 24:19.1.

Wilson finished with 43 points in second place, just ahead of Fort Defiance with 49 points.

Wilson freshman Annabella Saunders ran 20:53.1 to place third overall. Alison Troxell placed fifth with a time of 21:37.7 and Sydney Troxell finished 12th in 23:18.9. Thea Franklin placed 16th overall with a time of 24:02 and Averee Stevens was 23rd with a time of 25:30.1

Another freshman, Henley Ann Coffman, paced the Fort Defiance effort with a time of 22:11.8 to place seventh overall, finishing just ahead of teammate Camila Cruz in eighth with a time of 22:17. Madison Conner (23:07.2) placed 11th and Molly O’Brien (24:37.7) took 18th. Karina Clark (25:09.7) placed 21st to round out the Indians’ scoring.

Riverheads placed fourth in the meet and placed two runners in the Top 20. Verity Jordan (24:51.2) placed 19th, one spot ahead of teammate Kierstin Doyne (14:57.2).

Staunton placed fifth in the team standings. The Storm was paced by Brook Loar (25:59.5) in 26th place. She was one spot ahead of teammate Finn Tuttle (26:27.9).

Buffalo Gap and Stuarts Draft did not field full squads but had several runners compete as individuals. Gap’s Reagan Gwaltney placed 33rd and Draft’s Emma McCarthy placed 36th.

In the boys’ race, Waynesboro’s Grayson Norris pulled away from Fort’s Parker Blosser to win the individual title with a time of 17:00.4.

“The plan going in was to stay with Parker as long as I could,” said Norris. “The plan changed. I was feeling pretty good and started to pull away. I had to trust my gut. I started hurting some, but I kept looking back and I still had a good lead, so I just pushed to stay out front.”

While Norris was running away with the individual title. Wilson dominated the team standings as all five of its counters finished among the Top 12 to finish with a team score of 35 points.

Liam McMahon (17:54) placed third overall and freshman teammate Julian Galiano (18:28.3) came home fifth. Gavin Fortune (18:47.5) was seventh, just ahead of Landon McNorton (18:49.8) in eighth place. Brenden Thomas rounded out the Hornets’ scoring with a time of 19:07.5 to finish 12th.

The Little Giants placed second in the boys’ race with 54 points. Supporting Norris’ first-place run was Dylan Colander with a strong fourth-place run in a time of 18:05.2. Ross Williamson (19:18.9) was next across the line in 14th, followed by Owen Morningstar (19:36.3) in 17th and Ryan Briggs (19:39.7) in 18th place.

Fort’s Cooper Patterson led a pack of three Indians who finished 21, 22 and 23 in support of Blosser's runner-up finish. Patterson ran 20:03.9, followed by Stevie Wright (20:07.3) and Peyton McCray (20:07.8).

Riverheads and Stuarts Draft each had one runner crack the Top 10. Riverheads senior Guillermo Basurto-Cacho placed sixth with a time of 18:44.6 and Draft freshman Easton Nice finished 10th in 18:54.1.

Staunton and Buffalo Gap did not field full teams, but several individuals ran.

Staunton’s first finisher was Benjamin McHenry (21:06.3) in 33rd while Gap’s Noah Lilly (21:08.6) placed 36th.

The top seven finishers in each race earned first-team all-district honors while runners 8 through 14 were named to the second team. The all-district teams are listed below. 

Fort Defiance will host the Region 2B meet next Wednesday at the course located behind the government center in Verona. The Region 3C meet will be held next week at Jackson River Sports Complex in Covington. 

All-Shenandoah District Girls First Team
Macy Rowe, Waynesboro
Annabella Saunders, Wilson
Alison Troxell, Wilson
Lacey Keagy, Waynesboro
Henley Ann Coffman, Fort Defiance
Camila Cruz, Fort Defiance
Lydia Kimmell, Waynesboro

All-Shenandoah District Girls Second Team
Alexis Austin, Waynesboro
Madison Conner, Fort Defiance
Sydney Troxell, Wilson
Thea Franklin, Wilson
Amelia Kimmell, Waynesboro
Molly O’Brien, Fort Defiance
Verity Jordan, Riverheads

All-Shenandoah District Boys First Team
Grayson Norris, Waynesboro
Parker Blosser, Fort Defiance
Liam McMahon, Wilson
Dylan Colander, Waynesboro
Julian Galiano, Wilson
Guillermo Busarto-Cacho, Riverheads
Gavin Fortune, Wilson

All-Shenandoah District Boys Second Team
Landon McNorton, Wilson
Easton Nice, Stuarts Draft
Brenden Thomas, Wilson
Ross Williamson, Waynesboro
Oliver Lolandes, Stuarts Draft
Owen Morningstar, Waynesboro
Ryan Briggs, Waynesboro