varsity.roanoke.com

WARRENTON, Va. -- As members of Hidden Valley's girls cross country team finished their race Saturday at the state cross country championships, they couldn't contain their emotions.

"As they were coming out of the finishing chute, they were bawling," coach Dan King said. "They thought they had lost."

But, just like last year, when Hidden Valley thought they had won only to find out they had lost to Blacksburg on a tiebreaker, the Titans were about to experience a flip flop of emotions.

This year, the Titans won.

"I didn't think we had it," said junior Annie LeHardy, whose third place individual finish was the best for Hidden Valley. "I was shocked."

Hidden Valley scored 40 points to Blacksburg's 54 in the day's tightest team battle, ending the Bruins' streak of state titles at three.

The epic battle between Hidden Valley and Blacksburg was among the highlights on a damp and dreary day during which a number of Timesland teams and individuals had stellar performances on a course that grew muckier as the day progressed.

Blacksburg's boys fulfilled expectations by easily winning the Group AA team title, while the most dominant individual showing came from Blacksburg's speedy twin tandem of Kathleen and Joanna Stevens, who ran to a convincing one-two finish in their race.

Kathleen Stevens' time of 17:34 was a meet record for girls, topping the 17:38 mark established last year by Glenvar star Megan Marsico.

"I felt great," said Kathleen Stevens, whose time was that much more impressive given that times were generally considered to be about 15 seconds slow because of the condition of the course. "I felt like we were at practice."

Unlike most of their races this year, the twins had company early on.

The two rarely talk during races, but Kathleen did have some calming words for her sister when they went through the first mile with Loudoun County's Julie Strange still close.

"I told her we just needed to chill," she said.

As Strange faded, the twins continued to build their lead, staying together until the last 100 meters.

"I felt good," said Joanna Stevens, who finished 5 seconds back. "But I knew if it came down to a kick she had it."

Behind them the team title was being determined.

LeHardy and Haley Cutright were third and fourth for Hidden Valley, with Blacksburg's Leah Fitchett sixth behind Strange.

Claire Sibley (8th) and Carolyn Bethel (14th) were next for the Titans and also earned all-state honors by finishing in the top 15. Lindsey Skolrood was 23rd.

Hannah Brown (26th) and Kate Buss (35th) finished the scoring for Blacksburg.

King, who brought back his top five runners from last year's team, said he has stressed to his runners that they couldn't worry about Blacksburg.

"You can't control what anyone else does," he said. "You control what you do."

Blacksburg coach James DeMarco said that he knew it was going to be tough taking down a Titans team that returned three all-state runners, while Blacksburg's only returning all-stater was Joanna Stevens.

"We narrowed it down, but just not enough," he said.

Also earning all-state honors in the Group AA girls race was Michelle Church of Bassett, who was ninth.

There was little team drama in the Group AA boys race, in which Blacksburg had three individuals earn all-state honors.

George Carter was fifth, Caman Skelton was 11th and Frank Locascio was 15th. Anthony Noegel and Matt Howard were 21st and 22nd to finish off the scoring for Blacksburg.

"I sat down in the chute to take my spikes off and I saw Frank and Matt within about 30 seconds," Carter said. "I said, 'We did it.' "

Cave Spring's Cody Seymour was sixth, while Robert Deis of Jefferson Forest was eighth. Andy Eddleton of Christiansburg also earned all-state honors by finishing 14th.

In the Group A boys race, Radford senior Jared Miller was the runner-up to Adam Owens of team champion Clarke County, which had five runners in the top 15.

"My goal was just to hold on to that killer pace as long as I could," said Miller, a senior who ran his first mile in under 5 minutes. "Usually when I go out like that I really feel it, but I felt really good today."

In the same race, Floyd County used a solid team effort to finish second in the team standings, topping Radford by just three points.

With his 13th-place finish, senior Austin Grubb was the only Floyd County runner to earn all-state honors. But solid performances from all five Buffaloes scorers helped them finish as runner-up to powerhouse Clarke County, which had five runners earn all-state honors.

"Our third, fourth and fifth runners really stepped up today," said Grubb, whose younger brother, Andrew, was 19th. "When they said Radford was third, I was thinking we were either sixth or second.

"Luckily, it was second."

Also earning all-state honors in Group A were Radford's Vijay Guruswamy, who was ninth, and Matt Persinger of Bath County, who was 11th.

Radford's girls were also third, led by all-stater Amber Thompson, who was ninth.

Grayson County's Carley Smith was 10th to earn an all-state medal.

Three individual runners qualified for the Group AAA races. The top finisher was Franklin County freshman Melissa Teeple, who was 32nd.

GROUP A

Girls team results

1. George Mason 62, 2. Strasburg 94, 3. Radford 97, 4. Clarke County 136, 5. Patrick Henry Glade Spring 144, 6. Page County 149, 7. Middlesex 162, 8. Lancaster 165, 9. John S. Battle 243, 10. Grayson County 284, 11. Mathews 310, 12. Washington and Lee 325, 13. Gate City 338, 14. Craig County 358, 15. Pound 389, 16. Castlewood 409.

Girls individual results

1. Katlyn Ayers (Strasburg) 19:03, 2. Claire Moretz (Madison County) 19:48, 3. Eva Estrada (George Mason) 20:09, 4. Maria Arnold (John S. Battle) 20:22, 5. Madelyn McKelway (Clarke County) 20:29, 6. Krista McCray (Patrick Henry Glade Springs) 20:34, 7. Ally Kuehm (Clarke County) 20:42, 8. Kaitlyn Smith (Radford) 20:49, 9. Amber Thompson (Radford) 20:50, 10. Carley Smith (Grayson County) 20:50. 11. Mollie Breen (George Mason) 20:52. 12. Tabby Arwood (Lebanon) 20:53, 13. Ashley Sealander (Madison County) 20:53. 14. Sarah Murphy (Altavista) 20:54, 15. Sarah Murphy (Lancaster) 20:56.

Boys team results

1. Clarke County 36, 2. Floyd County 108, 3. Radford 111, 4. Altavista 127, 5. Central (Woodstock) 129, 6. Mathews 175, 7. George Mason 187, 8. Northumberland 222, 9. Lebanon 254, 10. Galax 256, 11. John S. Battle 256, 12. Auburn 262, 13. Virginia 361, 14. Lancaster 392, 15. Washington and Lee 396, 16. Castlewood 467.

Boys individual results

1. Adam Owens (Clarke County) 16:32, 2. Jared Miller (Radford) 16:55, 3. Daniel Blanks (Altavista) 17:08, 4. Brian Brillhart (Virginia) 17:11, 5. Harley Biddle-Snead (Clarke County) 17:16, 6. Travis Cokerham (George Mason) 17:17, 7. Paul Meyer (Clarke County) 17:17, 8. Skyler Carbary (Patrick Henry Glade Spring) 17:24, 9. Vijay Guruswamy (Radford) 17:25, 10. Misha Turner (Northumberland), 11. Matt Persinger (Bath County) 17:30, 12. Colin Brown (Clarke County) 17:30, 13. Austin Grubb (Floyd County) 17:31, 14. Brandon Poff (Central Woodstock) 17:31, 15. Llia Donner (Clark County) 17:33.

GROUP AA

Girls team results

1. Hidden Valley 40, 2. Blacksburg 54, 3. Western Albemarle 95, 4. Potomac Falls 114, 5. Brentsville District 126, 6. Loudoun County 147, 7. Jefferson Forest 251, 8. Cave Spring 290, 9. Jamestown 298, 10. Brookville 309, 11. Christiansburg 321, 12. Tabb 325, 13. Spotsylvania 329, 14. Harrisonburg 341, 15. King George 375, 16. Wilson Memorial 404.

Girls individual results

1. Kathleen Stevens (Blacksburg) 17:34, 2. Joanna Stevens (Blacksburg) 17:39, 3. Annie LeHardy (Hidden Valley) 18:48, 4. Haley Cutright (Hidden Valley) 18:55, 5. Julie Strange (Loudoun County) 18:57, 6. Leah Fitchett (Blacksburg) 19:00, 7. Tammy Cheung (Millbrook) 19:01, 8. Claire Sibley (Hidden Valley) 19:02, 9. Michelle Church (Bassett) 19:11, 10. Crystal Nelson (Millbrook) 19:14, 11. Natalie Wright (Potomac Falls) 19:22, 12. Kayla Gibbons (Warren County) 19:27, 13. Claire Johnson (Western Albemarle) 19:28, 14. Carolyn Bethel (Hidden Valley) 19:29, 15. Becky Dobosy (Lafayette) 19:40.

Boys team results

1. Blacksburg 51, 2. Spotswood 131, 3. Potomac Falls 134, 4. Grafton 137, 5. Jamestown 163, 6. Skyline 179, 7. Jefferson Forest 185, 8. Lafayette 206, 9. E.C. Glass 257, 10. Brentsville District 265, 11. Spotsylvania 280, 12. Cave Spring 283, 13. Abingdon 306, 14. William Byrd 310, 15. Monticello 327, 16. Christiansburg 354.

Boys individual results

1. Kyle King (Grafton) 16:01, 2. Tommy Curtain (Loudoun County) 16:04, 3. Tom Delaney (John Handley), 4. Samuel Pankey (Spotswood) 16:23, 5. George Carter (Blacksburg) 16:29, 6. Cody Seymour (Cave Spring) 16:31, 7. Seamus O'Reilly (Warren County) 16:32, 8. Robert Deis (Jefferson Forest) 16:36, 9. Colin Mearns (Jamestown) 1638, 10. Jay Jarrels (Spotswood) 16:40, 11. Caman Skelton (Blacksburg) 16:40, 12. Thomas Madden (Skyline) 16:40, 13. Charlie Bayne (Eastern View) 16:41, 14. Andy Eddleton (Christiansburg) 16:41, 15. Frank Locascio (Blacksburg) 16:43.

GROUP AAA

Girls team results

1. Lake Braddock Secondary 82, 2. Midlothian 101, 3. West Springfield 117, 4. West Potomac 147, 5. Maggie L. Walker Governor's School 147, 6. Osbourne Park 165, 7. Lee-Davis 191, 8. Thomas Jefferson 223, 9. Deep Run 243, 10. Mountain View 263, 11. Ocean Lakes 265, 12. Loudoun Valley 278, 13. Colonial Forge 286, 14. Princess Anne 338, 15. Hickory 339, 16. Grassfield 412.

Girls individual results

1. Kaitlyn Davis (Mountain View) 18:21, 2. Katherine Walker (Brooke Point) 18:24, 3. Sophie Chase (Lake Braddock Secondary) 18:28, 4. Kathleen Lautzenheiser (Midlothian) 18:29, 5. Hannah Lowery (Stafford) 18:39, 6. Madelyn Nuckols (Deep Run) 18:42, 7. Erica Dobbs (Deep Run) 18:44, 8. Ariel Karabinus (Osbourne Park) 18:45, 9. Bonny Turnage (Lee-Davis), 18:48. 10. Clarissa Schick (Maggie L. Walker Governor's School) 18:49, 11. Marie Johnston (Midlothian) 18:49, 12. Megan Moye (Cosby) 18:51, 13. Myah Hicks (Edison) 18:53, 14. Lindsi Arrington (Gar-Field) 18:55, 15. Alex Watt (West Springfield) 18:57.

Boys team results

1. Mountain View 93, 2. Oakton 142, 3. Midlothian 155, 4. Lake Braddock Secondary 167, 5. Mills E. Godwin 186, 6. Grassfield 187, 7. Maggie L. Walker Governor's 203, 8. Western Branch 220, 9. West Potomac 224, 10. Stafford 232, 11. Ocean Lakes 233, 12. Douglas S. Freeman 243, 13. Colonial Forge 247, 14. Albemarle 258, 15. Centreville 262, 16. Hickory 374.

Boys individual results

1. Ted Richardson (James River) 15:34, 2. Blake Theroux (Western Branch) 15:38, 3 Kevin Dowd, (Fairfax) 15:47, 4. Christopher Foley (Chantilly) 15:50, 5. Andrew Paisley (Ocean Lakes) 15:51, 6. Grant Pollock (Mills E. Godwin) 15:56, 7. Brayden Burleigh (Midlothian) 16:01, 8. Yazid Zouaimia (Centreville) 16:02, 9. Brad Shultis (Mountain View) 16:07, 10. Andrew McCullen (Oakton) 16:09, 11. Jack Jasper (Herndon) 16:13, 12. Cody Snyder (Lee-Davis) 16:14, 13. Natnael Meseret (Robert E. Lee Springfield) 16:15, 14. Brian Davenport (Maury) 16:16, 15. Evan Niciphor (Cosby) 16:16.