Thomas Jefferson Boys Claim Virginia AAA Cross Country Team Title

By Phil Murphy
DigitalSports.com

In the Virginia AAA boys' cross country championship it was clear from the starting gun that the much anticipated match-up between the top-heavy Midlothian Trojans and the balanced and deep Thomas Jefferson Colonials was as competitive as expected.

The Colonials came in having recently risen to the No. 1 ranking in Virginia after averaging a 15 minute, 34 second team time at last week’s Northern Region championships at Burke Lake Park. They had their top five runners all under 16 minutes at the meet, finishing 37 points ahead of their nearest competition.

Jefferson, the 2002 and 2004 VHSL AAA state champions, ultimately edged Midlothian, the 2000, 2003 and 2006 winners in Saturday's race. The Colonials, despite having an average team time over five seconds slower than the Trojans, won their third state title in the last six years with a team score of 91. Midlothian (101), Mountain View (106) and Oakton (117) rounded out the top four.

“It was obvious what Oakton and Midlothian’s strengths were: The front-runners they have," Jefferson Coach Matt Ryan said. "We knew it was wide open. In other years, [there has been pressure]. This year, it was kind of nice to get things going late in the season and catch people by surprise."

The Colonials will likely head to the Nike Team Nationals, a regional championship meet at Veterans Park in Hoover, Alabama on Nov. 18 to see if they can advance to the fourth annual Nike Team National Championships at Portland Meadows in Portland, Oregon on Dec. 1.

Midlothian, despite finishing as runners-up, was well represented on the individual awards podium, having three runners finish in the top six, including champion senior Jason Witt (15:10.92).

Witt said his strategy was to, "run with the leaders for the first two miles or so and work the hills hard. If they were packing it in, I would try and make a move on the downhill. But I was able to break away on the uphill and I just had to keep pushing it."

He finished 11 1/2 seconds ahead of the field, including the second and third place finishers from Mountain View, junior Thomas Porter (15:22.41) and senior teammate Michael Hammond (15:22.76).

"I was pretty pumped, pretty psyched when I heard the lead was like 40 meters," Witt said. "It was sweet."

Witt, a three-time Central Region individual champion, was second to West Springfield’s Mike Spooner last year at the state meet.

Young talent abounds for the Midlothian boys, as well. Freshman Brayden Burleigh finished with a time of 15:37.18, nearly 30 seconds ahead of the second-best freshman, teammate Darren Barlow.

Amongst Northern Region competition, Thomas Jefferson senior Brian Landry finished highest, with his time of 15:28.70 earning him fourth place.

"I wanted to always be near third place and always be pushing it," Landry said. "Right around the hill in the back stretch, I really wanted to push it and start moving there ... That helped a lot."

Landry, the Northern Region runner-up, edged the Region individual champion Joe LoRusso of Oakton by less than five seconds.