Clarke Seeks a Repeat
Eagles Favorites in State Cross Country
By Robert Stocks
The Winchester Star
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BERRYVILLE — Countless training miles, hundreds of laps through Clarke County Park and over two months of competition have prepared Clarke County High School’s cross country teams for Saturday’s Group A State Cross Country Championship.
The boys’ and girls’ teams, ranked No. 1 by MileStat.com throughout the year, head to Great Meadow Saturday hoping for an encore performance.
And what the 2004 teams accomplished won’t be an easy act to follow.
Clarke County became the fifth Group A school to sweep both the boys and girls’ team titles last year. The Eagles also etched their names into the history book by becoming the first Group A team to ever sweep all four state titles, winning both the girls’ and boys’ team and individual crowns last year. Clarke County joined Group AA Virginia High School (1980) as the only two teams to sweep all four titles in Virginia High School League history.
Duplicating that type of success would be a daunting task for most programs, but the Eagles actually have a shot.
Eagles coach Nancy Specht and assistant coach Dustin Sweeney lead a pair of talented teams that have just three seniors among the top eight on either side.
Clarke returned its entire defending state champion girls’ team and all but three runners from last year’s boys’ state-title team.
In the postseason meets so far, the Eagles have blitzed the field, claiming both boys’ and girls’ titles at the Bull Run District and Region B Meets.
Specht said opposing teams will have their sights set on the Eagles, but she’s been thrilled with both teams’ work ethic during the postseason.
“To wear the target you’ve got to do the duty and it’s hard to imagine they’ve worked harder, but they really have worked harder since districts,” Specht said. “They don’t want to slide by and get by with luck — they want to get by with skill and they’ve really, really pushed themselves.”
Clarke County swept both boys’ and girls’ Region B titles with a pair of dominating performances. The boys defeated runner-up Nelson County by 98 points (17-115) and Clarke County’s girls posted a 40-point victory over runner-up George Mason.
Clarke’s boys, led by junior defending state champion and two-time Bull Run and Region B champion Simon Biddle-Snead, enter the race as the top-seed. Clarke County’s entire top seven earned All-Region B honors — freshman Ben Veilleux, senior Mike Leonard, junior Daniel Callan, junior Bryan Broy, freshman Chris York, and sophomore Joe Racer.
“I think our expectations for ourselves are higher than the pressure of getting beat,” Broy said. “Right now we’re focused on proving ourselves to the rest of the state.
“We’re not looking past single-A at all because anybody can come from anywhere, but we know if we do our best we’re looking to compete with everyone in the state.”
The Eagles will have to contend with regional champs Washington & Lee, Thomas Walker, and Patrick Henry-Glade Spring.
“Patrick Henry is one of the teams that’s right behind us,” Biddle-Snead said. “None of us are acting too cocky and we just want to run our best.”
Leonard said the goal for a lot of his teammates will be securing all-state honors.
“We definitely want to be in the top 15 and top 10 would be nice,” Leonard said. “We know there’s some strong runners out there — some we ran against at regionals and then some coming in from other regions. We’re looking forward to running against these guys.”
Patrick Henry, the Region C champion, also appears to be the main competition for Clarke County’s girls, who must also contend with Region B runner-up George Mason.
The Eagles, led by sophomore and defending state champion Danielle Moyer, send a deeper team to Great Meadow this year. In addition to last year’s top seven, the Eagles also have talented freshmen Erin Broy, Tori Neuber, and Sophia Holmes.
The Eagles’ entire top five — Moyer, Broy, senior Liz Mumaw, Holmes and Neuber, earned All-Region B honors by finishing in the top 15.
Add in Clarke County senior Jen Griffith and juniors Audrey Lawrence and Polly Barks, who all earned All-Bull Run District honors, and the Eagles have a deep and youthful lineup that only has two seniors in the top eight.
“I think our team has a lot more depth this year, especially one through five, because normally I’ve been third on the team, but this year I’m seventh,” Lawrence said. “It’s a big help especially with our new freshmen when you have a strong top five that you can just count on.”
With quality and quantity, Specht knows she can count on several runners to bring in low cards each week.
“We’ve got Polly who’s our No. 8 girl and was all-district until Sophia came back to health, so we’re blessed,” Specht said. “If one or two get ill, we’ve got some other soldiers to fill in the places.”
In the race for the girls’ individual title, Moyer faces some tough competition again this year.
Moyer won the Bull Run District title, but finished third in the regional behind Region B champion Mariah Hagadone, of Buffalo Gap, and Bull Run District runner-up Susanna Sullivan, of George Mason. Moyer will also have to contend with last year’s state-runner-up Kelly Clark, of Glenvar, who enters Saturday’s race as the Region C champion.
“Going in I know it’s probably going to be the toughest race I’ve been in,” Moyer said. “Although I was the state champion last year, it’s not like that this year. The competition has definitely gotten a lot higher and I just need to push myself against everybody else and see where I end up.
“I want to try to stay as close to them as I can, but it’s going to be tough. There’s a lot of people to look out for this year.”
For Mumaw, she would like to close out her cross country career at Clarke with another team title.
“I think it would mean a lot to me especially since it’s my senior year,” Mumaw said. “It would be a nice ending for me. Our main goal is to just go out there and run our best.”
