For Emmett Engelhardt, the cross country season keeps getting better and better.
The high-school campaign is a little more than a month old and the Washington-Liberty Generals senior runner already has won three big races, the latest Oct. 5 at the Octoberfest Invitational on the Great Meadow course in The Plains.
Engelhardt won on the somewhat muddy 5,000-meter course in 15:59. The second-place finisher crossed the finish line in 16:07.
Earlier this season, Engelhardt won the opening Monroe Parker Invitational at Burke Lake Park, then was the Arlington County champion at Bluemont Park.
At the Octoberfest meet, Engelhardt took the lead a mile into the race and led the rest of the way.
“That was a unique challenge leading for that long,” Engelhardt said. “Nobody closed hard and got close to me. That doesn’t happen often.”
Engelhardt was running the course, the former site of the Virginia High School League’s state meet, for the first time.
“I was happy with the win. I felt ready for the race and I wasn’t concerned with a time,” Engelhardt said. “So far, the season is going about as I planned, but there’s a long way to go and I have to stay focused.”
Engelhardt helped the W-L boys varsity team finish 11th. The Generals were without two top runners because they were taking SAT tests. After Engelhardt, Morgan Fritz was W-L’s next highest finisher in 52nd in 17:25.
Bishop O’Connell High School’s Jayse Brefczynski was 26th in the boys Octoberfest race in 16:57 and his teammate Peter Feenor was 54th (17:35). The team placed 16th. Brefczynski led early in the race until he was passed by Engelhardt.
In the girls varsity race, Washington-Liberty placed third, led by Alba Edsall in 22nd in 20:35. Also for the team, Mina Dowler was 36th (21:07), Meg Lubas 38th (21:12), Sienna Williams 42nd (21:17), Hannah Bellerose 51st (21:33), Ella Kaplan 55th (21:40) and Katherine Floom 59th (21:45).
The O’Connell girls finished 22nd with Grace Fumich the top runner in 46th (21:21).
