At significant cross-country races on the Burke Lake Park course this fall, Emmett Engelhardt has won two, with another still to come.
His latest victory on that 2.98-mile trail was on a warm Wednesday afternoon (Oct. 30) at the boys Liberty District high-school championship meet.
The Washington-Liberty Generals’ senior won in 15:40 to help the team place second with 58 points, seven behind the winning McLean Highlanders.
Engelhardt pulled away from runner-up Reid Dalley of the Yorktown Patriots (15:49) in the final 600 meters.
“Reid always gives me a good close race. I stayed behind him for a while and I was able to pull away at the end,” Engelhardt said. “I was prepared to win a close race like that.”
The victory in a big meet was Engelhardt’s fourth so far this season, with region and state meets still ahead. He won the season-opening Monroe Parker Invitational in early September on the Burke Lake Park course.
The Washington-Liberty boys squad was expected to challenge for the team title at the Oct. 30 competition — and came close.
“They really gave it a good push,” W-L coach John Bacon said of his team. “McLean ran a strong race.”
Other top runners for the Washington-Liberty boys were Morgan Fritz in 10th (16:29), Jackson Fowler 14th (16:38), Henry Brys 15th (16:49), Andrew Klinger 18th (17:01) and Axel FitzHarris 20th (17:05).
The Wakefield Warriors were fourth in the boys race and Yorktown seventh. For Wakefield, Noah Gunville was fourth (16:00) and Liam Keish sixth (16:19).
The top four boys and girls teams in the district meet qualified for the 6D North Region championships, coming to Burke Lake Park on Nov. 6. The two Wakefield runners advance, as well.
In the district girls meet, Yorktown was a close second (59 points) as was the case last season. The Langley Saxons won for the third year in a row, scoring 54. Yorktown was led by Ellen Malloy in fifth (19:03), Sofie Keppler in seventh (19:25), Ali Mathews was 11th (19:34), Claire McArdle 15th (19:43) and Ella Dunn 21st (19:55).
After finishing second in last year’s district meet, Yorktown went on to win the region meet a week later.
Alba Edsall led the fourth-place Washington-Liberty girls with a 13th place in 19:41 at the district meet. Meg Lubas was 16th (19:45), Mina Dowler 18th (19:50), Hannah Bellrose 19th (19:51) and Sienna Williams 23rd (20:09).
For the sixth-place Wakefield girls, Ada Jordan was 17th in 19:50.
