A young Bishop O’Connell Knights boys team placed fifth in this season’s Division I state private-school cross-country championships.
With three freshmen among the high-school team’s top six finishers, the Knights scored 161 points, trailing winner Potomac School (with 63) on the 5,000-meter Panorama Farms course near Charlottesville on Thursday (Nov. 7).
“We are a young team and working to get better and figuring it out,” O’Connell coach Jim Connor said.
O’Connell’s top finisher was junior Lance Jayme in 14th in 17:05.16, with sophomore Jayse Brefcznski 18th (17:13.95). Freshmen Peter Fleenor and Ryan Street were the team’s next two finishers, respectively, in 21st (17:24.07) and 35th (17:56.32).
Junior Patrick Porter was 75th (19:00.84) and freshman Kyle Jayme was 76th (19:03.78). Other runners in the meet for O’Connell included two sophomores and a junior.
In the Division I girls state meet, O’Connell finished ninth. The team’s top runner was freshman Grace Fumich in 30th in 22:12.44.
Senior Danielle Rodriguez was 47th (22:52.05) and senior Delaney Park 48th (22:53.69). Three other freshmen ran in the race for O’Connell and finished in the top 100.
One of the squad’s top runners, Sadie Smith, was absent from the event. Smith also competes on the school’s girls soccer team, which had a game later that night closer to home, making competing in both events logistically impossible.
