Washington-Liberty Generals’ senior Emmett Engelhardt recorded the best finish by an Arlington cross-country runner at the Nov. 16 Class 6 state meet in Leesburg.
Engelhardt was a top seed and placed eighth in the Virginia High School League boys meet in 16:18 on the 5,000-meter Oatlands Plantation course. He was running in the state meet for the first time.
“I gave it a really good aggressive effort,” the Washington-Liberty runner told ARLnow.
Engelhardt stayed with the lead pack for the first two miles. When the eventual top finishers made their move for the lead at that point, he went with them but was passed by a couple of runners in the final yards.
“I was happy I was aggressive and tried to go with them, even if I gave up a couple of positions at the end,” Engelhardt said.
The cross-country race was the last of his high-school career. Engelhardt was the Liberty District, Arlington County and Monroe Parker Invitational champion in meets earlier this season.
Engelhardt ran in the Oatlands Invitational in September and finished 12th in 16:10, so he was familiar with the state-meet course.
“The first mile is all downhill, then after that it gets harder, with a lot of hills,” Engelhardt said.
Yorktown High’s Reid Dalley and Wakefield High runnger Liam Keish also ran in the boys state meet. Dalley was 14th in 16:28 and Keish 31st (17:01). Dalley ran in last year’s state meet, finishing 36th.
The Yorktown girls ran as a team in the Nov. 16 Class 6 state meet and finished eighth. They qualified this year by placing second in the 6D North Region meet.
Ellen Malloy was Yorktown’s top finisher in 30th (20:03). Ella Dunn was 49th (20:50), Ali Mathews 52nd (20:55), Sofie Keppler 53rd (20:55), Claire McArdle 69th (21:29), Nicky Chinchilla 76th (21:45) and Hannah Hawkins 95th (22:59).
Malloy’s time was 23 seconds faster than she ran in the state last year. Keppler’s was six seconds better.
The state meet ends the official fall season for VHSL teams, but some individuals may run in other independent regional meets in coming days.
