Sparked by a rookie runner’s success, the Yorktown High School girls cross-country squad earned a berth into the Virginia High School League’s upcoming Class 6 state championship by placing third in the 6D North Region meet on Wednesday afternoon.
The state meet is Saturday, Nov. 8 on the Oatlands Plantation course in Leesburg. Yorktown’s runners will be coming off two successful competitions, having earlier won the Liberty District meet on the same 2.98-mile Burke Lake Park course where the region meet was held.
The district title was the team’s first since joining that league years ago. Yorktown won multiple National District championships when it participated in that division.
“We had some strong performances and every runner had a personal-best time,” Yorktown coach Emily Stewart told ARLnow about the district meet. “All of them moved up a lot throughout the race, and that helped us win.”
Yorktown’s top runner in the district and region meet was sophomore Molly Hardwick, a first-year cross-country participant. She won the district race in 17:24.7, at the time the fastest mark ever by a Yorktown female runner on that course.
Hardwick and McLean’s Jaidyn Buday ran close together the entire race, with Hardwick taking the lead on an uphill stretch just after the two-mile mark and winning by 10 seconds.
“Molly really attacked in the last mile,” Stewart said.
Harwick said the race’s pace was fast, which was her plan, and she was able to keep up with Buday.
“It was her race for two miles and I was pretty gassed,” Hardwick said. “I noticed her pace was slowing a little on that uphill stretch. I passed her there, kept the gas on and hung on until the end.”
The victory was Hardwick’s third of the fall season, and her times improved with each event. She won the annual early-season Monroe Parker meet on the same Burke Lake Park course in a much slower 18:01 time.
“Molly has a lot of natural talent,” Stewart said. “She is very coachable, is focused on the little things, she is good about changing strategies and making them work, and she is very competitive. She sets herself up for success.”
Also at the district meet for Yorktown, junior Ali Mathews was sixth (18:48), sophomore Ayla Mehmood 12th (19:36), freshman Aria Hedderly 16th (19:50), sophomore Cecilia Floor 20th (19:57), senior Claire McArdle 24th (20:07), senior Hannah Hawkins 27th (20:17) and freshman Emmy De Windt 30th (20:24).
Another top Yorktown runner is Nicky Chinchilla, but she was injured and did not race.
Hardwick ran even faster at the region meet, finished second in 16:57 behind the Oakton senior and College of William and Mary commit Caroline Sapperstein. She won in 16:53. Hardwick passed South Lakes senior and University of Virginia commit Caroline Elliott (third, 17:09) in the final yards.
“She had a little lead on me, then I felt a burst of energy at the end and was able to pass her [Elliott], and I kept fighting to the finish,” Hardwick told ARLnow. “I probably could have done more to catch the winner.”
Harwick is surprised she continues to improve and run faster.
“I thought after winning the Monroe Parker meet that was the best I could do in cross country,” Hardwick said.
Other Yorktown runners lowered their time at the region. Mathews ran 18:23 to finish 10th, Mehmood was 19th (19:06), Hedderly 31st (19:40), Floom 33rd (19:42), McArdle 38th (19:53) and Hawkins 50th (20:49).
“We had some strong movement by our runners in the woods near the end of the race and that solidified us finishing third,” Stewart said.
Also at the region tournament, the Washington-Liberty girls team finished sixth and the W-L boys team was eighth.
At the region girls meet, Maddie Brys placed 11th (18:29) and advanced to the state tournament. For the boys, Morgan Fritz finished 22nd (16:17) and Alessandro Piosa 24th (16:23).
Yorktown’s Griffin Divis was 17th in the boys region meet (16:10) and Wakefield’s Andrew Coe was 20th (16:12).
The top three teams from each region advance to the state meet.
