The Mathews High School cross country teams concluded their regular season Tuesday, Oct. 22, with wins over Washington & Lee and Essex. The girls’ squad won with a score of 21 points, beating out W&L (37) and Essex (forfeit). The boys’ squad (26 points) narrowly defeated the Eagles (29 points). Essex did not have a complete team, forcing the Trojans to forfeit in the boys’ meet as well.
Justin Adams and Phillip Machen led the MHS boys, placing first and second overall with times of 17:25 and 17:48. Adams broke the Beaverdam Park course record set in 2007 by Patrick Sopko by five seconds. Nick Brown (18:18) and Tucker Blackwell (18:31) placed sixth and seventh overall, behind a very aggressive pack of three W&L runners. Sam Jasinski (18:46, 10th), Jalen Thomas (18:47, 11th) and Lance South (19:13, 13th) also contributed to the win.
Caleb Metzger (19:18, 14th) and Caleb Carson (19:19, 15th) were the next finishers for Mathews. Carson broke his own jayvee course record by a second. A string of Mathews runners were next to cross the line. Finishing in places 17-22 were Tommy Mayo (19:22), Ryan Morgan (19:42), Tyler Zabel (19:43), Sam Gale (20:00), Hunter Wright (20:19) and Michael Stewart (20:21). Nicholas Mann finished his season with a 21:04. Sawyer Hutson had a fantastic race, getting a personal record by minutes with a time of 22:56.
The trio of Emma Hudgins (22:02), Kate van Emmerik (22:18), and Ellie Gale (22:19) led the girls team against W&L and Essex, placing second, third and fourth. While Hudgins cannot score points for the Blue Devils because she is jayvee, she shattered her own course record by 52 seconds. Kelly Nelson (23:01) and Emily Brown (23:04) followed close behind, finishing fifth and sixth overall. Rileigh Betz (23:11, eighth), Kaitlyn Thompson (23:23, ninth), Alyssa Curko (23:56, 10th), Maddy Hobert (23:58, 11th) and Kristen Fauber (25:15, 12th) had strong performances as well.
Rounding out the Lady Devils were Maria Spadaccini (26:28, 18th) and Chloe Sanderson (28:50, 24th).
This meet brought the Blue Devils’ regular season to a close. The four-year senior girls—Emily Brown, van Emmerik and Fauber—have a combined regular season record of 76-1. Four-year senior Nick Brown has a combined regular season record of 77-2.
The varsity boys and girls competed in the Conference 42 Championship at Eastern State yesterday against Middlesex, West Point, and Essex. They will move on to race in the Region 1A East Championship next Thursday, Nov. 7.