Contributed by the WHS Athletic Department

 

Washington Cross-country kept one winning tradition alive on Wednesday and started another.

Anna McLawhorn took control at the one-mile mark and won the girls race against Farmville Central and Southwest Edgecombe with a time of 23:37, almost two-minutes ahead of the second place runner. It was McLawhorn’s first win this year, putting her in the elite group of runners who have won a cross-country race all four years in high school. McLawhorn won the first meet she competed in as a freshman and has won multiple meets throughout her career.

Not to be outdone, Chris Sulc set the pace from the beginning and won the boys meet with a time of 19:16, more than 30 seconds ahead of the second place runner. The meet was Sulc’s fourth meet as a runner.

“It is difficult to win meets while an underclassman,” said Washington head coach Toby McMahon. “Too many times runners go out to fast, or have too much energy at the end.  Anna has shown consistency that few runners ever do. It takes experience to learn how to race and not make mistakes.  An early mistake in a race can put you out of the race.”

In addition to Sulc, the Pack boys recorded five top-10 finishes and won 11 out of the top 20 on their way to a 30-45-50 victory. The top-10 finishers included William Page (third), Greyson Schmitt (seventh), Win Martin (ninth) and Leo Brown (10th).  Depth is not something the Pack has had recently.

“The first couple years I coached, we were lucky to have 10 runners.” McMahon said.  “If someone was injured, there was not anyone to fill their shoes. Today we had one of our top runners out and we had people ready to run.”

The girls finished second to Farmville Central losing by a score of 23-34. The Lady Pack claimed four top-10 finishes: Anna Frisbie (sixth), Alyssa Krajewski (seventh), and Amber McCoullough (eighth).

McLawhorn is the only returning all-conference winner from last year’s conference champion girls’ team and runner-up boys’ team. Despite the lack of experience, the future looks bright with McLawhorn and McCoullough being the teams’ only seniors. McMahon keeps reminding his team that the only race that matters is the conference race in October.

“As long as they keep improving we have a chance to challenge for the conference title again,” said McMahon. “It all comes down to one race and this year the race will be on course, which gives us an advantage.”

The Pack has had some experience with large races. On Saturday, they hosted the Pam Pack Invitational with 20 schools and over 350 runners. The boys placed fifth, beating some 3-A and 4-A schools on the way. The future may be bright for the Pam Pack Cross-Country team, but they are looking to make some noise in the immediate future.