CCHS, EVHS boys advance

Both the Culpeper and Eastern View boys cross country teams advanced to the Region I meet after finishing third and fourth respectively at the Battlefield District meet at Loriella Park in Fredericksburg on Wednesday.

Both the Blue Devils and the Cyclones will run on the same course in the regional meet next Thursday. Spotsylvania won the boys race and King George took home the girls title with Culpeper finishing in fifth-place, just two points behind Courtland and a regional berth. Eastern View’s girls team finished eighth.

EVHS’s Charlie Bayne led all local runners, coming in second behind Spotsylvania’s Tony McBride. McBride crossed the line in 17:28 with Bayne 20 second behind on the muddy 5K course. Chancellor’s Michael Waller was third and Culpeper’s top runner, Colton Elliott finished in fourth place with a time of 17:58 after missing more than a week of practice with the flu.

Culpeper’s top female runner, sophomore Rachel Harding, also advanced to the regionals, finishing sixth with a time of 21:45.

Kyle Lombardi finished 13th for Culpeper, which finished with 90 points, edging out Eastern View by one. Lombardi finished the race in 18:24. Robert Gamache (17th), Tommy Steimel (25th) and Devon Diapoli (31st) rounded out the top five for the Blue Devils.

Eastern View’s Jeremy Thelin finished seventh in a time of 18:12 and Taylor Martin was the next Cyclone to enter the chute, finished 22nd. Patrick Wallach (24th) and Dylan Platt (26th) were also in the top five for Eastern View.

On the girls’ side, Courtney Dean finished 22nd for Culpeper with Brooke Maloy just two seconds behind with a 23rd-place finish in 24:05. Haley Withram finished 30th and Abbey Jahoda was 32nd for the Blue Devilettes.

Brooke Croft led the Eastern View girls with a 37 th-place finish in 25:51. Laurel Engh was 43rd and Hannah Guinn finished 45th for the Cyclones.