Before last weekend, Kellam senior Jane Phillips hadn’t won a region or state title.
Now she’s got both as Phillips won the Class 5 state cross country championship Saturday at Oatlands Historic House and Gardens in Leesburg.
Phillips, who won a region title the previous Saturday, said her main goal was to run better than 20 minutes, 1.0 second, which she ran at last year’s state meet as she finished 20th overall in Class 6.
This year, the Knights dropped to Class 5 and Phillips improved her time by more than a minute as she won the race in 18:58.
“I went in with the idea that I just wanted to run a PR,” she said. “Which I did, and I’m quite happy about that.”
At the beginning of the race, Phillips stayed close with Albemarle senior Madelyn Gypson and Midlothian freshman Kate Jaeger.
Phillips didn’t realize she had a chance to win until she passed Gypson with about 1,000 meters to go.
“Right after we got off this really terrible hill, the tallest hill that I’ve ever done, (Gypson), who was ahead of me, started struggling, and (Jaeger) dropped off. When I noticed that, I realized I was in first. And I went for it, and I didn’t look back that last 1,000,” she said. “It feels crazy. I did not think this would happen, but I’m glad it did.”
For the third time in the past four seasons, the Ocean Lakes girls are state champions.
The Dolphins, who also won in 2020 and 2021, used their depth to win the Class 5 state title. They were led by Khadija Sissoko (ninth), Grace Thompson (10th), Riley Gomez (20th), Lauren Rakov (30th) and Lindsay Meadows (45th).
“We talked about choosing to be great,” said Dolphins coach Mike Nestor. “And today, they chose to be dominant.”
Jamestown won the Class 4 title. The Eagles were led by runner-up Kylie Brooks, Raini Mayo (11th), Emily Dahl (13th), Claire Bauer (19th) and Hailey Shearer (34th).
A look at other Hampton Roads finishers:
Class 6
Landstown’s Darryl Hawkins finished 13th.
Class 5
Hickory’s girls placed third overall. The Hawks were led by Alexis Rice (13th), Morgan Kimener (14th) and Emme Malooly (17th).
Warwick’s Ariana Logsdon finished fifth and Maury’s Sophia Sadr was 16th.
Maury standout Lily Guinn did not participate. She suffered an injury two weeks ago and was unable to run.
For the boys, Maury’s Cameron Sadr finished seventh, followed by Ocean Lakes’ Lambert Edigin. Granby’s Henry Sol was 10th, Princess Anne’s Daniel Rockey was 11th and Warwick’s Nate Cochran was 14th.
Princess Anne senior Armaan Chopra, who won his fourth consecutive region title last week, finished a disappointing 39th.
“He’s been sick all week. Only ran a couple of days,” said Cavaliers coach Kevin Rhue. “We were hoping he would be able to get through.”
Class 3
Grafton junior Connor Linehan was seventh. Lafayette junior A.J. Koval and senior Braden Lee finished 15th and 16th, respectively, to help the Rams’ boys finish third. For the girls, Grafton senior Katelyn Campbell finished seventh.
Class 2
Bruton junior Jayden Curry was fourth, and Poquoson sophomore Jacob Wines was 15th to help the Islanders finish third. For the girls, Poquoson sophomore Elizabeth Trant was fourth.
Larry Rubama, 757-575-6449, larry.rubama@pilotonline.com
