Runners Molly Weithman and Jack Levine each achieved their two goals Oct. 6 by winning the girls and boys annual Arlington County cross country races, respectively, while running personal-best times on the Bluemont Park course in the process.
Levine, a senior, finished first in 16:01 to help the Yorktown Patriots win the boys high-school meet for a third year in a row. Weithman, a Bishop O’Connell Knights junior, won by more than a minute in 17:59.
The victories were the first in the meet for race favorites. Levine finished second last fall and third as a freshman. Weithman was third a year ago and well off the pace as a freshman.
“My race plan today was to win and have fun and help the team do well and win again,” Levine said. “I took the lead after the first loop and was ahead the rest of the way.”
The Yorktown boys won with 31 points, followed by the Washington-Liberty Generals (60), Wakefield Warriors (63) and Bishop O’Connell (74).
For the Yorktown boys, in addition to Levine Roman Steis finished fourth (16:45), Mason Wolverton seventh (17:47), Theo Wargo eighth (17:53), Hayden Carpenter 11th (17:55.1) and Eamon King 12th (17:55.3).
Leading W-L was Emmitt Engelhardt in third (16:25) and Nathaniel Fritz sixth (17:37).
For the Wakefield boys, Liam Keish was fifth (16:57), Harrison Greenberg ninth (17:54), Jonathan Hecker 14th (18:01) and Eben Zimmerman 15th (18:04).
The O’Connell boys were led by senior Anthony Lenzini. He was second in 16:17.6. He finished 11th a year ago in 17:45. Also for O’Connell, Nick O’Donnell was 10th (17:54) and Sean Wilcox 13th (17:56).
“I ran strong today. I wanted to win this race or get second, because I know Jack is a very good runner,” Lenzini said. “I ran close with him for a while, then he made a big surge late in the race.”
Weithman wore her traditional big pink sunglasses in the girls race, something she has done all three years of her high-school career.
“I was really happy to win and I’m happy with how I ran,” Weithman said. “I felt stronger in this year’s race than in the past.”
Weithman’s previous best time on the course was nearly a minute slower in 18:54.
The Yorktown girls won for the second straight year, amassing 32 points. Washington-Liberty was second with 42, the Wakefield Warriors third (73) and Bishop O’Connell fourth (85).
For Yorktown, Sofia Sheldon was second in the girls race in 19:04, Sofie Keppler was fifth (20:01.5), Eleanor Whitehouse sixth (20:017), Ellen Malloy seventh (20:04), Sophia Onur 12th (20:51) and Hannah Hawkins 15th (21:00). Sheldon also finished second in last year’s county meet.
“There were a lot of smiling faces for Yorktown and it was a good day for the teams,” said Yorktown head coach and meet director Emily Stewart. “A lot of the runners ran together and built camaraderie.”
For Washington-Liberty, Karenna Keane was fourth (20:00), Ella Kaplan eighth (20:22), Emily Buckwalter ninth (20:31.0), Alba Edsall 10th (20:31.9), Sienna Williams 11th (20:34) and Kate Floom 14th (20:59).
For the Wakefield girls, Elizabeth Coe finished third (19:35) and Addison Young 13th (20:57).
NOTE: The county cross country meets consist of two varsity races. Junior varsity and freshman runners also competed in those events, which had more than 100 runners in each.
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