In the girls’ race the Flying Flucos were led by a trio of outstanding runners. Junior Nicki Douma finished in first place with a time of 19:48.01. Sophomore Devon Burger was third finishing in 20:25.80, and senior Stephanie Bossong finished fourth with a time of 20:39.41. Based on this race, and solid performances throughout the year, Nicki Douma was selected as the Jefferson District girls’ cross country runner of the year.
In the district meet, each team enters its top seven runners and the finishing position of first five for each team establishes the team score. The lowest score wins. With three of the first four finishers in a six team field, the Flucos were in an excellent position to win. However, five runners count, not just three. Fortunately, the Flucos also got strong performances from their other four runners. Their next three runners were Bridget Bossong, Peyton Olinger and Brooke Haislip. These runners who will all be back next year, finished 19, 20 and 21 respectively. And, Rachel Devore was close behind them finishing in 26th place. Thus, even though Western Albemarle had a strong and deep team, it could not top the Flucos. The final score was Fluvanna 47 and Western 56. None of the other schools were even close.
By winning the Jefferson District, the Fluco girls team qualified to run as a team in the Region meet at the Oatlands Plantation on Nov. 1. In addition, the girls’ top three finishers will also run as individual competitors by reason of their having finished in the top fifteen finishers at Powhatan.
The boys’ race followed immediately after the girls’. It was run over the same 5K course. Coach Tom Casto’s boys team was hoping to be able to take second place and qualify for the Region meet as a team. Unfortunately, they were denied this goal, as they finished fourth. Nonetheless, the team turned in a solid performance, and three runners qualified to move on to the Region meet as individuals.
Senior Chris Markham continued his fine running career for the Flying Flucos as he took second place with a time of 17:15.51. Two sophomore runners also placed well for the boys’ team. Travis Moe was seventh with a time of 18:01.05, and Austin Early finished 11th with a time of 18:19.42. All three runners will now compete at Oatlands Plantation on Nov. 1.
Coach Casto will have five of his seven top runners returning next year and two, Jonathan Corbin and Thomas Dunlap were only freshman this year. Coach Brogan also will have a solid core of runners returning next year. In addition, she notes that Fluco girls took four of the top ten spots in the open race that was held after the championship race. This race includes all the cross country runners who were not in their teams top seven.
