By Duncan Nixon
Correspondent
The Jefferson District cross country meet originally scheduled for Oct. 27, was held this year on Oct. 20 at Panorama Farms in Earlysville in Albemarle County. This is a well-traveled course for local runners, as a number of events are held there each season. The Fluco teams did not place near the top in either the boys’ or the girls’ competitions, but their top performers were all underclassmen.
The boys’ team was let by two sophomores and a junior. The first Fluco to finish was sophomore Ryder Petrylak who came home in a time of 18:08.80, which was good according to the final results as posted on the Milestat website, for 18th place. The second fastest Fluco was Conner Jeffries, another sophomore, whose time was 18:21.90. He finished in 23rd place. Third fastest for the Flucos was junior Matthew Cantanglior who took 28th place with a time of 18:52.20.
On the girls’ side, the top three finishers were a freshman, a junior and a sophomore. The fastest Fluco was freshman Sophie Farley who ran the three mile course in a time of 21:15.40, which put her in seventh place overall. A fine showing for a freshman runner. Next for the Fluco girls was junior Madeline Creasy who finished in 26th place with a time of 24:01.40. The third best finisher for the Flucos was sophomore Kayla Kozella. She finished in 31st place with a time of 24:42.50.
This year, the Fluco cross country squads did not run at home all season, they had problems with weather and as noted they had very young squads. The future looks more promising.
