Reeves crowned Bees’ cross country queen

THE PLAINS — Janel Reeves, Brookville’s running princess as her coach Cory Morris calls her, was crowned queen of the Bees’ girls cross country team Saturday morning.

The energetic senior out-leaned Hidden Valley sophomore Annie Lehardy at the finish line to claim the Group AA girls state championship at Great Meadow’s 3.1-mile course.

“I was running thinking, ‘This is my last chance to do this,’ and I did it,” said Reeves, who finished 11th in an even 19 minutes last year — when Heritage’s Laura Rapp won the title — and trimmed 34 seconds off her personal best time to win in 18 minutes, 26 seconds. “I just gave it everything I had. It was all in the finish.”

Reeves had the air of a princess after receiving her first-place prize, a plaque bearing her name and showing her triumph in an all-out photo finish sprint.

“That’s the worst picture I’ve ever taken,” Reeves said, referring to the grimace on her face as she lunged her body across the tape. “Imagine if I wouldn’t have put the little bit of makeup on (that she did) this morning.”

But make no mistake, this princess doesn’t wear glass slippers. She sports spikes on the soles of her colorful running shoes, and runs with the heart of a champion.

“She dug deep,” Morris said. “She had it. It was all guts and heart today. She deserves it. She worked really hard. I’m very, very proud of her. She is my little princess.”

Reeves led the entire race until Lehardy passed her with about a half-mile to go. The two ran shoulder-to-shoulder for the final 800-meter, uphill sprint to the finish. Because of the new timing system, she wasn’t even sure she had won until the official results were printed out.

“I was worried because it doesn’t matter if you outlean her,” Reeves said. “It’s where your feet are because we had these (timing) chips in our shoes. When I finished, I was like, ‘I don’t know.’ I was so stressed out. Then when (Morris) went up there and asked, I was like ‘Yeah.’ I was so happy and then I could actually celebrate.”

Her teammates and family were happy to be there to join in the celebration.

“She won, dude,” older brother and former Bees runner Will Reeves said to their father moments after the race. “That was great.”

“I’m still in shock,” her dad said later.

“I just keep laughing,” added Will, who shed tears of joy.

The runner-up finish was costly for Lehardy and the Titans, who tied with Blacksburg for first in the team standings with 47 points. The Bruins won the tie-breaker based on their sixth runner’s finish.

Jefferson Forest, paced by sophomore Leigha Schimmoeller’s 31st-place showing in 19:48 and freshman Mary Deis’ 45th-place finish in 20:13, was seventh in the team standings with 233 points, edging the eighth-place Bees (244).

Sophomore Cathleen McCarron ran a PR time of 19:47 to take second for the Bees and 30th overall followed by freshman Kaitlyn Brown (83rd in 21:22).

Staunton River’s Natalie Andrusky was 78th in 21:13.

In the Group A girls race, Glenvar junior Meghan Marsico beat the female course record by 10 seconds to win in 17:38.

Altavista junior Sarah Murphy, hobbled by a hip injury for most of the season, came in 12th in 20:21.

“I just thought about it being the last race of the season and I’ve been struggling all season (so) I just wanted it to be good,” Murphy said. “I’m very happy with it. I didn’t think I was going to make all-state (for a top-15 finish) at all.”

“Sarah didn’t have a good regional meet last week, but she was determined today,” Altavista coach Darryl Smith added. “It was good to see the fire back in her eyes.”

Murphy helped carry the Colonels to their second straight fourth-place team finish after placing second two years ago.

“The girls team fought hard,” Smith said. “They had a few injury issues.”

Two freshmen— Jessica Myers (18th in 20:56) and Brittany Robinson (27th in 21:20) secured Altavista’s all-state team status for placing in the top four.

“I did speed up coming through (the finish line) and I passed two or three people,” Myers said. “I had tears coming down my eyes at the end — from pain and emotion.”