JF boys, girls dominate Seminole meet

FOREST — Running negative splits — starting conservatively and finishing each mile with a faster time — has proven to be a successful tact for Jefferson Forest’s cross country teams.

That’s especially true on the Cavaliers’ 3.1-mile home course of Wolf Branch Farm, site of Wednesday’s Seminole District championships.

“We always work on getting negative splits,” said JF junior Robert Deis, who placed second in the boys race in 16 minutes, 52 seconds, trailing only senior teammate Josh Morris, who broke his own course record in 16:09. “That’s our strategy. All of us kind of push each other out in the first mile and we gradually pick up the pace.”

Forest put together an intimidating pack that gained momentum as the race went on, defending its title by placing five runners in the top six positions for 18 points.

“We try to run as a pack,” said Deis, who has overcome an early-season injury. “We work on it at practice. We try to stay together through the race and keep on feeding off each other.”

“We had a pretty awesome long black train running today,” Cavaliers coach Jerome Loy added. “It was a tight train.”

JF finished far in front of runner-up Heritage (68), which was paced by Josh Knight’s third-place finish in 16:57. Knight ran neck-and-neck with Morris for the first mile before Morris made his move.

“He gapped me after the second mile, on the uphill after the 1½-mile mark, and I lost contact with him and focus on the race,” said Knight, who improved on a fifth-place performance last fall. “He really picked it up the second mile and I couldn’t hang. It’s easier when you have a big group like that.”

“The team’s looking stronger and stronger every day,” Morris added. “Robert’s really closed the gap. He came back really strong from his injury which is good because we need him.”

Brookville (76 points) and Amherst (93) also qualified as complete teams for next Thursday’s Region III meet near Harrisonburg.

In the girls race, Brookville senior Janel Reeves got out to a fast start and ran away with the individual title in 19:47.

“The first mile I ran a 5:40 and usually, I don’t go out that fast,” said Reeves, who was runner-up to Heritage’s Laura Rapp the past two seasons and at the Region III meet last fall. “I thought I went out a little too fast so I tried to make it up on the back loop, where it’s relatively flat and that makes it easier to push yourself.”

She came in nearly 30 seconds in front of JF’s top runner, freshman Mary Deis, who took a minute off her personal best on her home course to pace the Cavaliers to a first-place team showing with 24 points.

“I felt so good,” Deis said. “I was so pumped up for today and prepared to give my all. All our girls did well today. We pushed each other and rooted for each other. We were all ready to protect this house.”

“I don’t know where Mary Deis came from,” Loy added.

Forest’s girls, like its boys, won the district meet for at least the 16th season in a row, placing its first five runners in the top eight to beat Brookville (38 points). Rustburg (106) and Amherst (108) also qualified as teams for next week’s Region III meet.

Loy knew his boys would be heavily favored, but he didn’t expect the girls race to be quite so decisive.

“We had a good poker hand today,” he said. “Janel was their ace, but we had five queens.”

JF junior Nicki Jannah took third place in 20:41 and senior teammate Cameron DeWitt came in fourth in 20:46. Brookville’s Cathleen McCaron (20:54) placed fifth followed by Staunton River’s Natalie Andrusky (21:14) and Cavaliers sophomore Leigha Schimmoeller (21:23) and junior Olivia Jackson (21:42), who has been hobbled by a knee injury.

“We had a lot of pride about coming to run in the district meet and keeping the tradition going,” Loy said. “It was an awesome effort from all of them.”