Leemen top district

WEYERS CAVE – Waynesboro senior Edward Ennis felt a little queasy and had a slight temperature, yet still managed to gut it out for an eighth-place finish and a Region III berth Wednesday.

But at the Weyers Cave Community Center, it was the R.E. Lee boys team that sent the mercury rocketing to the stratosphere. And, two years after finishing dead last in the then-Valley District, it was the Leemen who reached the pinnacle of Southern Valley cross country with 33 points and the district’s top spot over Fort Defiance.

Led by sophomore Dillon Sowers’ scorching first-place finish, Lee also put runners into the chute in second, fourth, 12th and 14th place to secure the crown and send coach Andrew Frye home smiling with a fleet-footed championship fever.

Frye, actually, didn’t even wait until he got home, breaking into an ear-to-ear grin when word made its way around the course that the Leemen were in the catbird seat.

“All it takes is a couple of superstar sophomores,” Frye said.

And an aged veteran sandwiched somewhere in between.

Sowers entered the chute at the 16-minute, 57-second mark and was followed by senior Andrew Lightner 36 seconds later. The other sophomore Frye referred to – Zack Kearney – grabbed the No. 4 card with a time of 17:58. Senior Alex Adkins in 12th (18:59) and freshman Dalton Byerly in 14th (19:11) sealed the Leemen’s long road to the top.

“[The team] is working harder and training harder,” Frye said.

And it paid dividends.

It was an about-face for Sowers, Lightner and Kearney.

Sowers, as a freshman, finished seventh in 2007 and Lightner came in 10th last season. Kearney, who paced Rockbridge’s Matthew Bryant (third, 17:44) the whole way, laughed when questioned where he finished at the inaugural meet.

“Don’t worry about it,” he said while sporting a smile.

Sowers beamed with pride as Lightner met him at the end of the chute and patted him on the back. When Kearney entered two runners later, the three all slapped hands and patted backs.

“It’s pretty unbelievable,” Sowers said. “I was hoping I could [win] and I did. I’m just really happy right now.

“My plan was to keep with the pack the first mile or two, then try to take the lead.”

It worked to perfection and, after taking the lead after the first mile, Sowers pushed it out after mile No. 2 and extended it even more on the uphill climb.

Fort Defiance, which finished in second place with 42 points, put its first runner in the chute in the No. 5 slot with Andrew Phillips (18:00), who finished two seconds ahead of 2007 champ Lucas Moffett from Stuarts Draft.

Finishes by Chris Anhold (seventh, 18:11), and ninth-, 10th- and 11th-place runs by fellow Indians Aaron Shobe, Brandon Griffin and Joe Little gave Fort the easy silver trophy.

Rockbridge finished third with 74 points, followed by Waynesboro with 84 and Stuarts Draft in last place with 99.

Ennis, who looked pale and drained after the race, said there was no way he was going to miss his final district meet. With former coach Ed Driskill there to cheer him on, Ennis hung with the pack and sandwiched himself in between Anhold and Shobe to break up the Indians pack attack.

“It makes me feel a little better,” Ennis said. “It’s a little bit of bad luck getting sick [Tuesday]. But I want to go to states, so I’m going to push it real hard and fly next week [at regionals].”

Ennis’ performance garnered kudos from first-year coach Julie Stevens and helped push the Little Giants into regional play as a team. Stevens left it up to Ennis to run, but said the senior’s heart was never in doubt.

“He is one of those kids that is going to give it all he can,” she said. “He did great. Hopefully we can get him well by next week.”

The Giants wouldn’t put another runner in the chute until Matthew Jenny finished in 17th with a time of 19:15, but he was followed by Nicholas Burks five seconds later. Travis Sims followed in 20th (19:34) and Samuel Eldredge, nine seconds later, secured the final team bid.

Moffett will be the only Cougar runner in the Region III meet on Oct. 30 back in Weyers Cave. Arthur Bern missed the cut by one second, with Rockbridge’s Jack Humiston eking past the runner down the stretch.

With next week’s regional meet looming, the Leemen find themselves, for the first time in a while, as the hunted.

“I’m excited,” Frye said.