Cross Country: Potomac Falls Boys Primed for 10th Consecutive Dulles District Title, Panther Girls Will Seek 4th Straight Today

Dulles XC teams finished the dual meet season last week and now head to Districts.
Photo by Scott Shepherd: click on it to see an entire gallery from the meet with Woodgrove, Dominion and Park View.

(Oct. 20, 2010) - When the Loudoun County High School boys cross country team edged power Potomac Falls by a point in the regular season it meant that the Raiders were assured of a spot on the podium after today's Dulles District meet at Oatlands. The question then is can the Panthers bounce back to claim their 10th consecutive district meet title -- the only team to ever win since the Dulles District was formed in 2001.

Potomac Falls may have answered that question the past two weeks as the Panthers came roaring back after that narrow dual meet loss, first with an impressive team win in the 32-team seeded varsity division at the Glory Days Grill Invitational and then another team win over the weekend at the 23-team Stampede Cross Country Classic.

All eyes are sure to be on Potomac Falls and Loudoun County as they battle it out today at 4 p.m., both in the team and in the individual race where defending district champion Tommy Curtin of LC will try and fend off what appears to be a strong challenge from Juan Campos of PFalls. Curtin nipped Campos in the dual -- 16:56 to 16:57.

On the girls side, Potomac Falls, fifth at Glory Days and the winner at the Stampeded appears on pace to capture a fourth straight district meet. There will be a new girls champion crowned as two-time winner Julie Strange of LC graduated in June.

Glory Days
The Panthers impressive win on the newly-designed 5K course at Bull Run Regional Park feature an average team time of 16:26. PF scored 118 points to finish 74 points ahead of runner-up AAA Robinson.

Campos ran a 16:09 for a Top 10 finish and Connor Wilson turned 16:18 and Nick Morgensen 16:20.

The Panther girls were led at Glory Days by Kaeley Brady (19:41), Sarah Dillistin (19:42) and Rachel Hagen (19:51).

Stampeded
Potomac Falls continued its torrid pace with Campos running 16:19.86 at Meadowood Park in Lorton
to lead an 81-point first place finish. The Panthers average 16:56 in the win.

On the girls side, the Panthers averaged 20:26 to finish with 47 points, ahead of AAA power Battlefield with Dillistin running 19:57.

The Cedar Run District will hold its meet also at Oatlands today at 2:30 p.m.