Cross Country Comes Up Big in Muddy Opener

Posted September 10, 2018
Filed under Athletics

Fishburne Military School Cross Country Outpaces All Other Private Schools

 

Penn Laird, VA — recap from Coach Tankard —  Overnight downpours made for a muddy first Cross Country meet for the Caisson runners. Despite the slippery

Fishburne Military School (Waynesboro, VA) Cross Country. File photo.

conditions, the Caisson runners rolled along to some impressive results– besting all private schools at the meet including VIC rival Eastern Mennonite. With the efforts of some first-time Caisson racers, the team bested a group of homeschoolers by a single point.

Junior Garrett Rose (Columbus, IN) led the Caissons with a 5K time of 19:54, good enough for 24th place. He was followed in 34th place by junior Austin Hanger (Middlebrook, VA) with a time of 20:41 and by freshman Justin Hill (St. Augustine, FL) with a time of 22:02 (53rd). Finishing fourth for the Caissons was junior Harlan Earhart (Fairfax Station, VA) (22:57). In their first race ever, sophomore Will Terry (Charlottesville, VA) (25:35) placed 87th and freshman Seth Leinonen (San Antonio, TX) placed 89th (25:42). Our main goal at the meet was to beat the host school, EMHS, which was accomplished in a score of 265 to 374.

Two first-time runnners represented FMS in the Middle School race. They faced a field of experienced runners who had a couple meets already under their belts and the advantage of a school year and training start in early August. In a large field of 150 runners, 8th grader Aiden Smith (Arlington, VA) finished the 2 mile course in 15:14 to take 47th place, while 8th grader Chase Johnson (Talcott, WV) finished in 76th place with a time of 16:08.

The Caisson runners’ next meet is Saturday the 15th at the Augusta County Invitational at Wilson Memorial High School in nearby Fishersville. Most of the competition will be local high schools. With a strong training effort this week our results should continue to improve.

Fishburne Military School is the oldest and smallest of all military schools for boys in Virginia. Its college-prep curriculum is built on the structure of an Army JROTC program. FMS has been designated as a JROTC Honor Unit with Distinction and may nominate qualified candidates to the United States Service Academies. Fishburne hosts one of only four Summer JROTC programs in the nation that is accredited by US Army Cadet Command.