State champion: Fort Defiance's Abby Lane claims Class 2 cross country title
SALEM — From not even running in middle school to a state champion as a senior, Abby Lane captured the Class 2 cross country title Saturday at Salem's Green Hill Park.
The Fort Defiance senior ran a personal best 18:12.10, 15 seconds in front of second-place Abigail Rhudy of Tazewell.
"It's really good to end on a good note," said Lane. "It shows all the hard work over these past four years.
Lane didn't begin running until her freshman year of high school, recruited by head coach Dave Stewart. She finished 52nd in the state that year. A season later she was 14th, then fifth and, finally on Saturday, state champion. She dropped more than a minute off her time from a year ago on the same course.
"Abby had a fantastic race today," Stewart said. "She took the lead early and never looked back, stretching out her lead throughout the race and never allowing the nearest runner to be close enough to mount a serious challenge."
Fort Defiance, as a team, also had a special day, finishing third. That was the highest finish ever by a Fort girls cross country team, who was fifth a year ago in the Class 3 meet. Fort had 86 points, behind champion Liberty Bedford (56) and Clarke County (61).
"It's just exciting to see how much we've grown as a team," Lane said. "Even over this year itself, but over the years."
All seven of Fort's runners had personal best times Saturday. Madison Conner was 21st (20:55.70) followed by teammates Bethany Lang (25th, 21:11.10), Taylor Cubbage (29th, 21:25.40), Violet Bast (53rd, 22:58.30), Karina Clark (54th, 23:01.00) and Molly O'Brien (23:39.30).
Lane and Rhudy were close for about a mile until Lane started to pull away. Her strategy was to jump out to the front of the pack early. Lane would rather lead the race than be trying to catch someone.
As she came down the final stretch, thoughts of being state champion were definitely in her head, but the thing she was focused on most was just crossing the finish line.
"I just want this to be over," she said. "It felt so long at the end and I was hurting."
It was the seventh time Lane had run the Salem course, not only the four state championship meets but also three times at an early season invitational called Knights Crossing. So, on Saturday, she felt comfortable with the course. Plus, the weather was near perfect running weather Saturday, a bit cool but no rain.
Still, there were nerves at the starting line. Some of that may have come from expectations. Lane was the favored to win, at least by seed time, although she knew that Liberty's Alexis Plaster, who finished third Saturday, was close to her in seed time, and Rhudy had a good time in the regionals, although on a three-mile course instead of the traditional 5K. The competition would be the most difficult she faced since some early season invitational races.
There was some extra motivation for Lane also, according to her coach.
"Abby had a point to prove," he said. "In a state preview article on MileStat, she had been snubbed as the article picked a girl from Poquoson as the favorite to win. That girl finished fourth and was never a threat for Abby."
Lane said she was more anxious than usual before the race.
"I guess that's good because it shows I'm passionate about what I'm doing, but at the same time it definitely got in my head," she said. "I was thinking, 'Oh, what happens if I get fifth or something.' Every race, what is on paper is not how it's going to end up."
Although, on Saturday, what was on paper — if not on MileStat — turned out to be correct. Lane finished as the state champion. Now, she'll take a week off and start getting ready for indoor track.
In other Class 2 state cross country results Saturday, Fort Defiance's boys finished ninth and Fort's Parker Blosser was eighth overall with a time of 16:45. Riverheads' Kierstin Doyne finished 41st in the Class 2 girls meet.
In Class 3, the Waynesboro boys finished 10th, led by Dylan Colander's 19th-place finish with a time of 16:17.60. Wilson Memorial's Liam McMahon was 55th. Buffalo Gap's Cole Reed finished 86th in the Class 1 meet.
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— Patrick Hite is a reporter at The News Leader. Story ideas and tips always welcome. Contact Patrick (he/him/his) at phite@newsleader.com and follow him on Twitter @Patrick_Hite. Subscribe to us at newsleader.com
This article originally appeared on Staunton News Leader: State champion: Fort Defiance's Abby Lane claims Class 2 cross country title
