Tigers finish second in meet

By Robert Daski

Published: September 20, 2008

LEESBURG – As the Brentsville girls’ cross country team finished warming up for the varsity A race at Saturday’s Oatlands Invitational, Allison Bartels noticed her teammates’ demeanor.
“I saw a lot of confidence from everyone,” said Bartels, one of Brentsville’s top seven runners. “Everyone was ready to go and ready to race.”
The confidence carried over to the race.
Brentsville used a 20th place finish from Bartels (19:42), 30th from Maggie Gentry (20:01) and 38th from Caitlin Hoffman (20:16) to finish second in a meet featuring a large number of schools from Virginia, Maryland and New York.
“I was thrilled to get second place in a field like this,” Brentsville coach Rob Dulin said. “This is one of the stronger meets on the east coast, but we’ll take it.”
A week removed from finishing fourth in the A race at the Brentsville Relays, the Tigers felt the need to reassert themselves.
They did as they totaled 206 points, beating Group AAA Osbourn Park by 30.
“We felt we really had something to prove to everyone and we were all ready to do that,” said Bartels, who competed in her first 5K race.
Osbourn Park still left the meet happy. The Yellow Jackets finished fourth in the girls’ A race thanks to a 14th-place finish from Ariel Karabinus (19:23).
“I wanted to finish a little bit higher,” Karabinus said. “Last year in this race, I struggled at the finish. I didn’t do as well as I wanted to.
“I wanted to get under 19 and do better than I did last year.”
The Yellow Jackets also finished ninth in the junior varsity girls’ A race with 359 points.
Osbourn Park also excelled in the boys’ races.
Freshman Daniel Rimkus won the junior varsity boys’ underclassmen race in 17:58.
“I’m happy,” he said.
Osbourn Park’s Nolan Compton took 30th in the varsity boys’ A race (16:52), one which the Yellow Jackets finished 16th in the team standings with 510 points.
“We went out and competed really well,” Karabinus said. “We tried our hardest. It got a little bit hot. Everyone did alright.”
This was a meet in which local teams were glad to participate.
With inclement weather canceling the Great Meadow Invitational on Sept. 6, most Prince William County runners had been unable to compete in high-quality meets with individual races, forcing them to practice more. 
“We started trying to get rid of the race rust,” Karabinus said.
Battlefield also left with high finishes. Senior Julia Zewe finished sixth in the varsity girls’ B race (20:26), nine spots above teammate Becky Kish (20:54).
“It felt really good,” Zewe said. “I wasn’t expecting it.
“I was really far behind in the first 800 meters. Once I passed 10 girls to get to that sixth spot, it felt good.”