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  At halftime during Friday night’s Atlee vs Lee-Davis football game, Ben Dejarnette and his sister Emma were presented their state championship rings from last Spring’s outdoor track last season. As Dejarnette gazed at the ring in his hand, he looked for the inspiration he would need the following morning at the state cross country meet at Great Meadows in Warrenton. “When I got that (ring) I wanted it to carry over to today and get that state title back,” he said.

  Though he ran neck-and-neck with co-favorite, Mountain View’s Thomas Porter, throughout a majority of the race, Dejarnette found he could not match his opponent’s extra burst down the stretch. “When I visualized the race it kind of played out the way I thought it would until the last 300,” he said. “I thought I’d be able to hold him off and with 500 to go we were running almost stride-for-stride.

  “I thought it was just going to be the two of us sprinting it out,” Dejarnette said. “But then he threw in that surge and said, ‘I’ve got another gear left’, and that was a little demoralizing.”

  Over the final hundred yards, Porter pulled away to win the state title. With a time of 15:18, Dejarnette finished five seconds behind Porter for second place and 11-seconds ahead of the third place runner.

  Though his runner did not win, Atlee head coach Jim Triemplar said Dejarnette proved himself in the race. “Ben had a terrific race with Porter,” Triemplar said. “They clearly separated themselves as the top two in the state.”

  The day began cool and sunny, by race time the temperatures rose into the 70’s making for a race run out of a comfort zone. To add to the elements of nature, James Robinson’s Stuart Steen unwisely set a blistering pace by jumping far ahead at the start, running the first mile in 4:45.

  “We did go out fast,” Dejarnette said. “I think Thomas and I knew we would be able to run him down so we didn’t get right on his shoulders. I think it took us about a mile to catch him.”

  Even though experience told him to pace himself, Dejarnette said having a runner out front in a big race often tends to push rational thought aside. “When you have a guy go out like that I think everybody gets a little antsy,” he said. “We came through the mile in 4:48, so that’s fast. But that’s part of the nature of the state meet. People get excited for the first mile.”

  Steen faded down the stretch to eventually take 18th.

  Though he would have liked to have won, Dejarnette said he could leave the state meet much more satisfied with his performance than in his previous two trips. “Sophomore year I made it and finished 57,” he said. “It was disappointing. Last year was 16th, another disappointment. Today was second, but it was a good second. I just feel like Thomas ran an excellent race. I threw everything I had at him and he answered it.”

  Along with Dejarnette, Atlee placed two other runners in the top 20 to help the Raiders pull off a school best fifth place team finish in the state meet. Sophomore Andrew Catanese finished 17th with a time of 16:32 and junior Wes Steenburgh was close behind in 20th place at 16:36. The other Atlee runners finished well with Andy Hesse recording a time of 17:00, Christian Snider, 17:25,  Josh Bland, 18:01 and Devon Richardson 18:04.

  Oakton won the boys team title with 71 points. Aberlmarle County was second with 117, followed by Douglas Freeman with 149. Atlee finished fifth with 160 only eleven points out of third and a chance to stand on the podium.

  “I think as a team we could have done better today,” Dejarnette said. “Our goal was to be on the podium and that didn’t happen so we’re a little disappointed in that respect. But you look at, if you’d have said to us that you’d finish fifth in the state and you had told us that in August we would have been pretty happy.”

  Though he also felt his team could have done better, Triemplar was no less happy with the finish. “I feel like we’re proud of fifth,” he said. “It’s the highest finish in our school’s history…Catanese and Steenburgh really ran well,”

  Both Lee-Davis runners who competed in the state meet did extremely well.  Out of over 130 runners in each category, Cody Snyder finished in a tie for 43rd among the boys with a time of 16:56 while teammate Stephanie Cario came in tied for 46th among the girls with a time of 20:10.