Cross country- all it takes is all you got. On Friday, November 13, girls cross country competed in the 6A state meet. The entire girls team qualified after getting first at conference and third at regionals. Oakton’s seven fastest girls raced at the state meet at Great Meadows at the Plain, Virginia. Representing the boys cross country team for Oakton were Ahmed Hassan and Khalid Abdelraof, both sophomores participating in their first season of cross country.

The conditions for race day could have been better. The temperature, around 55 degrees Fahrenheit for most of the meet, would have been ideal if not for the wind that gradually picked up throughout the day. Because of the rainstorms that had been expected for the day before, the grass had not been mowed and was longer than expected. The wind and longer grass caused for slower racing times than expected.

All of the seven girls who ran at states did a great job, and pulled off a second place win. Lake Braddock got first place, with a final score of 44. Oakton had 76 points, and Madison got third with a final score of 89. Scoring for cross country takes into account the top five runners for each team. First place runner gets one point; second place gets 2 points, and etc. The goal is to get the least amount of points. For the state meet, times didn’t mean as much as passing other runners during the race to get a lower score for the team. In response to getting second at states, captain Jill Bracaglia (12) said, “I’m really proud of everyone, we worked really hard this season and it payed off.” It certainly was a great win for the girls cross country team, and there is a lot of potential moving into winter track and field.