Cross Country 2008-2009
Liberty District Champions!
Scroll down to read about the meets!
Visit the Cross Country team web site:
http://www.colonialtnf.com/
and check out the
official
team schedule.
Please visit the DSA's website for last minute news and changes to schedules and rosters.

TJ Cross Country Girls

TJ Cross Country Boys
| Schedule | ||
|---|---|---|
| DATE | MEET | LOCATION |
| Sept 6th | canceled |
Burke Lake Park |
| Sept 13th | Knights Crossing Invite – Overnight | Green Hill Park, Salem Va |
| Sept 18th | TJ, Marshall, McLean and South Lakes | Burke Lake Park |
| Sept. 20th | Oatlands Invite | Leesburg, VA |
| Sept 24th | WT Woodson, Stone Bridge, TJ and Langley | Oatlands, Leesburg Va |
| Sept 27th | Carlisle Invite - Overnight | Carlisle, Pa |
| Oct 1st | Stone Bridge, Madison, TJ and Langley | Burke Lake, Va |
| Oct 11th | Glory Days Grill Invite | Bull Run Park, Centerville Va |
| Oct 15th | Liberty District Coaches Festival | Lake Fairfax, Reston |
| Oct 18th | Rockville, Md | |
| CHAMPIONSHIP MEETS | ||
| Oct 22nd | LIBERTY DISTRICT MEET | Burke Lake Park |
| Oct 30th | NORTHERN REGION CHAMPS | Burke Lake Park |
| Nov 8th | VIRGINIA STATE CHAMPIONSHIP | Great Meadows, The Plains, VA |
Head Coach – Matt Ryan
Assistant Coach – Annie Lutz
| Boys | Girls | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Name | Grade | Name | Grade |
| Ryan S Anderson | 9 | Katherine E Bailey | 10 |
| Skyler M Anderson | 9 | ||
| Matthew D Baron | 9 | Sarah Catlow | 12 |
| Samuel F Brinton | 11 | Natalie S Cauley | 10 |
| Zach A Brunt | 10 | Margaret M Coad | 10 |
| Matthew F Callahan | 9 | Colleen C Corcoran | 9 |
| Neal M Chadudhuri | 9 | ||
| Alex X Chen | 9 | Adrienne L Doebrich | 9 |
| Mark Cheung | 11 | Elizabeth R Ellor | 9 |
| William E Dalton | 10 | Emma G Ferris | 11 |
| Edward (Ned) J Danyliw | 9 | Marie J French | 11 |
| Amar N Desai | 12 | Emily C Gale | 9 |
| Maximilian G Dreo | 12 | Laura K Handley | 10 |
| Kyle A Gaarder | 11 | ||
| Timothy M Galvin | 12 | Kelly Ivins-Okeef | 10 |
| Richard W Garrett | 10 | Holly M Jachowski | 10 |
| Logan M Gates | 12 | Lisa M Junta | 10 |
| Dasith Gunawardhana | 9 | ||
| Jacob F Hanger | 12 | Jamie E Kim | 10 |
| Connor T Hann | 9 | Erica J Kuehn | 12 |
| Astin R Housley | 10 | Rachel L Kuprenas | 10 |
| Joseph K Jachowski | 11 | Maren K Leibowitz | 10 |
| Steven T Jackson | 10 | Ayesha Maharishi | 10 |
| William A Johnston | 9 | Ronit E Malka | 10 |
| Dylan M Keightley | 9 | Stephanie E Marzen | 10 |
| Luke W Knepper | 11 | Sarah E Nielsen | 9 |
| Nathan R LaPierre | 9 | Moira Poje | 10 |
| Jongyeop Lim | 9 | Kelly M Rogers | 10 |
| Colin J Maloney | 11 | Kathleen M Ryan | 12 |
| William C Manaker | 11 | Katherine G Sanders | 9 |
| Eric J McShane | 9 | Janet L Schirm | 10 |
| Austin J Neuberger | 9 | Rekha R Schnepf | 9 |
| David T Neuberger | 9 | Neesha R Schnepf | 12 |
| Andrew D O'Shea | 9 | Katherine A Sheridan | 9 |
| Jonathan T Phillips | 10 | Sarah A Stites | 9 |
| Morgan L Pixa | 11 | Sarah C Watson | 11 |
| Ian Rappaport | 11 | Sage Williams | 9 |
| John B Reiter | 10 | Katie Yu | 9 |
| Benjamin Rosenblum | 9 | ||
| Wooram Seok | 9 | ||
| Elliot T Simon | 9 | ||
| Scott Skirla | 10 | ||
| Karl A Sofinowski | 11 | ||
| Joel M Stein | 12 | ||
| Ryan F Stumvoll | 11 | ||
| Shriram K Sundararaman | 9 | ||
| Narendra P Tallapragada | 12 | ||
| Thomas P Tapen | 9 | ||
| Peter H Town | 9 | ||
| Timothy H Tran | 10 | ||
| Shawn Tsutsui | 9 | ||
| Dennis Wang | 11 | ||
| David A Warrington | 11 | ||
| Michael J Wattendorf | 9 | ||
| Alexander J Witko | 12 | ||
| James F Wu | 11 | ||
| Jason Ya | 11 | ||
| Noah Yoo | 9 | ||
| Choong-Seoup Youn | 10 | ||
| Victor G Yu | 11 | ||
| Dmitriy B Zaslavskiy | 11 | ||
| Kerry P Zhang | 9 | ||
| Jacob M Zucker | 9 | ||
| Jacob Miller | 9 | ||
| William Nguyen | 9 | ||
| Sam Nicoll | 9 | ||
| Christopher Rom | 9 | ||
| Sameer Singh | 9 | ||
Team Results
Stites Wins USATF Meet

Photo by Brandon Miles of Milestat.com
TJ freshman Sarah Stites placed first in the USA Track and Field Virginia Association Youth Division competition in Mechanicsville on November 15. Stites completed the 4K race in 15:25, 22 seconds ahead of her nearest competitor. This win qualifies her to compete in the USATF National Cross Country Championships to be held December 13.
TJ Cross Country Runners earn District/Regional/State Honors
- Girls District Champion: Stephanie Marzen
- Girls All-District: Stephanie Marzen, Sarah Stites, Lisa Junta, Katherine Sheridan, Neesha Schnepf, Rekha Schnepf, Sarah Nielsen
- Girls All-Region: Stephanie Marzen, Sarah Stites, Katherine Sheridan
- Girls All-State: Sarah Stites
- Boys District Champion: Alex Witko
- Boys All-District: Alex Witko, Timmy Galvin, Logan Gates, Colin Maloney, Jimmy Wu, Max Dreo, and Joey Jakowski
Congratulations to TJ Cross Country on an excellent season!
TJ Girls Place 3rd at VA State AAA Championship
TJ Boys 7th

TJ Girls 2008 Virginia AAA 3rd Place Team (from left): Margaret Coad, Kate Sanders, Lisa Junta, Stephanie Marzen, Rekha Schnepf, Kathleen Ryan, Neesha Schnepf, Sarah Stites, Sarah Nielsen, and Katherine Sheridan.
The Jefferson girls, running without one of their top runners Lisa Junta, managed a 3rd place finish at the Virginia State AAA Cross Country Championship held in Great Meadows, VA, on November 8, 2008. Jefferson finished with 128 points, just two points behind runner-up Maggie Walker (126 pts). The Midlothian girls claimed the VA AAA XC title for the 4th year in a row with 76 points.
The Jefferson girls were paced by Sarah Stites who placed 4th and earned All-State Honors! It was the highest finish for a Jefferson girl at the State meet since 2000. Sarah ran the 5 K course in 18:30 and was followed by Stephanie Marzen (27th in 19:15), Katherine Sheridan (29th 19:18), Neesha Schnepf (51st 19:46), Rekha Schnepf (70th 20:12), Sarah Nielsen (90th 20:39), and Kathleen Ryan (113th 21:24).
The TJ boys garnered 7th place in a very competitive field. Jefferson boys were led by Colin Maloney who was 37th in 16:39. Colin was followed by Timmy Galvin (44th 16:42), Alex Witko (48th 16:45), Joey Jachowski (65th 16:57), Logan Gates (73rd 17:04), Jimmy Wu (74th 17:05), and Max Dreo (84th 17:13).
The Jefferson boys were making their 8th consecutive appearance at the Virginia State AAA Championship. For the Jefferson girls, it was their first return to the championship race since 2002.
TJ Girls Win 2008 Northern VA Regional Cross Country Championship

TJ Girls 2008 Northern Virginia Regional Champions
L-R: Katherine Sheridan, Stephanie Marzen, Sarah Stites,
Margaret Coad, Neesha Schnepf, Kathleen Ryan, Sarah Nielsen,
Rekha Schnepf, and Kate Sanders.
The Northern Virginia Regional Cross Country Championship race was held on Thursday, October 30, at Burke Lake Park's 2.98 mile cross country course. The Jefferson girls team won their first regional championship since 2000. The Jefferson boys team placed 3rd. Both Jefferson boys and girls teams will compete in the Virginia state AAA championship cross country race on November 8, at Great Meadows in The Plains, Virginia.
The Jefferson girls easily outpaced the runner-up Oakton girls by a score of 69 to 100. Three Jefferson girls earned All-Region Honors: Stephanie Marzen who placed 3rd in 18:01, Sarah Stites 8th in 18:09, and Katherine Sheridan 11th in 18:16. Also placing for Jefferson were Neesha and Rekha Schnepf who finished 18th (18:36) and 33rd (18:59), respectively, Sarah Nielsen 59th (19:24) and Kathleen Ryan 79th (20:03).
The Jefferson boys placed 3rd behind winner Oakton and runner-up Robinson. However, their third-place finish earned them their 8th consecutive trip to the Virginia AAA state meet. Jefferson boys ran as a pack with a very tight 19-second spread between their top five runners: Alex Witko who was 17th in 15:53, Timmy Galvin 20th (15:57), Colin Maloney 28th (16:06), Jimmy Wu 32nd (16:11), Logan Gates 34th (16:12), Max Dreo 46th (16:20), and Joey Jachowski 62nd (16:36).
TJ Boys and Girls Cross Country Teams Dominate Liberty District Competition

Boys' Liberty District Champions (L to R)
front row: Joey Jachowski, Timmy Galvin, Alex Witko, Colin
Maloney, Logan Gates, Max Dreo, Jimmy Wu
back row: Alternates Jonathan Phillips, Carl Sofinowski

Girls' Liberty District Champions (L to R):
Alternates Kathleen Ryan and Kate Sanders, Lisa Junta, Sarah
Stites, Stephanie Marzen, Neesha Schnepf, Katherine Sheridan,
Rekha Schnepf, and Sarah Nielsen
TJ's boys' and girls' varsity squads ran superb races to defend their district titles at Burke Lake on October 22. All 7 girls and 7 boys earned All-District honors by placing in the top 15 times, a first for TJ cross country.
The boys' predominantly senior team was led to victory by district champion Alex Witko who ran the 2.98 mile course in 15:58. He was followed by Timmy Galvin, Logan Gates, Colin Maloney, and Jimmy Wu in places 3 through 6 respectively. Max Dreo and Joey Jachowski placed 9th and 10th. The race was extremely close as there was only a 7 second spread between the first and ninth runner's times. The TJ boys' score was an incredible 19 points. The closest competitor was Woodson High School with a score of 52.
The girl's district champion was TJ sophomore Stephanie Marzen with an outstanding time of 18:01. Marzen was followed by frosh Sarah Stites in 3rd; sophomore Lisa Junta and frosh Katherine Sheridan in 5th and 6th; and senior Neesha Schnepf and frosh Rekha Schnepf in places 10 and 11. Frosh Sarah Nielsen placed 14th. The girls' team earned a score of only 25 points with their closest competitor also being Woodson who earned 64 points.
Marzen, Stites, and Sheridan have all been added to TJ's Burke Lake All Time Performers List. Lisa Junta earned that honor last year in her 2007 regional race.
The boys' teams of Jefferson, Woodson, South Lakes, and Stone Bridge and the girls' teams of Jefferson, Woodson, Langley, and Stone Bridge advance to the regional competition on October 30, also at Burke Lake. The TJ boys will be defending their regional title.
Jefferson JV Cross Country Team Ends Season with Near Perfect Meet
Every cross country coach dreams about the the kind of success the TJ junior varsity boys and girls earned on October 15 at the Liberty District JV Festival. The junior/senior boys and the girls took all five top spots for perfect meet scores of 15 each. The freshman/sophomore boys missed only one place for a score of 21. Coach Matt Ryan said, "The kids ran very well… I was proud of their performances."
Senior Max Dreo placed first in the jr/sr boys race with a time of 17:27. He was followed by juniors Will Manaker 17:50; Karl Sofinowski 17:57; David Warrington and senior Scott Skirlo 18:22.
In the girl's competition, freshman Rekha Schnepf was the winner with a time of 20:16. She was followed by senior Kathleen Ryan 20:52; sophomores Ronit Malka 21:11 and Kelly Rogers 21:16 and freshman Kate Sanders 21:26.

TJ girls team pushes off at the start of the 5K Liberty District JV Festival race
The frosh/sophomore boys race was won by sophomore Jonathon Phillips 17:21. Second and third places were won by freshmen Michael Wattendorf 18:00 and Andrew O'Shea 18:04; fifth place went to sophomore JB Reiter with a time of 18:17.

TJ Upperclassmen Boys push off at the start of their 5K Liberty District JV Festival race
As a result of their times, Rekha Schnepf and Jonathon Phillips have won a place on the TJ varsity squads which will compete in the Liberty District competition, October 22 at Burke Lake Park.

Early in the race, the TJ girls, led by Senior Co-Captain Kathleen Ryan, ran as a pack and pulled away from their competition in the long grass of Lake Fairfax Park
When asked to comment about his recent win, Jonathon Phillips stated, "You run 'til you drop!" If the TJ team keeps up that philosophy and stays injury free, then their continued success is certain.

Jonathan Phillips runs away from the field in the Boys 9-10 race
Jefferson Varsity Girls Outpace Lake Braddock for First Place Win at Glory Days Invitational
October 11, 2008

L to R: Coach Matt Ryan, Stephanie Marzen, Katherine Sheridan, Rekha Schnepf, Sarah Nielsen, Neesha Schnepf, Lisa Junta, Sarah Stites, Assistant Coach Annie Lutz
Earning their fourth win in as many meets, the TJ girls varsity cross country team overwhelmed the nearest competition in their 5K event at Bull Run Park with a score of 89 to 148. Three Jefferson girls earned medals in the top fifteen places: freshman Sarah Stites placed second with a time of 18:43, Stephanie Marzen placed 8th with a time of 19:10, and Lisa Junta placed 13th with a time of 19:18. Katherine Sheridan and Neesha Schnepf placed 24th and 42nd respectively. Every girl on the team achieved either a season's or personal best time.

Sarah Stites sprinting to the finish line to earn second place for TJ Varsity girls.
Also placing first were the TJ freshman boys who were led by Michael Wattendorf who placed 8th with Andrew O'Shea placing a very close 9th. Both boys times were recorded as 18:05. Jacob Zucker, Elliott Simon, and Dylan Keightley rounded out the team.
The TJ varsity boys placed a sixth in their event and the JV boys placed third.
TJ Boys and Girls Varsity XC Teams Win
Liberty District Quad Meet
Burke Lake was the site of an October 1 Liberty District League cross country meet among Thomas Jefferson, Langley, Madison, and Stone Bridge high schools. TJ runners put out some great performances including many individual personal records.
The boys varsity, paced by Will Manaker (17:09), easily won their quad meet as TJ captured the top six spots as Will was followed by Dave Warrington in 2nd place (17:23), Scott Skirlo in 3rd (17:35), and Karl Sofinowski Ian Rappaport, and Sam Brinton in 4th, 5th, and 6th places respectively.
In the girls race, Sarah Stites led TJ to victory with a top 15 TJ All-time performance at Burke Lake of 18:45. Sarah easily outpaced defending Liberty District XC Champion Lauren Shaw of Langley who finished second in 19:04. Katherine Sheridan came in 3rd (19:07). Remarkably, places 7 through 15 were captured entirely by TJ runners.
TJ junior varsity boys were led by Jonathon Phillips (16:49), who gave a spirited performance only to be nudged at the finish line by Langley runner, Tommy Bylund (16.48). Also finishing strongly for the TJ JV boys were Michael Wattendorf in 5th and Andrew O'Shea in 6th.
TJ Girls Cross Country Team Wins Second Consecutive Invitational
After easily winning the Oatlands Invite's girls varsity B race in Leesburgh, VA, on September 20, 2008, the Thomas Jefferson girls cross country team continued their winning streak with a dramatic victory in the Girls Reebok Challenge Race over some of the top girls teams from Pennsylvania at the Carlisle Invite in Carlisle, Pennsylvania, this past Saturday, Sept. 27, 2008. Jefferson outran 27 teams including 2nd place Cumberland Valley High School (Pennsylvania) by a score of 118 versus 129. Jefferson was led by their outstanding freshman runner Sarah Stites who finished the 5 kilometer course in 9th place with a time of 19:13. Also placing for Jefferson were Stephanie Marzen (21st in 19:47), Lisa Junta (31st in 19:55), Katherine Sheridan 34th in 20:04), and Neesha Schnepf (43rd in 20:13). The Jefferson girls junior varsity team placed second in the JV race and was paced by freshman Rekha Schnepf (20:47) who claimed 1st place out of nearly 300 runners.

Thomas Jefferson girl's cross country team with their 1st place trophy at the Carlisle Invite in Carlisle, PA, on Sept. 27, 2008. The team includes (from left): Katherine Sheridan, Sarah Stites, Lisa Junta, Neesha Schnepf, Sarah Nielsen, Margaret Coad, and Stephanie Marzen.
The Jefferson boys varsity and JV teams placed 13th and 3rd, respectively at Carlisle.
TJ Cross Country Season Off to Fast Start
The TJ Cross Country season got off to a great start on Saturday, Sept. 13, at the first meet of the season — the Knights Crossing Invitational in Salem, VA — where the Boys Varsity and JV teams won their 5K races! Both Girls Varsity and JV teams earned 2nd place finishes just a few points behind Blacksburg High School in both events. The TJ teams were competing against 32 other schools from across Virginia, Tennessee, and West Virginia.
Both girls and boys 2008 Cross Country teams welcomed large numbers of new runners from the class of 2012. Eleven freshmen girls and 33 freshmen boys have bolstered the ranks of Jefferson's fleet-footed distance running teams. TJXC teams have a strong history of success. Both girls and boys teams will be defending their District championships this fall. In addition, the boys team will be defending both Regional and VA State Championships this fall. As a matter of fact, the TJ boys XC team has won the VA state XC championship 3 of the last 6 years! And Coach Ryan was named "Metro Coach of the Year" last year by the Washington Post.
If you have never witnessed the excitement, emotion, and physical effort encompassed in a cross country meet, plan on attending one of TJ's upcoming meets. Curious fans are invited to visit the TJXC website for meet schedules, detailed meet results, and additional information.

TJ XC Boys Varsity Cross Country Team wins 1st Place in the Boys A Division at the Knights Crossing Invitational on Sept. 13, 2008, in Salem, VA. Team members are (from left): Jimmy Wu, Colin Maloney, Alex Witko, Timmy Galvin, Logan Gates, Will Manaker, and Max Dreo.

TJ XC Girls Varsity Cross Country Team wins 2nd Place in the Girls A Division at the Knights Crossing Invitational on Sept. 13, 2008, in Salem, VA. Team members are (from left): Sarah Stites, Lisa Junta, Emily Gale, Neesha Schnepf, Sarah Nielsen, Kathryn Sheridan, and Stephanie Marzen.

TJ XC Boys JV Cross Country Team wins 1st Place in the Boys B Division at the Knights Crossing Invitational on Sept. 13, 2008, in Salem, VA. Team members are (from left): Thomas Tapen, Zach Brunt, Jacob Hanger, Jon Phillips, Steven Jackson, Scott Skirlo, Joey Jackowski, Luke Knepper, Joel Stein, Victor Yu, Karl Sofinowski, Sam Brinton, Ian Rappaport, Elliot Simon, Michael Wattendorg, Dave Warrington, Shawn Tsutsui, JB Reiter, Jacob Zucker, Ryan Stumvol, and Andrew O'Shea.

TJ XC Girls Varsity Cross Country Team wins 2nd Place in the Girls B Division at the Knights Crossing Invitational on Sept. 13, 2008, in Salem, VA. Team members are (from left): Laura Handley, Elizabeth Ellor, Holly Jackowski, Kelly Ivins-O'Keefe, Sarah Watson, Kathleen Ryan, Katie Bailey, Rekha Schnepf, Kelly Rogers, Marie French, and Erica Kuehn.