One theme tying the cross country teams of Battlefield and Brentsville District together after the state meet on Saturday is that both programs are building toward something substantial but aren't there just yet.

The Brentsville girls ended up placing ninth as a unit at Great Meadow in The Plains during the Group AA race. Meanwhile, their counterparts at Battlefield ended up in 13th and the BHS boys checked in 12th.

None of the runners had a particularly outstanding day, at least judging by the statistics provided by MileStat.com. Battlefield's Haben Zemichael ended up in 15th place among those running as members of a team, but finished 24th among all runners, clocking in at 16:19. That put him 45 seconds out of first place.

The Bobcat boys' next best finish came from junior Connor Lee (16:46), who crossed the line in 37th among team runners. He was followed by junior Luke Mazzu (42nd, 16:55), sophomore Ryan Miller (66th, 17:18), junior Cameron Henken (81st, 17:26) junior Brandon Lee (84th, 17:28) and sophomore Aaron Hill (111th, 19:16).

For the BHS girls, Northwest Region champion Nicole Carter ended up in 22nd place among team runners but 31st overall with a time of 19:14. Sophomore Ellison Grove (40th, 20:02), junior Hannah Schwennesen (68th, 20:38), senior Rachel Thompson (76th, 20:46) and junior Sarai Arbus (77th, 20:47) rounded out Battlefield's top five. Junior Kristen Loehle (88th, 20:57) and sophomore Kelsey Goodwin (92nd, 21:11) also ran for the Bobcats.

Battlefield head coach Jeff Michaelis noted that both Zemichael and Carter, the only two current Bobcats to compete at states last year, both improved their times from the 2010 state championship.

"In general, I was extremely pleased," said Michalis, though he mentioned he was hoping for a Top 10 finish.

The Bobcats are only set to lose one senior (Thompson) between the boys and girls teams. The could bode well for them when the post-season comes next year as many varsity runners will have state-level experience.

"I think we can set our goals next year on improving our place in the region and improving our place at the state meet," said Michaelis.

Haley Ruiz led all Brentsville runners, clocking in at 20:26, which put the junior in 37th place among runners competing on teams (55th overall). After her for the Tigers came junior Gillian Lowe (40th, 20:29), senior Lindsey Bradshaw (41st, 20:29), freshman Nicole Egan (59th, 21:01) and senior Maria Ulisse (62nd, 21:05) in the top five.

Senior Isabel Longenecker (72nd, 21:20) and freshman Maddie Stanley (21:27) ended up sixth and seventh for Brentsville.

The girls team ended up in states after finishing second in the Region II meet. The Tiger boys did not qualify either as a team or as individuals.

Explaining how the girls' team even made states at a time when the school lost so many athletes due to the opening of Patriot, Bradshaw said, "I think what the coaches push is a really hard work ethic... We still have a bright future ahead of us."

Ruiz highlighted the team's ability to work well together as individuals, marked in part by the many of the runners usually finishing each race as a pack.

Bradshaw mentioned that, while the lead runners do not slow down, those trailing are encouraged to pull even and stick together.

"The coaches set really high expectations and at first we didn't know if we would achieve (them) because of the loss of our top seven," said Ruiz.

In order to get back to states next year, Brentsville will need to do on both sides what Battlefield must do in capitalizing on their new-found experience.

According to boys' runner Alan Komisarcik, "We still have a few more years of strength." He added that the Tigers are boosting "a lot of potential in our younger runners."

His teammate Kyle King mentioned that the Evergreen District title held by Brentsville this year at a time when the Tigers were basically considered an afterthought in the running world the team members that "we have it in us" to compete and win.

Komisarcik said one lesson he and other Tigers should heed next year is to report injuries when they occur, not just try to run through them all the time.

"It's better to take a shot to your pride than to the team," he said.

That said, the senior added, "I definitely would like to see (the team's) work ethic remain the same."