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The achievement was another milestone for the Lady Devils, who had never brought home a state trophy.

“When we started the season, I could see the potential there,” said LHS coach Joanne Webb-Fary, who led the girls to a third-place finish and the boys to an eighth-place spot in the state. “The girls were all so equal in talent. They used Emma [Hand] as a benchmark and they strived to be as good as her.”

The Lady Devils’ best state finish before Saturday’s race at Great Meadows was eighth place in 2006.

Despite not having anybody finish in the top 25, Lancaster’s girls posted a team low 137, 21 points better than fourth-place Altavista. Clarke County won the race for a second straight year with a low 38 points and George Mason was the runner-up with 99.

“When you don’t have anybody in the top 25 and you still come in third, that’s pretty impressive,” said Webb-Fary. “It absolutely shows what a team effort it was. We peaked at the right time.”

Tumarow Morning, who hadn’t won a race for Lancaster this season, found her niche on the hilly terrain in Warrenton. She posted a personal best time of 21:19 as the lead runner for the Devils on the 3.1 mile course. Morning finished 27th out of 128 harriers and followed Northumberland’s Elaine Scerbo across the finish line.

“I don’t think Tumarow realized her potential earlier this season because she’s so team-oriented,” said Webb-Fary. “But she realized in the last couple of meets what she had in her and the state meet really motivated her.”

Morning finished three spots ahead of team favorite Hand, who came in 30th with a time of 21:23. Whitney Spence was 39th in 21:41, Lizzie Jespersen was 57th in 22:09 and Sydney Shivers was 65th in 22:28. Although their scores did not count in team competition, Lancaster’s Jenny O’Shaughnessy was 77th in 22:48 and Marina McGrath was 87th in 23:08.

“Marina, as a sophomore captain, was a very, very strong motivator this season,” said Webb-Fary.

McGrath and O’Shaughnessy are actually the two veteran members of the team as sophomores. The team consists of two sophomores and six freshmen. In fact, all five of Lancaster’s scorers at the state meet were freshmen.

“We should have a pretty strong team for a long time to come,” said Webb-Fary.

Lancaster’s girls went 7-3 this year with a trio of trophies: the championship awards in the district and region and the third-place finish in the state.

The boys’ team, which went 9-1 to win both the district and regional races, placed eighth in the state with a team score of 221. It was also the boys’ best state finish. They finished 12th in 2004 and 2005 and 16th last year.

Aaron Holzbach, who won seven meets this season as the district and regional champion, led Lancaster. He finished 19th out of a field of 127 runners. Prior to Holzbach, Lancaster’s best individual state finish for the boys was by Warren Ruit, who came in 11th at the 2002 Group A race.

Clinton Bennett was 60th with a time of 18:17, Mike Faulkner was 64th in 18:20, Justin Stewart was 65th in 18:22 and Chris Bennett was 79th in 18:48.

Faulkner and Patrick Best, who was 90th at the state with a time of 19:12, are the only returning members of the boys’ team. Five of the top seven are seniors.

“We had a goal to finish in the top five in the state,” said Webb-Fary. “But you never know what the other teams are going to bring. The state race was very fast so we weren’t disappointed with our times at all.

“After finishing 16th last year, eighth was not at all disappointing,” she added. ?ijnuuhiuhiuhiuhiuiuhiuhiuhiuh