KEY TURNERS
Washington and Lee return two runners from all USTFCCCCA regions in junior Hayden Roberts (Lutherville, Md./Loyola Blakefield) and sophomore captains Josh Fingerhut (Havertown, Pa./Haverford Township). Schoolmate Jackson Jacobs (Brdigeport, W.Va./Bridgeport) rounded out the scoring for Washington and Lee at the regional championship in Spartanburg, SC, last fall.
Roberts was the 22nd finisher and Fingerhut was the No. 29 to claim their first all-region accolades to help the Generals finish fifth out of 23 schools.
ODAC Championship Meet runners-up Fingerhut and Jacobs earned the All-ODAC laurels along with the deserved former competition rookie. He crossed the finish line third in a field of 90 riders on the 8km course at Bridgewater. Since switching to the conference’s current honors format in 2017, Fingerhut is the first general to win the meet’s rookie in program history, an award given to the top-ranked runner in the conference meet at the first season of cross-country competition.
2019 All-ODAC winners Connor Verrett (Cockeysville, Md./Loyola Blakefield) and Kyle Clarke (Sykesville, Md./Loyola Blakefield) are looking to return to the top of the ODAC, while Chris Ruiz (Highland Lakes, NJ/ Vernon Township), MaxThomas (Winston-Salem, NC/ Mount Tabor), Henry Haden (Atlanta, Ga./ The Lovette School) and Jake Symonds (Emerald Hills, Calif./ Crystal Springs Uplands) are expected to race to the top -7 for W&L and offers plenty of depth to push the competition further down the graduating list.
Newcomers Charles Scharf (Elizabethtown, Pa./Elizabethtown Area) and Colin Verrett (Cockeysville, Md./Loyola Blakefield) will have an immediate impact. Scharf, an L1 law student, competed at Dickinson College during his undergraduate studies. He was named an all-region and national qualifier for the Red Devils. Verrett, Connor’s younger brother, is no stranger to Washington and Lee’s cross-country program and the expectations of generals.
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