Rachel McArthur, pictured at the Virginia 6A North region cross-country meet in October, continued her stellar season with a win at Nike Cross Nationals Southeast. (Joey LoMonaco/Joey LoMonaco)

Patriot sophomore Rachel McArthur found herself in a tough spot down near the end of her race at Saturday’s Nike Cross Nationals Southeast Regional in Cary, N.C.

McArthur was in a front pack of three girls, sandwiched in between the two other competitors. Elly Henes (N.C.), in third at the time, picked her speed up and moved to the front with the finish line in sight. McArthur, with enough strength remaining, knew she’d have to out-sprint Henes to the tape.

McArthur did and defeated Henes by one second in time of 17 minutes 16 seconds on the 5-kilometer WakeMed Soccer Park course.

“I knew I could be top five, but I didn’t expect to come up at first,” McArthur said. “But at the end I had the energy to win it.”

The win at Nike followed McArthur’s Virginia 6A state championship two weeks ago at Great Meadow. McArthur will now race at the Nike Cross Nationals meet in Portland, Ore., on Dec. 6.

“I’m going to keep doing what I’m doing for this meet,” she said. “I’m going to train, do long runs. I’m just happy to be going to it.”

Lake Braddock junior Kate Murphy placed fifth with a time of 17:31.6 and automatically qualified for the national meet. Bethesda-Chevy Chase senior Nora McUmber (17:46.6), Churchill senior Lucy Srour placing (18:07.0), Oakton sophomore Casey Kendall (18:07.7) and Walter Johnson freshman Abigail Green (18:10.8) all finished in the top 20.

Lake Braddock’s girls earned third place as a team with 143 points and Oakton finished fourth with 176.

Falcons win Nike Southeast

Severna Park’s cross-country team may not feature the kind of front-runner it’s had in previous seasons. But with a great deal of depth, the Falcons were able to capture the boys’ team championship at the Nike Cross Nationals Southeast Regional.

The difference for Severna Park came at the No. 5 spot. Senior Jacob Derlink’s time of 15:53.6 was good for 47th overall and 38th among team participants. Derlink’s finish was the best of any team’s No. 5 runner.

“In these national level competition meets it’s all about the No. 5 man,” Severna Park Coach Josh Alcombright said. “You have to have a compressed gap in order to truly to be in the mix. It’s vital. We saw a bunch of the teams were a little vulnerable at that five spot. We were really confident that our guys weren’t going to be shaken by the big meet.”

Severna Park’s top four finishers — senior Kevin Hines (23rd, 15:37.3), senior Clay Whitney (30th, 15:43.0), junior Andrew Forsyth (34th, 15:45.5) and junior Josh Tucker (43rd, 15:51.6), along with Derlink, got the Falcons a team-best score of 141. With its win, Severna Park will race at the Nike Cross Nationals meet as a team.

Lake Braddock placed third in the Nike boys’ team meet with 159 points. The Bruins received strong races from senior Alex Corbett (fifth, 15:00.5), senior Kevin Monogue (15th, 15:25.1), junior Colin Schaefer (21st, 15:34.3) and junior Ben Fogg (29th, 15:42.7). Corbett’s finish earned him a qualifying spot for the national meet.

Wilde Lake senior David Eisenhauer had a standout day, placing 11th in 15:19.1. Georgetown Day junior Tristan Colaizzi placed 32nd in 15:44.7.

Hunter wins Foot Locker South

Loudoun Valley junior Andrew Hunter has shown the ability to set an early pace without the worry of fatigue setting in. At Saturday’s Foot Locker South Regional in Charlotte, N.C., Hunter was once again looking for his moment to leave the front pack behind. With 1,200 meters to go on the 5-kilometer McAlpine Greenway course, Hunter decided to go ahead and kick to the finish line after noticing the tempo slowing down. From there, the race was his and Hunter clocked in a first-place time of 14:36.

Though he won, Hunter had hoped to break the meet’s course record of 14:28, set by former Chantilly All-Met Athlete of the Year Sean McGorty.

“I realized halfway through the race his record would be very difficult to beat,” Hunter said. “So at that point I just wanted to [run a personal best] and win. Sean’s record was very hard to beat and I hope to go back next year and have a shot at breaking it. But I am very pleased with the win and can’t wait for nationals in two weeks.”

The next best boys’ finisher from the metro area was T.C. Williams senior Anteneh Girma, who finished sixth in 14:59. Chantilly senior Ryan McGorty was 21st in 15:26.

In the girls’ region meet, Heritage freshman Weini Kelati was the top area finisher in fifth place, running a 17:04. Ten seconds behind Kelati and in sixth place was Loudoun Valley senior Ciara Donohue in 17:14. Hunter, Girma, Kelati and Donohue all qualified for the Foot Locker Nationals in San Diego on Dec. 13.