Lake Braddock sophomore Kate Murphy finished 28 seconds faster than her nearest competitor during the Conference 7 championship meet on Oct. 30 at Burke Lake Park.

While it took some time for others to arrive at the finish line, Murphy would soon be greeted by a group of familiar faces.

The Lake Braddock girls’ cross country team dominated the competition at the Conference 7 meet, producing the top three finishers, six of the top eight and seven of the top 11 en route to winning the team title.

The Bruins produced a score of 19, followed by South County (70), West Springfield (75) and West Potomac (91).

Lake Braddock graduated four key contributors from last year’s team, including two of the state’s top three finishers in 6A, and has just one senior among its top harriers this season. But that didn’t stop the Bruins from turning in an impressive performance at Burke Lake Park.

“We thought this was kind of a rebuilding year,” Lake Braddock head coach Michael Mangan said. “… We graduated four really important seniors. This young crowd has just gone after it.”

Murphy led the way for Lake Braddock, winning the meet with a time of 17 minutes, 37 seconds. She was the only runner to break 18 minutes.

“I knew she was running fast,” Mangan said, “but I didn’t realize she was running that fast.”

A pair of juniors, Daly Ferguson (18:05) and Sonya Butseva (18:09), finished second and third, respectively, for Lake Braddock. Freshman Sarah Daniels placed sixth (18:20), senior Sarah Riley finished seventh (18:25), sophomore Taylor Kitchen placed eighth (18:28) and sophomore Madison Tippet came in 11th (18:44).

“That was amazing,” Murphy said. “That was the best feeling. It’s even better to know all your teammates are right behind you and we all did so well.”

South County sophomores Faith Zolper (18:16) and Louisa McPherson (18:19) finished fourth and fifth, respectively.

The 6A North region meet will be held today at Burke Lake Park.

The 6A state meet will be held Saturday, Nov. 15 at Great Meadow.