T.C. Williams senior Shannon Smythe finished in 26th place in the Group AAA race at the Virginia High School League state cross country championships on Saturday in The Plains.

Smythe was the only runner from coach Mike Hughes’ team to qualify for the race. She finished the 5-kilometer course in 19 minutes, 9 seconds, which marked an improvement of 40 seconds and a climb of 12 places from her finish in the 2009 state championship (Smythe missed out on the 2010 race because of injury).

On the season, Smythe finished 32nd in the state in the combined results from all races. She entered the state championship ranked No. 53 in the state.

At Tuesday’s team dinner, Smythe received Most Valuable Athlete award for the fourth consecutive year.

Smythe and several other top runners from T.C. Williams plan to travel to Charlotte, N.C., over Thanksgiving weekend to compete in the Foot Locker South Region cross country championship.

• Special thanks to Katie Smythe for passing on the news.