Concorde District Meet Preview

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The Concorde District in the Northern Region is often the state\'s toughest and deepest region to get out of as it is not uncommon for a team or individual to barely advance onto the regional meet and end up on the state meet podium as a top three finishing team or top 15 individual. This year will be no exception as Wednesday\'s district championships will be sharing the Burke Lake 2.98 mile course with the Liberty District Meet.

The defending AAA state champion Oakton boys will be heavily favored to defend their district title from a year ago as they were 22 point winners in 2005 over Herndon. Oakton is currently ranked #4 in AAA, #6 in Virginia, and has made an appearance on the Nike Team Nationals Southeast region rankings at one point this fall. Only two runners are back from last year\'s district and state champion squad, but it is very clear that Oakton\'s depth extend past seven runners last year and the case is still the same this fall.

Any coach in the state of Virginia would love to have the depth that Oakton coach Phil Tiller has and it is a testament to his coaching. No greater example than at the recent Glory Days Grill Invitaitonal when Oakton had six runners on the day under 17 minutes for 5K and dozen runners under 17:30. Current AAA #3 ranked West Springfield out of the Patriot District, struggled to get five runners under 17:30 on the day at Glory Days.

The Cougars are led by their two lone members from last year\'s state champion seven in junior Joe Lorusso and senior Alex Nissen. The two seniors have been steady all fall as the team\'s top two finishers.

Lorusso is the second fastest returnee from last year\'s district race as he finished eighth in 2005 with a time of 15:52. Lorusso has had two consecutive solid invite races as the team\'s top finisher at the Maymont Festival (16:29) and Glory Days Grill Invitational as he posted a 16:09 5K best at Bull Run Regional Park.

Nissen has closed a decent gap on Lorusso that existed earlier in the season as he was only one second off Lorusso at Glory Days with a 5K PR of 16:10. Nissen finished 12th in the 2005 Concorde District Championships and is the sixth fastest returnee. Both Lorusso and Nissen figure to be in individual contention for the Concorde District crown.

The Hendricks brothers in Brian and Neal had the next two fastest times from Glory Days with Brian at 16:35 and Neal at 16:43. However, Neal posted his time from the varsity \"B\" race. Matt Saunders (16:47) and Scott Maxfield (16:50) also joined the rest of the Oakton gang in the sub 17 club for the day. Maxfield also posted his time from the varsity \"B\' race. Input both Neal Hendricks and Scott Maxfield into the seeded race at Glory Days and Oakton could have snuck out with a win over now NTN Southeast #6 ranked Quince Orchard of Maryland.

Herndon would have definitely been a squad to challenge Oakton if defending individual champion Abe Dagnachew was not declared ineligible due to being overaged by VHSL standards. However, last year\'s district runner-up squad does return a fair amount of runners from 2005 including an individual favorite in senior Ermin Mujezinovic. Mujezinovic finished fifth in the 2005 Concorde District Meet with a time of 15:24 and is the top returnee. Mujezinovic was stellar on the track last spring as he ran 9:22 for 3200 meters and split a 4:13 1600 meter leg on Herndon\'s All-American DMR squad.

While he has not been as dominant as some might have expected thus far this season, he still has some solid races to show for himself including a recent 16:25 5K run on a tough Virginia Horse Center course at the VMI Invitational to finish second to Blacksburg\'s Peter Dorrell.

Not only does Herndon coach Peter Sherry have the top returnee in Mujezinovic, but three of the top nine with 2005 All-Concorde District performer Matt Giorgis (10th, 15:56) and Adin Kavazovic (17th, 16:20). Herndon\'s issues last year are the same this year with depth, so their front three will need to try and make up for any lack of support from the back pack when facing a team as deep as Oakton.

James Robinson will challenge Herndon for the district runner-up spot as the Rams are led by one of Northern Region\'s best this fall in Dan McHale. McHale has already ran under 16 minutes this fall at Burke Lake. He started off his season accomplishing the task at the Monroe Parker Invitational finishing sixth with a time of 15:53 in nearly a virtual regional meet preview. Robinson is currently ranked #10 in AAA and is the fourth highest ranked team in the region and certainly will need to run well the next two weekends with several teams also looking to snab that fourth and final state meet qualifying spot.

The team battle among the girls is a bit deeper and expected to be fiercely competitive through at least five teams. There is a very decent chance that one of the two state meet podium teams from last year in 2005 state runner-up Oakton or 2005 state third-place Fairfax could not be advancing onto the Northern Region Meet with the strength in the district.

Neither team had to feel good about themselves after finishing quite a distance away from Concorde District rivals Chantilly and James Robinson at Glory Days two weekends ago with Oakton in eighth place and Fairfax in 11th place. Chantilly and Robinson finished second and third respectively in the meet. Westfield was absent from the meet, but certainly is a team that can make bump either Oakton or Fairfax out of a top four finish.

Chantilly was a pleasant surprise at Glory Days as they finished near dead last in the seven team district last year as they finished sixth and only one point ahead of Herndon in the 2005 district championships. However, coach Matt Gilchrist has built a great team this fall around one of the Northern Region\'s best young, up and coming stars in sophomore Lia Divalentin.

Divalentin really came on the state scene during track as she picked up All-American honors in the freshmen at Nike Indoor Nationals and posted a swift 3200 meter time of 11:06 in the spring. Divalentin is favored to win her first Concorde District crown on Wednesday as she has had a strong follow up to her breakthrough track season including already posting a great time of 18:08 to start her season off at Monroe Parker on the Burke Lake Park course.

Gilchrist also has a group of upperclassmen running their best in their later years of high school, which is no small feat as senior Natalie Shaw, junior Kristin Witek, and senior Eileen Foley all are coming off personal best 5K races at Glory Days. Meanwhile, freshmen Hilary Baird joins Divalentin as another underclassmen in their top five.

Winning districts will not be easy for any team as odds are decent for any team to walk out with the crown and Westfield certainly feels they are ready to move one place ahead from last year\'s 2005 district runner-up team. Westfield is the only undefeated team against district competion in invitational races. Westfield even picked up a victory over Oakton across the world and outside of the continental United States at the Iolani Invitational in Hawaii last month.

The Lady Bulldogs are led by one of the better individuals in the district in Tasia Potasinski. Potasinski has had greater success on the track with bests of 5:06 for 1600 meters and 2:15 for 800 meters, but certainly has performed significantly better at the longer distances this fall as the team\'s top runner. Potasinski finished fourth at Monroe Parker Invite in September with a time of 18:45 at Burke Lake and had a solid top 15 finishing in a competive field at the Oatlands Invitational.

Oatlands on September 30th was the last time Westfield faced district competition as they finisehd third in the meet and 28 points ahead of sixth place James Robinson and 44 points ahead of seventh place Chantilly. Westfield has a talented top three in Potasinski, junior Brittany Sevachko, and senior Alexis Deegan. Deegan could definitely be a difference maker if she returns to her championship season form of previous years.

While sophomore Stephanie Bray will be attempting to help James Robinson advance onto the regional and even a run at the team title, it will be even more exciting to see how she and Chantilly\'s Divalentin match up after suffering two defeats to Chantilly\'s top runner earlier in the season then getting her first win at Glory Days.

Bray started off her season with a modest 14th place effort at Monroe Parker, but has steadily improved since then and showed that at the end of September when she finished only one second behind Divalentin at Oatlands with a sixth place run. Bray was the district\'s top finisher at Glory Days when she got her first finish ahead of Divalentin as she pulled four seconds ahead in sixth place in a personal best 5K time of 18:45.

Robinson returns two All-District performers for this year\'s race in sophomores Annie Hovland (4th, 18:09) and Monika Criman (12th, 18:53) to make for a solid sophomore crew for Coach Jeremy Workman to work with for this year and a few more years to come.

Oakton has a lot of depth like their boys squad, but it is just a matter of finding the right seven to put on the line to give the best overall team performance. Coach Scott Raczko\'s team is certainly better than what they showed at Glory Days and will look to redeem themselves at districts. The Lady Cougars return three members of the 2005 AAA state runner-up squad who earned All-District honors in 2005 with Meredith Tighe, Nora Meehan, and Hallie Eilerts.

Fairfax is another team that will need to step it up from what they have shown so far in order to get out of the district with Westfield, Chantilly, and Robinson running well as of late. Fairfax sophomore Frances Dowd certainly has held up to her end of the bargin as she finished eighth at Glory Days with a personal best 5K time of 18:53. She was within striking distance of both DiValentin and Bray at Bull Run and can be an outside threat for the individual title on Wednesday.

However, some of the key returnees from last year\'s third place squad have seen better running days and will need to make a return in order for the team to get out of the district. State meet podium veterans Anne-Marie Duncan and Natalie Auble have been running decent this season, but Jessica Trapeni has struggled all fall. Trapeni ran a 19:07 at the 2004 Glory Days Grill Invitational, but ran over two minutes slower at the 2006 edition of Glory Days.

With the highly competitive nature of the Concorde District Meet, there is bound to be some surprises and unexpected results as well as a great showcase of why it is considered to be one of the best cross country districts in the state of Virginia!