VHSL GROUP AAA
Central Region Meet
Saturday, November 4th
Pole Green Park - 5K
Mechanicsville, VA
RESULTS: Varsity Boys - Varsity Girls - Sub-Varsity Boys - Freshmen Boys - Freshmen Girls
Central Region Meet Audio Interviews - MileStat.com\'s Brandon Miles interviews Midlothian senior M.C. Miller and Midlothian junior Jason Witt.
Central Region Meet Photo Galleries by John Herzog: Varsity Races - Freshmen & Sub-Varsity Races - Photos from Brandon Miles to come as well.
Central Region Meet Video Clips - Varsity races posted. Sub-varsity and freshmen to come.
Brief meet summary:
The Southeast #1 ranked boys and girls teams from Midlothian certainly did not hurt their legitimacy as the state and region\'s top ranked squads.
The Midlothian boys simply destroyed SE #4 Hermitage with six runners ahead of Hermitage\'s second finisher to win by 44 points with a team score of 25 points. The Trojans averaged 16:05 on the Pole Green Park 5K course with regional champion Jason Witt (15:37), Mark Merritt (3rd, 16:04), Jonathan Mellis (4th, 16:08), Thomas Cole (9th, 16:18), Michael Hammond (11th, 16:21), and Tommy Reese (12th, 16:22) making for an impressive top six.
Meanwhile, the Midlothian girls were able to put an insane number of seven under 19 minutes at Pole Green with Kathleen Lautzenheiser (2nd, 18:12), Leia Lautzenheiser (3rd, 18:13), M.C. Miller (5th, 18:33), Paige Johnston (11th, 18:51), Samantha Dow (13th, 18:53), Christine Selander (14th, 18:58), and Amy Witt (15th, 18:59)..Midlothian averaged 18:32 on the 5K course and finished 52 points ahead of Douglas Freeman with 34 points.
AAA #1 ranked Kristen Wolfe had an amazing run to break 18 minutes with a time of 17:58 as she will be tough to beat next at Great Meadows as will both Midlothian teams. Wolfe is the first runner to break 18 minutes on any Pole Green course and joins returning Foot Locker Nationals All-Americans in Aurora Scott (17:59) and Catherine White (17:51) as the only Virginians to dip under 18 minutes for 5K this season. Wolfe is heading down to compete in her first Foot Locker South later this month to see if she can earn her way to San Diego for nationals.
One of the stories of the meet was great freshmen class of girls that is now found within the region. Six of the top 15 finishers in the varsity girls race were freshmen with the Lautzenheiser twins, Hanover\'s Lauren Hopper (8th, 18:48), Maggie Walker\'s Clarissa Schick (9th, 18:48), James River\'s Ali Hummelberg (12th, 18:52), and Midlothian\'s Amy Witt. The region has definitely looks to continue to improve with great individuals and teams for the future.
The Midlothian girls beat a very strong Douglas Freeman that stands a good shot at making it onto the state meet podium. Not to be completely overshadowed by Midlothian\'s dominant team performance, the Lady Rebels averaged 19:20 as a team on the 5K course with Casey Fowler (10th, 18:49), Katherine Selko (17th, 19:22), Jamie Machich (18th, 19:25), Sonja Lokensgard (19th, 19:27), Anne McKinnon (22nd, 19:37), and Andie Chernau (23rd, 19:53) all ran under 20 minutes.
The Colonial District was well represented with three of the top four finishing teams, which will be moving onto the state meet with Freeman (2nd, 86 pts), Maggie Walker (3rd, 104 pts), and Deep Run (4th, 123 pts). Maggie Walker was led by two top ten individuals in sophomore Susannah Piersol (6th, 18:37) and freshmen Clarissa Schick (9th, 18:48) running personal best times. Meanwhile, Deep Run senior Courtlin LaReau certainly is a fast learner of the sport as the two-sport athlete (volleyball) looks to be an All-State caliber cross country runner after a sensational fouth place run of 18:28.
The Hermitage boys can definitely regroup in one week to make a state meet podium run after finish fourth in last year\'s AAA state race. Hermitage has a great front runner in John Vial, who broke 16 minutes for the first time to take regional runner-up honors to Midlothian\'s Witt in a time of 15:57. A Hermitage pack of three in (Ben Hendrick (15th, 16:26), Walter Kidd (16th, 16:29), and Nathan Puckett (17th, 16:31) just fell off of the Midlothian pack of runners in the later stages of the race. Hermitage\'s Roger Cooke (28th, 16:48) and Bryan Moorefield (29th, 16:49) both ran personal bests as the team\'s fifth and sixth runners, but expected a better run from Kieran Lee (40th, 17:01) as the team\'s fifth man.
The war that was waged for the last two state meet spots was incredible with only two points separating four teams. Manchester in third and Atlee in fourth tied with 141 points, but the sixth man tiebreaker went to Manchester. However, Atlee still gets to go to states unlike Thomas Dale (5th, 142 pts) and Douglas Freeman (6th, 143 pts) who were heartbreakingly close to making it to Great Meadows. Manchester senior Andrew Duty showed his colors and they bleed Lancers blue and orange as he raced with two stress fractures in his tibia to a sixth place finish of 16:14 to help lead his team back to the state meet.
Eastern Region Meet
Thursday, November 2nd
Bells Mill - 5K
Chesapeake, VA
RESULTS: Boys - Girls Team Scores - Boys Team Scores
Meet Summary:
Great Bridge senior Kristy Tobin definitely made a statement with her 18:12 run at Bells Mill 5K course in Chesapeake at the Eastern Region Meet. Tobin successfully defended her regional championship and also made the rest of the state aware that she stands just as good of a chance at walking out of Great Meadows next Saturday with the state championship than anyone else. Last year as a junior, Tobin had a 18:42 best at Bells Mill while ending up finishing third in the AAA state race with a time of 18:17. Based off her performance at the regional meet, Tobin definitely has a sub 18 performance in her for the state meet.
Great Bridge also claimed the regional team championship for the second year of a row as teammates Jayna McGehee (10th, 19:42) and Anna Hawkins (11th, 19:43) joined Tobin on the All-Region team.
Great Bridge (59 pts) finished 11 points ahead of Ocean Lakes (70 pts) with the team title as Beach District champions had four underclassmen in the top 20 with Stacey Nobles (5th, 19:18), Natalia Kuhn (2nd, 19:45), Peri Bowman (16th, 19:53), and Anne Reiner (17th, 20:05).
Southeastern District champions Western Branch slipped to third with 83 points in a competitive team field with three teams in contention for the team title. The Lady Bruins had three All-Region performers in Callen Powers (3rd, 18:59), Kayleigh Lewellyn (2nd, 19:19), and Casey Gresham (14th, 19:46).
Tallwood junior Octavia Rinehardt certainly is glad to be out of the Northern Region. Last fall, Rinehardt competed for West Potomac in Alexandria and failed to qualify for state competition as she finished 18th in the regional meet despite a solid time of 18:44 at Burke Lake\'s 2.98 mile course. Rinehardt would have probably qualified for the Northern Region Meet if she had stayed at West Potomac anyways though if she raced like she did at Bells Mill by posting a 5K personal best of 18:54 as the regional runner-up
The Hickory boys with 62 points won the team championship as expected with Beach District champs Ocean Lakes 20 points back in second place. Hickory averaged 16:44 as a team on the 5K course with three All-Region performers and all six finishers in the top 30 places. The senior trio of Andrew Earehart (4th, 16:15), Andrew Zohorsky (6th, 16:23), and Johnny Hume (9th, 16:37) led the Hawks with top ten runs.
Ocean Lakes had no individual in the top ten, but was well packed soon after the tenth finisher with 27 seconds separating their first finisher in David Jeffers (12th, 16:44) from their fifth finisher in Corey McFadden (22nd, 17:11.45).
Cox finished third as a team with 114 points as the Falcons were led by individual region champion Eddie Judge as he won by three seconds over Gloucester junior Doug Fenstermacher (16:08) in a final time of 16:05. Fenstermacher\'s Gloucester boys (122 pts) took the final state meet spot in fourth.
Northern Region Meet
Thursday, November 2nd
Burke Lake Park - 2.98mi
Fairfax Station, VA
Northern Region Meet Photo Gallery - Just a sample of what is to come. All Ted Plunkett photos are posted, but plenty more are coming from Brandon Miles and Ronnie Presley!
Northern Region Meet Video Clips
Northern Region Meet Audio Interviews - MileStat.com\'s Brandon Miles interviews Northern Region individual champions Mike Spooner of West Springfield and Sarrah Hadiji of W.T. Woodson
Meet Summary:
Some of the bigger stories of the Northern Region Meet were not the actual winners, but the runners-up with surprisingly strong second place individual showings from Yosef Tessema of Robert E. Lee and Elizabeth Heath of West Potomac and regional runner-up team performance from a young West Springfield girls\' squad.
A rare sight of a runner within distance of West Springfield senior Mike Spooner with less than a quarter mile in the race with Robert E. Lee\'s Josef Tessema within 10 seconds of Spooner at the Northern Region Meet. Spooner was never challenged though as he captured his second straight regional title in 14:55, but Tessema had a surpisingly strong second place run of 15:01.
W.T. Woodson senior Sarrah Hadiji tested herself with a quick early pace and the 2005 AAA state runner-up and the rest of the field held up as Hadiji nearly broke into the all-time list at Burke Lake\'s 2.98 mile course with a swift time of 17:34, while seven runners dipped under 18 minutes including a great runner-up race from Elizabeth Heath of West Potomac at 17:45.
The defending AAA state champion Oakton boys (63 pts) came ontop in a big clash between three of the state\'s best teams with Thomas Jefferson (87 pts) in second and West Springfield (103 pts) in third with three All-Region performers in Joe Lorusso (5th, 15:15), Matt Saunders (6th, 15:16), and Alex Nissen (12th, 15:36).
Meanwhile, the Lake Braddock girls (56 pts) are returning to the state meet as a team after a year absence with the Northern Region championship trophy as the Lady Bruins were led by a third place run from Michelle Presley (17:54) and big comeback performance from Christine Moore (12th, 18:17). West Springfield girls (108 pts) were the biggest team surprise taking second with four freshmen in their top five.
Northwest Region Meet
Thursday, November 2nd
Panorama Farms - 5K
Charlottesville, VA
Meet Summary:
The path to regional championship did not take long for the Mountain View boys. Only in the school\'s second year of existence, Coach Dave Davis has put together one of the best boys teams that the Northwest Region has seen in a while as Mountain View averaged 16:45 on Panorama Farms 5K course and won by over 50 points with a team score of 31 points. Mountain View was led by individual region champion Thomas Porter as he clocked in at a time of 16:14 to win by 11 seconds over E.C. Glass junior Nathan Richards (16:25). Meanwhile, Porter had a total of five teammates joining him on the All-Region team with Max Desens (6th, 16:46), Chris Brown (8th, 16:54), Stephen Henry (9th, 16:54), and Alex Brown (11th, 16:55) all claiming top 15 finishes. The Northwest Region has struggled to the field a team with state meet podium top three potential, but Mountain View has a outside chance with a good day from them and a bad day from others.
Forest Park with 83 points, had three finishers in the top 20 with All-Region performers Zack Williams (10th, 16:55) and Joe Blizzard (12th, 16:57) dipping under 17 minutes, while teammate Ryan Shea (17th, 17:05) was just two seconds off of the top 15.
With two point tear away tag from Nathan Richards outstanding regional runner-up run, E.C. Glass was one of the more surprising teams to take one of the four state meet spots finishing third with 117 points.
The fight for the final states spot was fierce with only four points separating three teams in Colonial Forge (4th, 139 pts), North Stafford (5th, 143 pts), and Osbourn Park (6th, 143 pts).
Rachel Rose is a great example of determined and resilient individual. The defending AAA and Northwest Region champion suffered a mid-season stress fracture that forced her to miss a month of training, yet she returned for last week\'s Commonwealth District Meet to finish right behind teammate Elizabeth Barclay and then one week later defied the odds by winning her second straight Northwest Region cross country title in a time of 18:51. Rose obviously paid her dues during the time off from running due to the injury by cross training vigorously to keep up a high level of fitness. Rose and Barclay were the top two finishers with Barclay only a second behind at 18:52 as they helped qualify Albemarle to their first state meet appearance as a team as the team finished third overall with 111 points. The road to a state title will be significantly tougher for Rose, but regardless of the outcome of next weekend at Great Meadows, she deserves great respect and admiration for making such a quick comeback against tough odds.
Colonial Forge girls won the meet by a wide margin as expected as they finished 49 points ahead of runner-up Forest Park (104 pts) with a team score of 65 points. Colonial Forge had four individuals in the top 15 with Kaylan Comer (5th, 19:30), Kathleen Wade (11th, 19:59), Molly Hawkins (14th, 20:09), and Jordan Zarone (15th, 20:13). Colonial Forge will be in strong contention for a top three state meet podium finish at Great Meadows.
The Western Valley District was able to get a team to advance onto the state meet as the Patrick Henry girls snagged the final fourth spot with 143 spots as the Norbo sisters, Kate (8th, 19:35) and Carter (19th, 20:38), were able to lead the way with top 20 finishes.