THE PLAINS, VA -- In last year\'s Group A state race, the Clarke County boys tallied a team score of 20 points after putting five runners for an impressive second state team championship. Clarke County returns again this year as a huge favorite and likely to put up another low score as they currently have five runners ranked in the top seven in the state. The Clarke County girls also are favored to repeat as state champions, but not as big of a margin. However, the most interesting and exciting part to look forward to the Group A races this Saturday at Great Meadows will be the battles for the individual titles. In each race, there are two promiment contenders to take the win with 2-time state champion Simon Biddle-Snead of Clarke County and Group A # 1 ranked Nathan Brame of Radford for the boys and Region D champion Brittany Killough of J.J. Kelly and Region B champion Sophia Holmes of Clarke County.
Brame looks to fulfill freshmen year promise and erase freshmen image
The expected battle between the two big Group A rivals in Biddle-Snead and Brame could overshadow a dominant Clarke County team performance and three-peat as plenty of attention and controversy has centered around the two runners over the years through message board discussion on the site. As a freshmen, Brame made some bold predictions heading into the state meet on the MileStat.com message boards, which he did not live up to and few have let him forget. He probably has not been given a fairs hake as few ninth graders are fully mature to have great self-discipline to use proper ettiquete on a webiste message board, but he definitely has been treated like the Terrell Owens of MileStat.com since then. However, unlike Terrell Owens who drops wide open passes and punishes his team with 15 yard unsportsmanlike post touchdown celebration penalties, the now Radford junior has been living up to his billing and performing at a high level all season long.
Brame was defeated by Biddle-Snead in their only encounter this season at the Maymont Festival as he (7th, 16:20) finished eight seconds behind the two-time state cross country champ (5th, 16:12). Some would claim that Biddle-Snead deserves to be ranked #1 in Group A based off of the September head-to-head win over Brame as well as being the defending champion, but Brame\'s win at the same venue this weekend\'s state meet will be held at the Octoberfest Invitational on October 7th had some second guessing who is the better run. In dire conditions at Great Meadows with heavy rainfall and a muddy and flooded course in some parts, Brame defeated a solid field with some of AA and AAA\'s best runners in a time of 17:10. The time does not immediately catch anyone\'s attention, but the runners he beat did including a runner in Thomas Jefferson senior Paul Norland, who had defeated both Brame and Biddle-Snead the week before at Maymont to be one more compelling reasons to elevate to Brame to a #1 ranking in Group A.
Brame has cruised through his district and regional meets since then as he put up nearly identical times of 15:37 and 15:38 at the Three Rivers District Championship and Region C Championships both held at Giles High School\'s three mile course, which does not necessarily produce fast times. Brame was 13 seconds faster than his 2005 Region C championship at Giles.
As mentioned before, Brame has not performed lived up to expectations as even last year as a sophomore, Brame had been tabbed as the #2 guy coming into the state race behind defending champ Biddle-Snead, but ended up finishing ninth and nearly a minute behind the winner at 17:05. Brame picked up a big victory over Biddle-Snead last spring at the Group A Outdoor Track and Field Championships held at Radford University in the 1600 meter run. While a significantly shorter distance than the 5K races in fall, the 4:24 win over Biddle-Snead was a win regardless and confidence booster for this fall.
Biddle-Snead is still the 2-time champ and has not been beaten in XC
Dealing with a pre-state meet challenger is nothing new for Biddle-Snead. He plans to deal with a challenger just as he has always down in the past by finishing ahead of them. Biddle-Snead\'s victory over Brame at Maymont cannot be overlooked. Brame has to have the loss on his conscious as he has still yet to defeat Biddle-Snead in a cross country race.Biddle-Snead\'s fastest time of the season comes from the Glory Days Grill Invitational in which he posted a time of 15:59 to finish ninth overall. However, the race was viewed somewhat of a subpar race despite the fast time as he finished behind some common opponents to Brame from the Radford junior\'s Octoberfest win the week prior including Washington-Lee\'s Chris Tyson and Thomas Jefferson\'s Paul Norland (not in the results due to a disqualification). Biddle-Snead sat out of the district meet, but the team did not necessarily need them as they rolled to another district championship. Clarke County\'s top runner returned for the Region B Meet at Panorama Farms in Charlottesvile to lead an impressive 16 second pack of their top five runners with a 16:41 win. Biddle-Snead certainly could have opened up the spread significantly more racing all out which he will definitely need to do this Saturday, with Brame ready to face off with him.
Could Single A have 2 runners under 16?
With two outstanding and talented runners found in Group A now, could the small public schools of Virginia find themselves having two runners under 16 minutes for 5K on the modified and faster Great Meadows course. Biddle-Snead won in 16:09 last year on the same course and Brame\'s 17:10 in the mud slop at Octoberfest certainly indicates a performance of at least a minute faster if not more in him.
Injuries shot preseason NTN dreams early, but now healthy Clarke County boys looking to make late impressions
It is definitely a showcase year for Group A with the two of the state\'s best individuals in Biddle-Snead and Brame as well as what it appears is a Clarke County boys team finally starting to show their preseason hype into actual race form. The Nike Team Nationals Southeast editor and national committee bought the hype by ranking the two-time defending Group A state champions as high as #3 in the Southeast region in the preseason rankings. However, a decisive early season blow to any Nike Team Nationals hopes as well as giving them a quick exit out of the region\'s top ten rankings was given at the James Wood Invitational on September 9th by an unranked John Handley squad.Being a small school with a small team, the talent pool is not very large, so any injuries and losses to their top seven during the season would be magnified more so than larger AAA schools. With Daniel Callan breaking his leg in August and Ben Veilleux injuring his ankle in the middle of September, Clarke County struggled to compete against area schools such as John Handley, much less against the state\'s top ranked teams.
After limping throug much of the season, Clarke County showed a glimpse of a team getting healthier and stronger at the Glory Days Grill Invitational as they finished fourth among four teams ranked this season in the Nike Team Nationals Southeast regional rankings including beating 2005 AAA state runner-up Thomas Jefferson, who dropped behind Clarke County in the team scoring after their top runner Paul Norland was disqualified in the chute. However, Clarke County also did not have one of their top runners in Veilleux not in the team scoring as well as he was still nursing the ankle injury.
16 second pack at regions
Their regional performance at Panorama Farms was the first time the team was able to race with all of their top returnee runners from last year\'s state champion squad, who was expected to knock heads with the top AAA and AA teams this fall. AA\'s Region II and AAA\'s Northwest Region both held their regional meets over the next two days on the same course at Panorama Farms as Clarke County raced at for the Region B Championships. While Clarke County\'s team average of 16:48 was slower than Northwest Region champs Mountain View (16:45) and Region II runner-up Western Albemarle (16:38) and champion Brentsville (16:23), Clarke County did not nearly have the competition to push them up front to faster times and had the best time spread of all teams at Panorama Farms last week with only 16 seconds separating their top five.However, the Region B Meet revisits the problem Clarke County faced at last year\'s VHSL State Cross Country Championships as the combined state meet scoring was skewed against the team with their times not as fast as the top teams in AA and AA. When five of the top eight finishers are wearing the same singlets, it is a bit tougher to be pushed to fast times than having packs of runners to pull runners along. Not to say teams are not able to run fast with a lack of a deep competitive field as the Southeast #1 ranked Midlothians boys seemed to have no problem posting a 16:05 5K average at their regional meet with six of the top 12 finishers, but is a slightly difference situation in the Group A state race for Clarke County.
While plenty of attention will be focused on the Biddle-Snead and Brame battle and how the Clarke County boys will stack up against the AAA and AA winners, 15 more teams and well over a 100 runners will also be featured in the Group A boys\' race.
Brame to lead Region C champs Radford
Brame will be hoping not only for his first individual state cross country championship, but help his Region C team champion Radford boys improve from their third place showing at last year\'s state race to a runner-up finish behind likely state champs Clarke County. Radford won the Region C Championships by 24 points over Grayson County. Radford had three individuals in the top five with Brame (1st, 15:38), Charles Mogen (3rd, 16:35), and Daniel Harrell (5th, 16:54) and look to at least have two of the three in the top 15 this Saturday at Great Meadows.Page County is ranked third coming in as they are led by the coach\'s son in Ethan Price, who broke up a perfect 15 point sweep by Clarke County at the regional meet by finishing fifth in 16:54. Price is one of the top returning non-Clarke County runners from last year\'s state race as he garnered All-State honors as a junior with a 12th place run of 17:09.
A darkhorse team is Region D champions Clintwood. It is always tough to get a good read on the teams from the far Southwest area of the state as they are geographically isolated from the rest of the state. However, it is historically known that Region D teams and individuals have not faired that well at the state meet. Last year, Clintwood was a distant eighth place.
However, with former AAA All-State runner at Franklin County in Brittany Killough transferring out to Region D\'s J.J. Kelly last spring, there is a bit more of a gauge on how courses in the area could be running compared to the state course. Killough posted a time of 18:47 in last year\'s AAA state race to earn All-State honors for the second consecutive year and just ran a personal best time of 18:22 to win the Region D Meet at Oxbow Lake\'s 5K course. Killough looks to be in shape to match or better her state titme from last year as she has already bettered her time on common courses from 2005 this fall including a 18:25 clocking at Hagan Stone Park in Greensboro, North Carolina after running 18:27 on the course last year.
Her time makes Clintwood\'s three top three of Zach Evans, Evan Vanor, and David Mullins appear to be more legitimiate than previous thought as all three went under 17 minutes to sweep the top three places at the Region D Championships. Evans won in 16:39 with teammates Vanor (16:51) and Mullins (16:53) not far behind. Even if times at Oxbow as high as 20 seconds faster than Great Meadows, Clintwood could have a team with top three podium potential in having a solid top three.
History of success at AAA with 3 All-State runs, Killough now wants her first state championship in Group A
In transition to previewing the girls\' race, Killough is definitely making in impact in her first and last cross country season in Group A. Killough has been one of AAA\'s best and most overlooked cross country runners over the past two years. Killough has great history of closing the season with exceptional state meet performances. Her performance as a sophomore at the state meet for Franklin County was very noteworthy as she garned a third place finish behind two eventual Foot Locker finalists in Melissa Dewey and Aurora Scott as she finished only three seconds behind Scott. Killough is a three-time All-State performer in cross country as she finished 12th as a freshmen in 2003, 3rd as a sophomore in 2004, and 9th as a junior in 2005. However, this weekend in her first Group A race, the senior finally stands a great chance at winning her first state championship.Killough has continued to improve at the smaller school with two major invitational wins at the Run Fer Da Hills Invite and Hagan Stone Park Classic as well as two runner-up finishes to one of Tennessee\'s best runners in Morristown West senior Haley Moody at the Bristol Cross and Trailblazer Invite.
Holmes could become Clarke\'s 2nd state champion in 3 years
Killough will get a strong challenge from Clarke County sophomore Sophia Holmes, who is coming off a big victory at the Region B Championship over another potential challenge for Killough in Bufffalo Gap senior Mariah Hagadone. Holmes posted a time of 19:14 to win her first regional championship by a 15 second margin over Hagadone (19:29). Holmes has raced very well against tough fields this fall at the Maymont Festival and Glory Days Grill Invitational. Holmes was a surprising top 15 finisher in a loaded Maymont field in 12th place at 19:18 to beat some of AAA and AA\'s higher ranked runners. At Glory Days, Holmes posted a new 5K personal best of 18:54 to finish 10th overall against another stacked field. If Holmes were to win, it would be Clarke County\'s second individual state champion in three years for the girls as Danielle Moyer won in 2004 as a freshmen.
Hagadone and Sullivan too talented to look past
Hagadone nor can third place finisher Susanna Sullivan of George Mason at the Region B Meet in Susanna Sullivan be forgotten as possible contenders. Few expected Lori Crotts of Craig County to win last year\'s Group A state title after finishing 21 points behind Kelly Clark at the Region C Meet. However, Crotts not only made up the 21 seconds on Clark at the state meet, but added on 40 more seconds to win by that margin in a final time of 18:15.With the talent that both Hagadone and Sullivan possess, a reversal in finish is not out of the question. If the race comes down to a kick at the end, the advantage goes to Hagadone with a 2:19 800 PR and 5:10 1600 PR to her credit. Hagadone is no slow poke on the cross country course though as she ran 18:57 for 5K at last year\'s Foot Locker South regionals and has a 19:16 best this fall. Hagadone finished fourth in the 2005 Group A state race with the same time.
Sullivan finished one place higher than Hagadone in last year\'s state championship in third at a personal best clocking of 18:58. After having a sensation track season including running 11:01 for 3200 meters, Sullivan had slightly underperformed early on in the season including running nearly a minute slower than Clarke County\'s Holmes at the Maymont Festival in a different race with a time of 20:13. Sullivan had a better outing at Glory Days in closing the gap on Clarke County\'s top runner with a season best time of 19:13. Sullivan came out third in the big regional battle between the big three in Holmes, Hagadone, and herself last Wednesday at Panorama Farms, but looks to catch at least one if not both this Saturday.
Marsico following Clark\'s footsteps at Glenvar
Region C champion Megan Marsico runs in the shadows of former state champion from Glenvar in Kelly Clark, but has certainly shown plenty of promise for the next few years as a freshmen at Glenvar. Marsico has rolled through the competition in championship season including a win by over a minute at the regional meet with a final time of 18:57 on the three mile course at Giles High School. The freshmen will look to test herself against the tough competition she\'ll face in Killough, Holmes, Hagadone, and Sullivan.
Clarke County girls can join boys in making VHSL history...3 in a row for boys and girls
It looks to be another Clarke County sweep of both team championships and if both of Coach Dustin Sweeney\'s teams can clinch the Group A titles, they will become the first teams in VHSL history to win three consecutive state championships for both boys and girls. The odds are looking good for history to happen heading into this weekend.The Lady Eagles are not as dominant as their male counterparts, but still can take care of business and especially with the best duo in Group A with Holmes and sophomore Erin Broy. Broy finished fourth at the Region B Meet in a time of 20:14, but certainly has shown she can run better this fall based off earlier results. Broy was only seven seconds behind teammate Holmes at Glory Days with a personal best time of 19:01 to finish 11th overall. While she may never be the state champion runner she was in 2004, Danielle Moyer is a solid third runner for the two-time state champs after having one of her better runs this season at the Region B Meet to take tenth in 21:11.
Clarke County\'s closest challenger may be the Region B runner-up in Altavista, who finished 16 points behind them in the regional championship. Altavista is led by freshmen Sarah Murphy, who figures to finish in the top 15 after posting a time of 20:33 to take sixth in the regional championships.
Radford could join Clarke County in having state meet podium teams for the boys and girls as the Region C champion girls are ranked #3 in Group A coming into Saturday. They will have to hold off last year\'s third-place state squad Patrick Henry, who finished only nine points behind them in the regional meet at Giles High School.