Only one word can really sum up the team competition for this year's meet, stacked. Not only on the girls side but on the boys side as well. In both races we will have at least 10 of the top 20 teams in the state, no other meet can say that they truly bring the best of the best quite like the MileStat.com XC Invitational. Now that you clearly know this is going to be one heck of a meet, let's meet the top teams.
State Team Rankings: Boys - Girls
Boys Teams Preview
Leading the way on paper for this meet is clearly Lake Braddock but since their top runners ran competitive last weekend, very well in fact down south at Disney, they will be running at less then full strength team wise. Aside from them we will have quite the showdown between state #5 Maggie Walker and #7 Douglas Freeman. Right now, without Lake Braddock's top runners running, the virtual meet has the team competition being 205 points to 209 points slightly in favor of the Green Dragons. That shows you just how close they are on paper. But even after those two, things are still very close.
Boys' Top 10 Virtual Meet (Full List)
| # | Team | Score | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Maggie Walker | 205 | 7 | 12 | 18 | 77 | 91 | - | - |
| 2 | Douglas Freeman | 209 | 13 | 40 | 44 | 51 | 61 | - | - |
| 3 | Washington-Lee High School | 279 | 28 | 29 | 64 | 71 | 87 | - | - |
| 4 | Landstown High School | 296 | 11 | 30 | 75 | 88 | 92 | - | - |
| 5 | Warhill | 299 | 37 | 53 | 55 | 60 | 94 | - | - |
| 6 | Grafton High School | 310 | 27 | 33 | 36 | 104 | 110 | - | - |
| 7 | Tabb | 325 | 5 | 10 | 93 | 108 | 109 | - | - |
| 8 | Tuscarora High School (VA) | 367 | 6 | 38 | 50 | 113 | 160 | - | - |
| 9 | Lake Braddock | 391 | 41 | 69 | 70 | 82 | 129 | - | - |
| 10 | Thomas Jefferson S&T | 395 | 39 | 46 | 47 | 85 | 178 | - |
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As the list above clearly illustrates, things are going to be close. These points however will be slightly skewed since some teams will be in Varsity B, but the order should remain quite consistent. Though this list tells us how each team would place, it doesn't tell us some important things that definitely change the picture slightly and that is where these teams have competed.
Maggie Walker, the current favorite for the boys race has run nothing but hard courses this year. Coach Holdren's kids are well versed in the hills and ready to race on a non-hilly course. Knowing that most of their times were run at meets like Newport News or William & Mary or this past weekend at Big Cat, tells you that they still have a lot to show us as a team. They are easily the favorites to win the 2A classification again and will definitely be looking to show everyone what they are all about this weekend.
Douglas Freeman is almost in the exact same position as them on that front as well. Freeman, who are the 5A favorites, have also been running the hills this season. But on those hills they have proven to be quite formittable as a team, winning the Octoberfest Invitational just two weeks ago. At Octoberfest they held on to beat TJ S&T by roughly 20 points, so don't be suprised if TJ makes their way up the team list this weekend either.
In sum, most of these schools have been running on real cross country courses all season and not running at meets like Adidas, DCXC, or Great American and that can skew the rankings a little bit. That being said, these teams are some of the best in the entire state and will likely be the favorites or near the top of every classification's state meet this year.
Girls Teams Preview
Though the boys side of things may have more depth for the teams, the girls team are brining a much harder punch. Aside from Blacksburg, these teams competing could run seriously for any state title in Virginia this year regardless of classification. You have the 1,4,5,6,9 teams from 5A, the 2,6,7,9 teams from 4A, the 1,2,4,6,8,10 teams from 6A and the top team in 2A as well. If Blacksburg and Jefferson Forest were here we could just call this the meet of champions.
With all these teams competing, who will all likely end up on the podium this year at states, there can only be one champion, as cliche as that sounds. Currently leading the way for all these talented teams are the girls from James Madison. These girls are not only deep but they are consistent and talented as well. Then again, there is a reason they are ranked as the top team. Though on paper they are the clear favorite, they also have been a team that has competed at both DCXC and Great American, both of which are very fast courses. They were not the only ones to do that as E.C.Glass, the current runner-up, has competed at Adidas, Great American, and Knights Crossing this season. Though both of these teams should go 1-2 in the team competition, they will however be followed much closer then what it says on paper by Ocean Lakes, Cosby, and Maggie Walker.
It is going to be quite difficult for any team to really challenge James Madison aside from E.C. Glass at this meet. Though the team title race is seeming to be only a two team battle, that doesn't mean this team competition isn't something to watch. This team competition is going to be quite the show for how things may play out this November at States both for the VHSL and VISAA. This meet is basically a preview for a majority of the teams competing at states this year and will be very exciting to see who finishes where amongst their classification counterparts. Be sure to check the results after the meet when we break down the results by classification!
Girls' Top 11 Virtual Meet (Full List)
| # | Team | Score | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | James Madison | 109 | 3 | 5 | 18 | 21 | 62 | - | - |
| 2 | E.C. Glass | 160 | 1 | 11 | 29 | 56 | 63 | - | - |
| 3 | Ocean Lakes | 214 | 16 | 28 | 47 | 48 | 75 | - | - |
| 4 | Cosby | 248 | 9 | 37 | 44 | 78 | 80 | - | - |
| 5 | Maggie Walker | 289 | 4 | 14 | 42 | 101 | 128 | - | - |
| 6 | Tuscarora High School (VA) | 319 | 15 | 55 | 74 | 82 | 93 | - | - |
| 7 | South County High School | 365 | 26 | 39 | 71 | 89 | 140 | - | - |
| 8 | South Lakes | 377 | 35 | 51 | 79 | 92 | 120 | - | - |
| 9 | Saint Catherine's | 378 | 10 | 45 | 86 | 108 | 129 | - | - |
| 10 | Washington-Lee High School | 379 | 22 | 33 | 38 | 57 | 229 | - | - |
| 11 | George C. Marshall | 391 | 7 | 8 | 94 | 139 | 143 | - | - |