Pending the weather holds out and the Great American XC Festival goes on through the wind and rain, we should get a real good showing of the top teams in the Commonwealth of Virginia. Slated to compete down in Cary this wet weekend are Lake Braddock, Blacksburg, Heritage (Leesburg), E.C. Glass, James Madison, and Albemarle. These are the girls who will be toeing the line in the "ROC" Race of Champions.
If you were going off of the team rankings, which can be found here, then we have VA #1,#3, #4, #7, and #15 competing this weekend. The highlight battle though are definitely between Lake Braddock and Blacksburg. This will be the third-to-last meeting between these two powerhouses as Blacksburg's Coach James DeMarco is stepping down after this season. If all goes to plan they will meet twice on this course and once out in Oregon for NXN.
Between the two programs they have absolutely dominated the distance scene in Virginia with both teams winning their fair share of team titles in the past couple seasons. Included in these recent victories was Blacksburg's dominant win at NXR a year ago on this Cary course, with a new group of girls will this be the same scene? They won Great American handedly last year but have some tough competition to get through.
Lake Braddock on the other hand has only run once this season and is ready to flex their muscles. Led by Kate Murphy they could throw down one of the best seasons in Virginia XC history, even ahead of the 2014 Blacksburg squad. This is why this weekend is huge for our state, we never get to see these 3A and 6A powerhouses square off and this could be one of the last times we do!
Aside from those two powerhouses we have Heritage and E.C. Glass vying for 4A bragging rights and obviously some individual bragging rights as well considering both have the best runners in the state in Libby Davidson and Weini Kelati. This will be the first time and last time ever that these two square off in the regular season.
A strong James Madison and Albemarle squad will also be in the ROC and turn some heads for how they have built up a strong squad.
Aside from the teams attending the festival this weekend we have some very stellar teams also in our state including VA #2 Maggie Walker and VA#5 Oakton. Maggie Walker is the two-time defending 2A State Champion team and Oakton is the defending 6A State Champion team. You really cannot count them out until someone beats them head-to-head.
Two 6A South schools in Cosby and Ocean Lakes are also two teams to keep an eye on. Cosby is moving steadily up the rankings thanks to three girls ranked inside the top 25 in the state. They are the only team that has bragging rights for that stat and none are close at this point in catching them there.
Some other teams that deserve mentioning are George C. Marshall, Hickory, Deep Run (all 5A), and Jefferson Forest.
Once again you can check out the full team rankings here
Vote for which team you believe is the best Girls' Team This Season in Virginia!