After year of absence, Invitational returns backs strong

NEWPORT NEWS, VA -- Last year, the Christopher Newport Cross Country Invitational was forced to be cancelled due to torrential rains and flooding the weekend of the meet. The meet bounced back from the setback this year though with outstanding performances from individuals and teams participating in the meet.

In the boys blue division, Kempsville senior Jeff Hedley won over Thomas Jefferson junior John Piersol as Hedley crossed the line in 16:02.58 with Piersol coming in at 16:11.70. Piersol got a little bit of revenge though as his team beat out Hedley's team for first place as Thomas Jefferson finished 9 points ahead of Kempsville with 87 points.

The fastest time of the day wasn't recorded in the more competitive boys blue division but rather in the less competitive boys silver division. That individual was York senior Allen Carr who ran a smoking time of 15:48.37 on the fast and flat Newport News Park 5K course. Carr, one of the top runners in AA, has started off his senior season real well as he took home and individual title last weekend winning the Fork Union Invitational in 15:28. Carr also paved the way for his team to take the team title for the silver division as they just edged Mills Godwin out by 3 points with their 128 point total. Also competing in the silver division was Thomas Dale sophomore Alex Tatu, who the week before took 3rd in the same Fork Union race as Carr. In this race however, he moved up to second, beating out another talented sophomore for third, Alex Clayton from Tallwood. Tatu came in at 16:10.90 and Clayton took third with his time of 16:24.58.

Another runner continuing their winning streak from the Fork Union Invitational was Thomas Jefferson senior Jeannie Addison who just destroyed the competition. She came across the line in a blazing time of 18:43.9. She was a full minute ahead of the competition with Amory Ceravich of Maury finishing second at 19:43.5. Addison's team took second however with 65 points as the Kempsville girls scored 50 points by placing 4 runners in the top 15.

It was a good day for the York cross country team as not only did Allen Carr win an individual title and the boys team won a team title, but the girls also won a team title with winning the girls silver division. Without a true "stud", the York girls made us of a tight pack to manage a total of 146 points which was 10 points better than second place Prince George.

Fairfax senior Caitlin Dempsey recorded the second fastest girls time of the day as won the girls silver division race easily in a time of 19:00.90.