Glenvar\'s Kelly Clark wins the girls\' title by 16 seconds and Christiansburg\'s John Horst claims the boys\' title by 39 seconds
Article featured in the The Roanoke Times
SALEM, VA -- Motorcycles filled the parking lot Saturday at Salem Civic Center.
A couple hundred yards away from the two-wheeled speedsters, Glenvar\'s Kelly Clark and Christiansburg\'s John Horst were the fastest things on two legs.
The two juniors were out of everyone\'s class in the Metro Invitational cross country meet, posting easy victories on the 5-kilometer course at Roanoke College\'s Elizabeth Campus.
It was no surprise.
Clark is the reigning VHSL Group A cross country queen, and she took advantage of the absence of defending Metro champion Catherine White of Northside to post a time of 19 minutes, 49 seconds, good for a 16-second margin over runner-up Brittany Killough of Franklin County.
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Clark, who lost to Killough in a meet in Radford earlier this year, never allowed the race to be close.
\"I was actually in like, this very weird zone this morning,\" Clark said. \"I just like, zoned everybody out. I was in my own zone, I guess.\"
Something had to explain why Clark stopped a few steps short of the finish line where meet volunteers had to tell the Glenvar runner to keep going.
\"I guess I just zoned out,\" Clark said.
Clark had room to spare last year in the state meet, topping Maggie Lester of PH-Glade Spring by 18 seconds. Clark appears even stronger this year, breaking a course record earlier this week set by former Hidden Valley star Jennifer Beury.
\"I think I\'m doing better than I was at this time last year,\" Clark said.
Clark was hoping to test herself against Northside\'s White, who bypassed the meet to play in a soccer tournament, said meet director Tony Wirt. Clark finished fourth in last year\'s Metro meet behind White.
\"I was hoping there would be more competition,\" Clark said. \"The more competition, the harder you have to push yourself.\"
The runner-up finish was the second straight for Franklin County\'s Killough, a sophomore.
\"She got me on the hill, and after that it\'s kind of hard,\" Killough said.
Catching Horst will be difficult for anyone in Group AA this year. The Christiansburg runner is bidding to become the second straight Blue Demon to win the state title, following in the footsteps of former teammate Justin Hatch.
\"He helped me out with just about everything,\" Horst said. \"He pretty much told me what to do and how to do it, when to move and pretty much everything I know about racing.\"
Horst was part of Christiansburg\'s powerhouse wrestling program two years ago but he gave up the winter sport, much to the chagrin of his running rivals.
\"My freshman year I was running indoor track and I quit to wrestle, but I couldn\'t get down to my weight,\" Horst said. \"Wrestling helped me out because you\'ve got to be determined to get anywhere. Everyone you wrestle knows the same moves. You\'ve just got to put in more effort. Wrestling helped me out with the mental part of it.\"
Horst, who missed the 2003 postseason with a strained hip flexor, covered the 5K course in 16:39, finishing 39 seconds ahead of Cave Spring\'s Lee Bradshaw, who is hoping to narrow the gap by the time the River Ridge District meet arrives later this month.
Bradshaw edged Northside\'s Zac Edwards for second place by two seconds in 17:18.
\"Right now I\'m running 30 minutes a day and swimming 20 minutes a day, working on my cardio,\" Bradshaw said. \"Hopefully by district, I\'ll catch up.\"
That also goes for Cave Spring\'s team, which finished second behind Christiansburg\'s boys as the Blue Demons claimed five of the top 11 spots.
Cave Spring, led by third-place Nikki Harvey and fifth-place Laurel Sitze, took the girls\' title with 35 points. Roanoke Catholic, minus two of its top five runners, edged Franklin County for second place.