The Beach District Championships were held on Wednesday afternoon at the Sportsplex in Virginia Beach. The Ocean Lakes program coached by Mike Nestor successfully repeated as district cross country team champions for both boys and girls. Their streak of dominance remains in the Beach District as it was the sixth consecutive title for the girls and fifth in a row for the boys. The Ocean Lakes boys (34 pts) cruised to a team title with 42 point margin of victory over a surprising runner-up showing from a Tallwood (76 pts) squad which leapfrogged several other top contenders for runner-up honors. The Ocean Lakes boys had a top five all under 17 minutes and finishing among the top 10 places within a tight 22 second window.
Photo by Ryan Kelly
Meanwhile, the Ocean Lakes girls (1st, 36 pts) had much more pressure and competition in their race with the Princess Anne girls (2nd, 40 pts) breathing down their necks smelling an upset. Only four points separated the top two teams as the battle up front between Audrey Batzel of Ocean Lakes and Lizzie Cornell of Princess Anne symobolized the hard fought struggle between both teams. Batzel won in a solid time of 18:33, but not before being challenged to the finish by Cornell who posted a personal best time of 18:39. Batzel and Cornell will do it all over again in two weeks at Bells Mill Park in Cheseapake with both runners considered the top two runners vying for the Eastern Region title.
Landstown junior Brent Coulter (pictured above by Ryan Kelly) figured to be contending for the district individual title at the start of the season after finishing his outdoor season winning the regional 3200 title, but poor showings in earlier invitationals had him entering today's race as a darkhorse challenger instead of a favorite to win. Coulter put together his best race of the season to defeat pre-race favorite Sean Helmke of Kellam (4th, 16:34) as well as Princess Anne's Matthew Schwartzer (2nd, 16:23) and 2009 Beach District runner-up Jon Winters of Ocean Lakes (3rd, 16:32). Coulter will have an opportunity next year to become a two-time champion, but Schwartzer will also be back to challenge him as a junior as well.
Beach District Championships Meet Page w/ Results
Photo Gallery by Ryan Kelly - 1,077 total photos.
Photo Gallery from the Beach District Championships by Ryan Kelly to be uploaded later tonight.
