BURKE, VA - The annual Northern Region kick-off invitational, the Monroe Parker
Invitational, once again stacked up some of the region\'s best teams and individuals against one
another and has given a clearer picture of what is in store for this cross country season. The
defending Group AAA state champions and NTN SE #8 Lake Braddock girls (98 pts) were upset by the
Westfield girls (62 pts) by a large margin of 36 points. The Westfield girls were led by a third
place finish by junior Alexis Deegan in 18:21, while sophomore teammates Tasia Potosinski (5th,
18:48), Brittany Sevachko (15th, 19:32), Carly Stephens (23rd, 19:45), and Chrissy Esposito (26th,
19:55) finished out a solid top five for the Lady Bulldogs.
Meanwhile Lake Braddock\'s Erin Klein dipped under 18 minutes on the 2.98 mile Burke Lake course to
win the girls\' race convicingly in a time of 17:57 as W.T. Woodson junior Sarah Hadiji took second
in 18:17. Behind race winner Klein, Lake Braddock saw a 55 second spread between their number two
and five runners with sophomore Anna Corrigan (13th, 19:26), junior Michelle Presley (22nd,
19:45), senior Becky Pierce (29th, 19:56), and junior Amy Vu (38th, 20:21). While Coach Mangan has
a solid front runner in Klein, he\'ll need to have the remaining four be tighter packed for Lake
Braddock to have a shot at repeating this fall.
The Thomas Jefferson girls took third place in the competitive meet with 139 points as junior
Stephany Reaves was the team\'s top finisher in fourth place with a solid 18:23 clocking.
Chantilly senior Brad Siragusa started off his 2005 cross country season just as he started his
2004 cross country season with a decisive victory at the Monroe Parker Invitational. Siragusa
crossed the line in a time of 15:18, which was just four seconds slower than last year\'s time, but
he took an important 13 second victory over West Springfield junior Mike Spooner (15:31), who is
considered by many to be one of the contenders for the Group AAA state crown this fall along with
Siragusa. Siragusa will be looking to try and win his first ever state crown after being a
favorite for state titles last year as a junior in cross country and track.
Coach Ryan\'s Thomas Jefferson boys left little doubt that they are the top team in the state and
the defending Group AAA state champions as they simply bullied the field as they finished 78
points ahead of second place West Springfield (141 pts) with a 63 point team total. Leading Thomas
Jefferson on Saturday was a sophomore in Paul Norland as he finished fourth overall with a time of
15:40. Senior Hersh Singh finished one place behind Norland and 14 seconds later at 15:54 in fifth
place. Rounding out the clinic put on by the Thomas Jefferson boys was a tightly bunched three
second pack of junior Kyle Grimsely (17th, 16:29) and sophomores James Komen (18th, 16:30) and
Richard Prevost (19th, 16:31).
West Springfield (141 pts) was able to narrowly hold off Centreville (142 pts) as they were led by
top 15 finishes from race runner-up Spooner and senior Kris Benton (11th, 16:20). Sophomore Ross
Loring (26th, 16:47) and junior Alex Martis were a solid number three and four for the Spartans,
but an big weakness was shown in the fifth spot for the team with their fifth Anthony Truehart way
back in 75th place with a time of 17:39.
The Centreville boys nearly took advantage of West Springfield\'s weak fifth runner, but came up
one point short from the Spartans. The Wildcats\' top three had strong runs as senior John Boatner
(12th, 16:21), junior Mark Hogan (13th, 16:21), and sophomore Nathan Jewkes (16th, 16:27) finished
in a wave together. Centreville though could also be stronger in their key last scoring places as
juniors Keith Salette (46th, 17:09) and Daniel Saboe (59th, 17:19) ran number four and five for
the Wildcats.
BURKE, VA - The annual Northern Region kick-off invitational, the Monroe Parker
Invitational, once again stacked up some of the region\'s best teams and individuals against one
another and has given a clearer picture of what is in store for this cross country season. The
defending Group AAA state champions and NTN SE #8 Lake Braddock girls (98 pts) were upset by the
Westfield girls (62 pts) by a large margin of 36 points. The Westfield girls were led by a third
place finish by junior Alexis Deegan in 18:21, while sophomore teammates Tasia Potosinski (5th,
18:48), Brittany Sevachko (15th, 19:32), Carly Stephens (23rd, 19:45), and Chrissy Esposito (26th,
19:55) finished out a solid top five for the Lady Bulldogs.
Meanwhile Lake Braddock\'s Erin Klein dipped under 18 minutes on the 2.98 mile Burke Lake course to
win the girls\' race convicingly in a time of 17:57 as W.T. Woodson junior Sarah Hadiji took second
in 18:17. Behind race winner Klein, Lake Braddock saw a 55 second spread between their number two
and five runners with sophomore Anna Corrigan (13th, 19:26), junior Michelle Presley (22nd,
19:45), senior Becky Pierce (29th, 19:56), and junior Amy Vu (38th, 20:21). While Coach Mangan has
a solid front runner in Klein, he\'ll need to have the remaining four be tighter packed for Lake
Braddock to have a shot at repeating this fall.
The Thomas Jefferson girls took third place in the competitive meet with 139 points as junior
Stephany Reaves was the team\'s top finisher in fourth place with a solid 18:23 clocking.
Chantilly senior Brad Siragusa started off his 2005 cross country season just as he started his
2004 cross country season with a decisive victory at the Monroe Parker Invitational. Siragusa
crossed the line in a time of 15:18, which was just four seconds slower than last year\'s time, but
he took an important 13 second victory over West Springfield junior Mike Spooner (15:31), who is
considered by many to be one of the contenders for the Group AAA state crown this fall along with
Siragusa. Siragusa will be looking to try and win his first ever state crown after being a
favorite for state titles last year as a junior in cross country and track.