Happy New Year to all Virginia high school coaches, athletes, and parents. Congratulations on a great 2008 and lets hope for an even better 2009! Just some of the top moments in 2008... Thomas Porter catches all off guard with 3rd place finish at Foot Locker Nationals Jamestown boys winning NXN Southeast Regional & earning trip to Oregon Andrew Colley breaking state meet course record in 15:02 Megan Marsico romping Maymont Field with 17:55 CR Albemarle boys 4x800 and their 7:42 performance at Nike Outdoor Ja-Vell Bullard sweeping Nike 400 meter titles Natalie Baird breaking state record in discus (161-7) Landstown girls win indoor & outdoor state titles including 1st relay sweep outdoor Tynita Butts breaks state indoor record with 1st mark over 20 feet in long jump Western Albemarle boys win national title in DMR with Stutzman anchor Landstown girls split wins in exciting sprint relays battles with ER at Nike Indoor Tasia Potasinski's incredible distance triple at indoor state meet Jason Witt breaks 4:20 in 1600 at Ashe Center David Wilson knocking on the door of a 50 ft triple jump Chris Copeland & Tynita Butts make for VA sweep of high jump national titles at NSIC Plenty more of great moments from 2008! Lets hear some of yours!

Tynita Butts of T.C. Williams is the only female athlete in Virginia who is a state leader in two events as the defending state indoor long jump record holder has the best mark in her specialty with a 18'11.75" long jump mark as well as the state's best performance in the high jump event, which she won the national title at NSIC last March. Butts cleared a US #1 height of 5'9" at this past weekend's Boo Williams Winter Break Invite. Top 50 indoor track rankings per event for Virginia high school girls through December 30th.

  Kellam's Bobby Peavey not only has the state leading time in the 3200 by 11 seconds, but is also the national leader in the event with his 9:08.74 performance on December 13th at CNU. (Photo by John Herzog) Top 50 indoor track rankings per event for Virginia high school boys through December 30th.

Saturday will mark the 50th anniversary of the East Coast Invitational Indoor Track Meet. Renamed the Richard A. Hollander Memorial East Coast Invitational after one of its founding fathers and long time director Richard A. Hollander in 2000, it is the third longest continuous running indoor track meet in the US. January 15, 1960, the first East Coast Invitational was held in the Richmond Arena. Less than 100 athletes from six high schools and seven colleges participated in the 12 events. From this humble beginning it grew to a two day event with over 100 events contested by well over 1500 athletes. By the early 80’s the meet was considered one of the most prestigious in the country.

Congratulations to the following 2008 All-MileStat.com Cross Country Team award winners: Boys Team of the Year: Jamestown Girls Team of the Year: Blacksburg Boys Runner of the Year: Thomas Porter (Mountain View) Girls Runner of the Year: Megan Marsico (Glenvar) Boys Coach of the Year: Buz Male (Albemarle) Girls Coach of the Year: Daniel King (Hidden Valley) Boys Freshmen of the Year: Shaquon Wilkins (Riverbend) Girls Freshmen of the Year: Sarah Stites (Thomas Jefferson S&T) Boys Most Improved Runner of the Year: Jordan White (Great Bridge) Girls Most Improved Runner of the Year: Stephanie Cario (Lee-Davis) Boys Comeback Runner of the Year: Ben Veilleux (Clarke County) Girls Comeback Runner of the Year: Allison Homer (Blacksburg) Full write-up on each award winner to come soon!

Private school team rankings as of December 30th. These rankings were calculated by scoring the performances entered in the database so far this season as a meet. We took the individual rankings and relay rankings and scored them as a normal meet: 10-8-6-5-4-3-2-1. The St. Christopher's boys stand as a serious threat to Fork Union's long streak of Prep League and VISAA State championships, while sister school St. Catherine's currently has looked as the best private school so far this indoor track season.

Team rankings broken down by regions in Group AA. These rankings were calculated by scoring the performances entered in the database so far this season as a meet. We took the individual rankings and relay rankings and scored them as a normal meet: 10-8-6-5-4-3-2-1. #1 ranked teams for each region Region I: Warhill boys & Courtland girls Region II: Louisa County boys & Louisa County girls Region III: William Byrd boys & Jefferson Forest girls Region IV: Blacksburg boys & Blacksburg girls

Team rankings broken down by regions in Group AAA. These rankings were calculated by scoring the performances entered in the database so far this season as a meet. We took the individual rankings and relay rankings and scored them as a normal meet: 10-8-6-5-4-3-2-1. #1 ranked teams for each region Central Region: Deep Run boys & Deep Run girls Eastern Region: Western Branch boys & Western Branch girls Northern Region: South Lakes boys & Lake Braddock girls Northwest Region: Albemarle boys & Osbourn Park girls

Foot Locker All-American Leoule Degfae of Thomas Edison turned in two stellar performances in his distance double at Saturday's F.I.T. Invitational with a US #1 4:18 1600 and US #3 2:32 1000. (Photo by Ted Plunkett) State Best Performances Girls High Jump - Tynita Butts (T.C. Williams) 5-9 US #1 Girls 500 - Genamarie McCant (James Robinson) US #1 Boys 1600 - Leoule Degfae (Thomas Edison) 4:18.54 US #1 Boys 1000 - Leoule Degfae (Thomas Edison) 2:32.92 US #3 Girls Shot Put - Kristen Greene (Thomas Dale) 39-2 US #6 Girls 300 - Tania Minkins (Menchville) 40.65 US #8   12/27 Meet Results: Boo Williams Winter Break Invitational Friends of Indoor Track Invitational CVTF Clinic Invitational   FIT Invite Photo Gallery by Ted Plunkett CVTF Clinic Invite Photo Gallery by Brandon Miles

Performance list for the 2009 East Coast Invitaitonal to be held Saturday, January 3rd at the Arthur Ashe Center in Richmond.

Selections have been made for the 2008 All-MileStat.com Cross Country Team. Seven athletes each are selected for first, second, and third All-MileStat.com teams, while 12 athletes each are given honorable mention. As always, the selection process was very tough with many runners deserving of recognition. Runner of the Year, Coach of the Year, Most Improved of the Year, and Freshmen of the Year award winners will be announced later on Friday.

Revised performance for the 50th annual East Coast Invitational. The meet will now be a one day meet held on Saturday, January 3rd at the Arthur Ashe Center in Richmond, VA. Please take now as this schedule has been significantly changed from the one sent out with the original entry information.

Group AA indoor team rankings as of December 26th. Blacksburg and Louisa County are the top two teams in Group AA for both boys and girls. Joanna Stevens (pictured above by Ted Plunkett) has the fastest times in Group AA at 1000 and 1600 meters to lead the deep distance crew for Blacksburg. These rankings were calculated by scoring the performances in our database currently as a meet.  We took the individual rankings and relay rankings and scored them as a normal meet: 10-8-6-5-4-3-2-1.

Karimah Shepherd with a US #1 mark in the triple jump, Jazmen Townsend in the sprints and jumps, and defending 800 meter state champion Amanda Smith have Grassfield starting out well early this indoor season and appearing to be one of the state's best teams for the year. The Bethel girls are clearly revived once again with some outstanding young talent and depth as the Eastern Region should once again have more than several schools in the running for a state championship. (Photo by Ted Plunkett) Group AAA girls indoor track team rankings as of December 26th. These rankings were calculated by scoring the performances in our database currently as a meet.  We took the individual rankings and relay rankings and scored them as a normal meet: 10-8-6-5-4-3-2-1.

Jordan Hill in the jumps and his Albemarle teammates on the 4x800 meter relay have asserted the Patriots early as a strong contender and threat to two-time AAA state indoor defending champions from Western Branch. (Photo by Ted Plunkett) Group AAA boys indoor track team rankings as of December 26th. These rankings were calculated by scoring the performances in our database currently as a meet. We took the individual rankings and relay rankings and scored them as a normal meet: 10-8-6-5-4-3-2-1.

Performance list for the Boo Williams Winter Break Invitational to be held Saturday, December 27th at the Boo Williams Sportsplex in Hampton.

Seven state best performances came from Saturday's Metro Run & Walk Holiday Invitational, which was the first opportunity for Virginians to get a chance to compete on the new surface at the Prince George County's Sports & Learning Center in Landover, Maryland. Some of the best performances came from the field events with a 18'11.75" mark by Tynita Butts of T.C. Williams in the long jump and 15 foot clearance by Allen Kelly of King's Fork (pictured above by Ted Plunkett). State Best Performances @ Metro Run & Walk Holiday Invite Allen Kelly (King's Fork) 15'0" BPV Adrian Vaughan (South Lakes)  35.45 B300 Vincent Brown (South Lakes) 7.61 B55H Tihut Degfae (Thomas Edison) - 4:24.67 B1600 Tynita Butts (T.C. Williams) - 5'6" GHJ & 18'11.75" GLJ Langley 9:42.99 G4x800 Atlee sophomore Cameron Overstreet (pictured above by John Herzog) is quickly rising to a national caliber level in the pole vault as shown by her two recent meets this past week. Overstreet matched the height of her teammate and returning state champion Emma Dejarnette at Fork Union on Wednesday with both Lady Raiders clearing 11'6" in the vault, which was a PR clearance for Overstreet by nearly a full foot from her 10'7" freshmen year best. Overstreet then cleared an inch higher at Saturday's Green Dragon Relays with a US #3 and state best performance of 11'7". Menchville's Tania Minkins posted a state best time in the 300 meter dash at the Boo Williams Sportsplex on Wednesday with her US #9 40.97 performance.  A huge improvement for the junior, who only broke 60 seconds once in the 400 last year and had a junior year best of 44.57 in the 300. Her performance at Wednesday's meet automatically qualifies Minkins for her first state meet individually. Another Peninsula District athlete in Woodside's Brandon Burton (pictured above by John Herzog) faired well venturing to New York City to compete in the rarely contested 600 meter event at the Bishop Loughlin Games. Burton, the defending Eastern Region 800 meter champion, finished third in the 600 meter race with a time of 1:21.90 as the only Virginian to participate in the meet. Reynaldo Radlin (pictured above by John Herzog), a returning All-State performer in the 55 meter hurdles, was not far off his all-time best clocking in the event Wednesday at Fork Union with his state best and US #5 performance of 7.65. Radlin's best time of 7.60 came in a Northwest Region title last February, so the North Stafford senior is well ahead of schedule to dip under that time later this season. St. Christopher's School owns one of the best indoor facilities in the state and also have of the state's best throwers in Alex James (pictured above by David Fleenor). James has made steady improvements in all three of the home meets at St. Christopher's to start the indoor season with a mark of 50'3" in the first meet on December 5th, 52'0" in the second meet on December 13th, and a state best and US #3 52'6" in the third meet this past Tuesday, December 16th.

Performance list for the 2008 Metro Run & Walk Holiday Invitational to be held Saturday, December 20th at the Prince George County's Sports & Learning Center in Landover, MD.

The cross country season is now officially over, so the focus and coverage of MileStat.com can turn over to the indoor track season and there is plenty of great performances to get excited about it as athletes and relays have already started turning in national caliber times and marks before the winter break. More to come soon from this past week's indoor meets... James Robinson has landed the next superstar in freshmen Genamarie McCant (Photo by John Herzog) as the ninth grader made an impressive high school debut at the UMES Lid Lift Invite with an early US #1 time in the 500 at 1:16.69, while also helping the Lady Rams to swift times of 1:44 in the 4x200 and 4:05 in the 4x400. McCant was one of several newcomers to make their presence felt early this season as Great Bridge freshmen Shakeela Sanders leaped to a leading long jump mark over 18 feet. US #1 Performances: B-500 - Taylor Sykes (Great Bridge) 1:05.42 G-500 - Genamarie McCant (James Robinson) 1:16.69 G-Triple Jump - Karimah Shepherd Grassfield) 40-2.50 B-3200 - Bobby Peavey (Kellam) 9:08.74 B-4x800 - Albemarle 8:00.80 G-4x200 - Bethel 1:44.31 B-Pole Vault - Allen Kelly (King's Fork) 15-0 B-Long Jump - James Taylor (Nansemond River) 23-10 B-High Jump - Justin Jackson (Charlottesville) 6-8 G-1600 - Joanna Stevens (Blacksburg) 5:08.62 G-Long Jump - Shakeela Saunders (Great Bridge) 18-1.50 B-1000 - David Gunnerson (Grafton) 2:34.96 G-4x400 - Menchville 4:01.13 G-High Jump - Nefertiti Smith (Norfolk Collegiate) 5-6 B-4x400 - Western Branch 3:27.69 B-4x200 - St. Christopher's 1:32.70

Photo by Don Rich of PennTrackXC.com Surprise! Surprise! Surprise! If you keep knocking on the door, eventually it should open. Well that door finally opened for Mountain View senior Thomas Porter on Saturday at the 30th Foot Locker Nationals Championships as the three-time qualifier shocked many including his fans back home in Virginia when he found himself running among the top 3 late into the race. Putting himself in great position, Porter held on and fought through the last hill and last mile to finish third overall with a time of 15:26. Porter's broke a six year drought of Foot Locker Finals without an All-American in the boys' race from Virginia and he also had the highest finish by a Virginian since Bobby Lockhart's runner-up finish in 2001. Porter was not the only runner from the state to earn All-American honors with a surprise performance. Thomas Edison senior Leoule Degfae did an amazing job peaking for Foot Locker South to qualify for the national race when few expected him to. Degfae then made the most of his first and only opportunity at Foot Locker Nationals by becoming the 2nd Virginia to earn All-American in the 2008 finals with a 12th place finish of 15:46. Virginia was definitely well represented by two stellar races from the Northwest Region champ Porter and Northern Region champ Degfae. Alex Ott (39th place) and Megan Marsico (38th) both struggled in San Diego against the 40 best high school runners in the nation, but Kyle Satterwhite of Western Albemarle put together a solid race to finish 20th in 15:55 as Virginia ended up having three of the top four finishers from the South Region. Foot Locker Nationals Results: Boys - Girls Race Video: Boys - Girls Video Interviews: Thomas Porter - Leoule Degfae - Megan Marsico Photo Gallery by Don Rich Photo Gallery by Margot Kelly More coverage to come from San Diego.

The Virginians fared well and were great hosts for the 2008 USATF National Junior Olympic Championships held at Pole Green Park in Mechanicsville on Saturday. The Richmond Track & Field Club, consisting mainly of athletes from the Central Region and RIchmond area, saw three of its girls teams finishing among the top three with the youth girls, intermediate girls, and young women division teams all placing third in close team battles for the national title in particular for the intermediate girls and young women. Barbara Strehler of Trinity ran the fastest time among all Virginians to lead the Richmond T&F Club in the young women's division with a third place time of 18:46. Also earning All-American honors in the race with Strehler from Virginia were Herndon's Hiruni Wijayaratne (6th, 19:08), Maggie Walker's Susannah Piersol (11th, 19:26), Cosby's Jenna Moye (17th, 19:49), and Lee-Davis' Stephanie Cario (20th, 20:01). In the intermediate girls' race, Clover Hill sophomore Abby Badura was the top finisher from Virginia and the third place Richmond T&F Club with a 13th place effort of 19:26. Earning All-American honors with Badura were club teammates Clarissa Schick (15th, 19:31) of Maggie Walker and Lindsi Arrington (21st, 19:32) of Gar-Field. Two of the state's best freshmen girls this fall competed in the youth girls 4K race with Sarah Stites (7th, 15:10) of Thomas Jefferson and Megan Moye (14th, 15:19) of Cosby both earning All-American honors with their top 25 finishes in one of the most competitive races of the meet. None of the boys' teams were able to crack into top 3 award finishes, but there were several outstanding All-American individual performances. The young men's 5K race had three All-Americans from Virginia with Thomas Baker of Louisa leading the way in 3rd place with a time of 16:00 and then closely followed by Jefferson Forest's Josh Morris (7th, 16:02) and James River's Ted Richardson (8th, 16:03). It was a great post-season for all three runners as Baker and Richardson both ran well at Foot Locker South in the seeded race with PR runs, while Morris was not far away from qualifying for NXN at the regionals in Cary two weeks ago. Harrison Tucker of St. Christopher's had a busy Saturday as he earned All-American honors in the young men's race early afternoon with a 16th place finish (16:16) and then made it back over to St. Christopher's for a home quad meet and ran sub 10 in the 3200 to place second. He then finished his day accepting his All-American award at Hanover High School on Saturday evening. Ben Dejarnette may be one of the best runners in the state and hold numerous honors, but Atlee teammate Andy Hesse can brag to him that he's now an All-American over him after Hesse took one of the final All-American spots in the intermediate boys race with a 24th place run of 16:42. Another star runner is on his way to join Coach Morgan and the stellar Midlothian program with 8th grader Sean Willard, who earned All-American honors with a time of 13:47 to place 15th in the youth boys' 4K race. USATF National Junior Olympic Championships Photo Gallery by Brandon Miles - 2,124 total photos from all 10 races. USATF National Junior Olympic Championship Race Videos: Young Men 5K - Young Women 5K - Intermediate Boys 5K - Intermediate Girls 5K - Youth Boys 4K - Youth Girls 4K - Midget Boys 3K - Midget Girls 3K - Bantam Boys 3K - Bantam Girls 3K Post-Meet Audio Interviews: Barbara Strehler - Megan Moye - Ted Richardson & Josh Morris - Andy Hesse - Sean Willard Pre-Meet Video Interviews: Coach Holdren Results from USATF.org Bantam Girls  results Bantam Boys results Midget Girls results Midget Boys results Youth Girls results Youth Boys results Intermediate Girls results Intermediate Boys  results Young Women results Young Men results

Lots of racing action going on this weekend with the finale of the 2008 cross country season with five of Virginia's best racing at Foot Locker Nationals in San Diego, while over 3,000 runners around the country will be at Pole Green Park on Saturday for the USATF National Junior Olympic Championships. Megan Marsico will be the lone girl from VA racing at Foot Locker though with strong individual aspirations, while three-time finalist Thomas Porter leads a group of four boys from Virginia.  Meanwhile, a group of Richmond area runners have banded together to form club teams with goals of winning national team titles on a familar Pole Green Park course for the USATF National Junior Olympic Championships. MileStat.com will be on-site with coverage for its final cross country meet of the year on Saturday at Pole Green before turning completely over to covering track meets for the rest of the school year. Our national site MileSplit US will be covering our athletes out in San Diego for Foot Locker Nationals. The indoor season is starting to pick up just before winter break with quite a few invitationals spread out around the state this Saturday including big meets at CNU and Liberty. One of the state's top districts for track & field in the Southeastern District did not even wait till the weekend to arrive and produce some stellar performances inside the Boo Williams Center on Thursday evening for a regular season district meet including a 1:05 500 from Great Bridge's Taylor Sykes, a 40+ foot triple jump from Grassfield's Karimah Shepherd, and near 24+ foot long jump from Nansemond River's James Taylor. Remember that anyone can add photos or videos from meets which you attend!

A course preview video of the new designed Pole Green Park course for this weekend's USATF National Junior Olympic Cross Country Championships.

Heat sheets for this weekend's CNU Winter Frolic in Newport News. Also a revised time schedule is posted at: http://staff.users.cnu.edu/twingard/srn/meetinfo/hsmindoor.html#sched

Performance list for the Wally Gilbert Invitational to be held Saturday, December 13th at Heritage High School in Lynchburg.

The USATF National Junior Olympic Cross Country Championships is typically a meet which is not well represented by high school athletes from Virginia, but this year is different with the national championship meet being held in our backyard at Pole Green Park in Mechanicsville this Saturday. A strong representation of Virginians is also due in large part of the succesful recruitment of athletes to compete for the Richmond Track & Field Club with many of the area's best joining up to form teams in hopes of winning USATF National Junior Olympic team titles for their age groups. Our preview for the meet will be focusing on those "All-Star" club teams for each of the high school age divisions (YM/YW, IB/IG, YB/YG) and the individuals comprising those teams.

Information on the 2008 USATF National Junior Olympic Cross Country Championships, which will be held on Saturday at Pole Green Park in Mechanicsville, VA. MileStat.com will be on-site with coverage and a meet preview is on the way!

Five high school cross country runners from Virginia flew out to San Diego today to compete this weekend in the Foot Locker National Cross Country Championships. Four of them are rookies to the event and will certainly be overwhelmed and likely distracted with the new experience between their stay at the famous Del Coronado hotel, beautiful SoCal weather, the beach, the ice skating rink, all of the free gear, meeting elite professional and high school runners, and the nerves of racing against the 40 best runners in the country on Saturday at Balboa Park. Nothing this weekend will be new for Thomas Porter (pictured right by John Herzog) though as a three-time finalist for the Foot Locker Nationals. Porter had fell short on several occassions of winning that first state title until this past November with his victory in the AAA race at Great Meadows. With the pressure of winning his first state championship off his back, he now turns his attention to the Foot Locker finals, where he has been unable to be competitive at in his two past trips due to being a surprise qualifier and just happy to be there as a sophomore then an injured qualifier and unable to race anywhere close to 100% as a junior. The Mountain View senior is one of only four returning finalist among the 40 qualifiers from the four regions, so his experience could be a huge advantage and potentially help him earn All-American honors with a top 15 finish. The state of Virginia has not produced an All-American in the boys race at Foot Locker Nationals since 2002.

The 30th anniversay of the Foot Locker National Cross Country Championships expects to be a thriller with favorites, wildcards, and past champions in the field. This is the first year that the meet has had to seriously compete for the recruitment of the nation's best athletes for its event with the Nike Cross Nationals adding individual qualifiers to its meet format. There were be several top national harriers either missing or racing on tired legs with a second straight race on the West Coast this weekend after competing in Portland last Saturday for NXN. Many of the nation's best are still coming to Balboa Park as the history of this meet and the title of being a Foot Locker Finalist still holds great significance and pride to the vast majority of high school runners. Brandon Miles of MileSplit US affiliate (VA) site MileStat.com takes a stab at the top 40 for each championship race this weekend.

Preliminary performance list for this weekend's CNU Winter Frolic to be held at the Freeman Center in Newport News.

The Peninsula Ice Breaker served as the opening high school meet at the new Boo Williams Sportsplex indoor track facility, which will host the VHSL Group AAA State Indoor Championships later this season. While a lot of the Eastern Region's top athletes were held out of the meet, there were still enough star power at the meet to produce the most top performances from any meet in Virginia in the opening weeked of indoor track. Phoebus sophomore Crystal Peterson (pictured left by John Herzog) expects to be a rising star in Virginia this year after an outstanding freshmen year. Peterson kicked off her second year of high school track with two first place finishes and state leading times in the sprints of 7.20 in the 55 meter dash and 41.48 in the 300 meter dash. More.. Peninsula Ice Breaker Complete Results

Catch all of the action from the 30th Foot Locker Cross Country Championships live right here on MileSplit. Live coverage from Balboa Park begins around 8am ET on Saturday, December 13.

Results from the first weekend of indoor track & field action in Virginia. The first ever high school meet was held at the new Boo Williams Sportsplex in Hampton this past Friday and Saturday. Peninsula Ice Breaker Liberty Christmas HS Invitational Louisa County Polar Bear Invitational North Stafford Kickoff Invitational St. Christopher's Mini Invite #1  VA State Winter Track Rankings: Boys - Girls

Race video from the championship boys at the 2008 Nike Cross Nationals held Saturday, December 6th in Portland, Oregon.  

Championship girls race video from the 2008 Nike Cross Nationals held Saturday, December 6th in Portland, Oregon.

Realizing a dream of a Foot Locker Nationals berth seemed to look bleak for Kyle Satterwhite (pictured right by Ted Plunkett) when he initially learned that he would be missing nearly all of his summer training due to an undiagnosed stress fracture from last spring's track season. Satterwhite, a returning All-South performer and one of the state's top returning cross country runners, aggressively cross trained to maintain his fitness as best as he could to get ready for his final high school cross country season. The work in the pool paid off as the Western Albemarle senior earned a trip to San Diego for the Foot Locker Nationals with his 7th place finish last weekend at the South regional seeded race in Charlotte. In 11th place with 800 meters to go at Foot Locker South, Satterwhite found another gear despite having already run a hard early pace through two miles to surge up well into top 10 position and as he states, "It would be a very long ride back home if I finished in eleventh place." Always known as a gutsy runner willing to push the pace, Satterwhite will certainly not be afraid to mix it up next Saturday with the 40 best high school cross country runners in the nation for the historic 30th anniversary of the Foot Locker Nationals.

Performance list for this weekend's Liberty Christmas Invitational to be held at the Tolsma Track Center in Lynchburg, VA. Note that a revised performance list with relays will be posted soon.

Battle of the Webbmasters is back! MileStat.com turns 8 years old this month as this site was started back in December of 2000 by a tenth grader from Jamestown High School in Brandon Miles. MileStat.com has become one of the most highly visited high school cross country and track websites in the nation. The site is still maintained and 99% of the work is done by Miles, now a 24 year old high school coach at Clover Hill High School. Take a trip down memory lane and look at some of the old front pages of MileStat.com dating all the way back to 2001!

Photo by Victor Arrieta Allison Homer of Blacksburg is the comeback story of the year in Virginia high school cross country. Homer's junior year was completely lost due to a hip injury, which doctors had told her that she would never run competitively again and recommended that she should try another sport. With the support of her teammates and faith of her coach, Homer went against the advice from the medical professionals, began training this summer to prepare for this cross country season, and surprised many by her return this fall to lead Blacksburg to another state title as the team's #1 runner throughout the season. The journey of a runner certainly can have its share of highs and lows. There were many lows for Homer last year between all the doctor visits to determine what exactly was wrong with her and being forced to stand on the sidelines and unable to run during the cross country and track seasons. She stuck it out though and was determined to not give up on the sport of running. As a result of persistence and refusal to quit, Homer now finds herself headed to Portland, Oregon this week to compete alongside some of the best high school runners in the country at the Nike Cross Nationals. The Blacksburg senior was the fourth individual finisher at the NXN Southeast Regional this past Saturday in Cary, North Carolina to earn an all expenses paid for trip by Nike to compete at the national cross country meet. There will not be a single runner in the field on Saturday who is more deserving of this trip and experience than the resilient Homer.

Photo by Larry Rouse There are several paths to compete at a national high school cross country championships. Ask Kathleen Lautzenheiser. As a freshmen, she competed alongside her teammates at the Nike Team Nationals in Portland, Oregon as the Midlothian girls were selected by a committee based off their championship season performances as well as big win at the Manhattan Invitational. As a sophomore, Lautzenheiser raced alongside the 40 best high school cross runners in the country in sunny San Diego at Foot Locker Nationals after qualifying from the South regional with a top 10 finish in the seeded race. Now as a junior, Lautzenheiser returns back to Portland Meadows and the Nike Campus, but as an individual qualifier without her team in the new format and new named Nike Cross Nationals (formerly Nike Team Nationals). This weekend in Oregon will be a once in a lifetime opportunity for the other individual qualifiers from Virginia and team qualifier Jamestown, but Lautzenheiser on the other hand is growing quite accustomed to making an annual trip to the West Coast every December for a national championship race. MileStat.com's Brandon Miles caught up with Lautzenheiser as she makes her second trip in three years to test her mud running skills at Portland Meadows.

Ben Veilleux and the Clarke County boys represented the "little guys" very well by racing and matching up well against the "big boys" and top teams and individuals in the Southeast region this past weekend at the Nike Cross Nationals regional. The Group A state champions finished only six points away from third place in the team standings to conclude the final season and race under the guidance of coach Dustin Sweeney, who has proven himself as one of the best young coaches in the state. Coach Sweeney has coached multiple state cross country and track team and individual champions, so it is only fitting that his top runner Ben Veilleux give him his first national cross country finalist in his meet coaching the Clarke County boys with Veilleux's fourth place and 15:14 personal best finish at the NXN Southeast Regional. MileStat.com's Brandon Miles caught up with Veilleux prior to heading out to Oregon this week for the Nike Cross Nationals.

Photo by Victor Arrieta One month ago, Josh Hardin was fourth in his regional meet in a time of 16:14. The Potomac Falls senior certainly timed his peak perfectly as four weeks later, Hardin is now headed to the Nike Cross Nationals this week in Portland, Oregon after finishing third at the Nike Cross Nationals Southeast Regional with a personal best time of 15:14. Hardin, an 8th place finisher at the state meet in the AA race, was the top finisher from Virginia in the race this past Saturday in Cary, North Carolina and defeated two state champions in the process in Group A champ Ben Veilleux and Group AA champ Andrew Colley. MileStat.com's Brandon Miles caught up with Hardin as he prepares for a experience and race of a lifetime this weekend at NXN.

Order of events, performance list and meet program for the Peninsula Ice Breaker to be held Friday and Saturday, December 5th and 6th at the Boo Williams Sportsplex in Hampton, VA.

Blacksburg head coach James Demarco was in Portland, Oregon this weekend to support his top cross country runner Allison Homer as she competed in the Nike Cross Nationals.  His team did pretty well in his absence at the Liberty Christmas Invitational by winning both team titles thanks to their depth in the distance races. Distance runners carried the Blacksburg boys  to a team title at Liberty University. Only one week removed from their last cross country race at the NXN Southeast Regional, the Blacksburg boys took advantage of their race sharpness by posting some swift early season track times. Brian Hencke and Matt Howard  (pictured right by Ted Plunkett) both won individual races with Hencke taking the 1000 meter run in 2:36.66 and Howard outdueling 1600 meter winner Josh Morris of Jefferson Forest (4:27/9:34 double) in a photo finish for the 3200 meter win in 9:34.15. Blacksburg had three of the top four finishers in the 1600 meter run behind Morris with Howard (2nd, 4:30.79), George Carter (3rd, 4:32.51), and Brian Hencke (4th, 4:37.52). More... Liberty Christmas HS Invitational Complete Results

Photo by Ben Hovis The state of Virginia was expected to qualify several boys for the Foot Locker Nationals with the strong contigent being sent to compete at the South regional race over Thanksgiving weekend, but Thomas Edison senior Leoule Degfae was not on that list of potential qualifiers. Despite being a Northern Region champion and third place finisher in the AAA state race, his name was overlooked compared to others from Virginia leading up to the race. While some of expected qualifiers are sitting in their classrooms on Thursday, Degfae will be flying out to San Diego, California to compete at the 30th Foot Locker Cross Country National Championships as virtue of his surprising fifth place finish in Charlotte. Degfae anchored home a 4x800 indoor state title for Edison last March and his determination to anchor himself a position in the lead pack at Foot Locker South seeded race has earned him another honor in becoming a Foot Locker finalist. MileStat.com's Brandon Miles interviewed Degfae prior to his trip to Foot Locker Nationals.

While most of the nation’s attention was on the two cross country national championships in San Diego and Richmond, action heated up on the Tolsma Indoor Track at Liberty University in Lynchburg, VA. The Albemarle High Boys ruled the day with their big four burning up the distance and middle distance races, after running a blazing 4x800 relay to start off the day. The short sprints on the boys side were won by a duo from George Washington of Danville for the second week in a row at Liberty. The Blacksburg distance corps hot off a strong cross country season transitioned well into indoor with impressive times on both the boys and girls sides. More...

Photo by Tim Fulton of ArmoryTrack.com       What’s different about the boys from Albemarle this year from last? Is it that they have 3 All-American performances, a state title, and numerous individual honors? Or maybe that they have already run a faster time than they did all of last year in indoor and its only the second week of December. One thing is for sure, the boys on Albemarle’s 4x800 meter relay team this year have the confidence and poise of champions, and will look to return to the podium this year at states and eventually nationals. As they head up to the Loughlin Games in the famous Armory of New York, MileStat.com took some time to sit down with the junior anchor runner of the 4x800 meter relay team in Anthony Kostelac and discuss the history of the team, and the history they will soon hope to make.

Nike Team National Results Boys Championship Race Results VA Team Results 19. Jamestown - 381 pts The Jamestown boys had a great season, but unfortunately did not have a great finish on Saturday at the Nike Cross Nationals in Portland, Oregon. Nationally ranked for much of the season and the NXN Southeast regional champions, the Eagles finished a disappointing 19th place out of 22 teams as the Southeast region boys continue to struggle at the team nationals. The Eagles had to deal with illness of one of their top five runners in Graham Schlickenmeyer this weekend while in Oregon and had subpar races from most of their top seven runners with the exception of junior Colin Mearns. Mearns was a bright spot for the AA state champions with a 28th place finishing time of 15:50. AA state individual champion Andrew Colley struggled for his second straight post-season race as he placed 46th in the field with a time of 16:01. The two Virginian individual qualifiers Ben Veilleux of Clarke County and Josh Hardin of Potomac Falls held their own against the national caliber field. Veilleux was the top finisher from the Southeast region with a 25th place effort of 15:46, while Hardin also ran under 16 minutes in 38th place at 15:58. The lone two Virginia girls competing at NXN also did not fair as well on one of the best course conditions and weather days that the national meet has seen its 5 year meet history. Kathleen Lautzenheiser, ran faster than she did as a freshmen at Portland Meadows for Midlothian, but did not place as well as she wanted to in 52nd place for a time of 18:44. Blacksburg senior Allison Homer, a surprise qualifier out of the Southeast region, finished 96th in her first national cross country championship experience with a time of 19:11. Post-Race Interviews: Ben Veilleux (Clarke County) - Josh Hardin (Potomac Falls) - Colin Mearns (Jamestown) - Allison Homer & Kathleen Lautzenheiser Race Videos: Championship Boys - Championship Girls - Open Boys - Open Girls Jamestown jr Colin Mearns led the Eagles with a top 30 finish Clarke County's Ben Veilleux is the Southeast region's top finisher in 25th place VA Individual Results 25. Ben Veilleux (Clarke County) 15:46.4 29. Colin Mearns (Jamestown) 15:50.9 38. Josh Hardin (Potomac Falls) 15:58.3 46. Andrew Colley (Jamestown) 16:01.6 Girls Championship Race VA Individual Results 52. Kathleen Lautzenheiser (Midlothian) 18:44 96. Allison Homer (Blacksburg) 19:11 Homer competes in first national championship Lautzenheiser competes for 2nd time at Portland Meadows Boys Open Results Girls Open Results