List of schools competing at Saturday's Octoberfest Invitational to be held at Great Meadow in The Plains, VA.

Photos from this past weekend's McDonald's X-Country Festival can be purchased later this week at Brightroom.com. Provide them your email address and bib number and Brightroom will send you an email with a link to your race pictures as soon as they are ready. http://www.brightroom.com/view_event.asp?EVENTID=41287

Coach Patrick Castagno has brought his Tatnall girls to the McDonald's X-Country Festival at Maymont for the past two years and the meet certainly has served a middle of the season measuring point for the top team in the state of Delaware against some of the best teams in the Southeast region. Tatnall finished second In 2006 and sixth in 2007 at Maymont, but their best performances came toward season's end after Maymont to help qualify them for Nike Team Nationals both seasons. The girls from Wilmington, Delaware have to very encouraged at the potential for this year's group after starting off their 2008 season with a huge win at Maymont on Saturday over nationally ranked and Southeast #1 ranked Collins Hill of Georiga on sixth runner tiebreaker. MileStat.com's Brandon Miles interviews Coach Castagno after their season opening win at Maymont.

Photo by Tom Hoerner The Blacksburg girls have been the top program in Group AA over the past few years, but have always been stuck in the second spot when it came to looking state-wide in Virginia in comparison to the Midlothian program, which has won the last three Group AAA state cross country titles as well as qualified for Nike Team Nationals in 2006. The girls from Blacksburg may have just gotten over the hump this past weekend when they finished ahead of Midlothian in the invitational division at Maymont to become the first in-state team to defeat the Lady Trojans in quite sometime in cross country. However, Blacksburg coach James DeMarco and his team know full well that Midlothian will have better days ahead this fall after a subpar major invitational opener. MileStat.com's Brandon Miles interviews the Blacksburg coach after a great weekend for not only the Blacksburg girls, but the Blacksburg boys as their male counterparts appear to be a squad which can make it onto the podium at Great Meadow this November.

Many new schools competing in the invitational division at the Maymont Festival for the first time can find the fields assembled to be intimidating and not perform as well. However, the Collins Hill boys and girls from Sewanee, Georgia did not seem detered at all this past weekend as the girls finished second on a 6th runner tiebreaker to Tatnall of Delaware, while the boys were a big surprise to sneak into second place ahead of several ranked teams and bubble teams in the Southeast region. MileStat.com's Brandon Miles interview the Collins Hill coach Andrew Hudson about his team's performances this past weekend in Richmond.

Trinity's Barbara Strehler won the Coastal Division in a time of 19:14, which was impressive considering 19:13 was the cutoff for a top 10 performance in the more competitive invitational division earlier. A gallery of many of the high school individual race champions from the 2008 McDonald's X-Country Festival at Maymont. Photos included of 14 race champions on the day.

TJ girls knock off top ranked PA teams at Carlisle Invite Photo by Don Rich of PennTrackXC.com Carlisle Invitational (PA) - VA #3 Thomas Jefferson girls went up against the best in Pennsylvania and came away with a huge win and stole the show from the homestate squads. Freshmen Sarah Stites (9th, 19:13) led TJ with a top 10 finish as the squad was 11 points better than ranked Cumberland Valley of Pennsylvania (129 pts) with 118 points. The VA #3 ranked Thomas Jefferson boys did not have as successful of a day as their lack of a front runner was exposed against a stacked field of Pennsylvania's top runners with their top individual finisher at 38th place as the 2007 AAA state champions finished 13th (321 pts) in the field. Ocean State Invitational (RI) - Lake Braddock girls finished 2nd in a field of Northeast regional powers as the only the #16 ranked in the country in the Glastonbury girls of Connecticut finished ahead of the Lady Bruins. Lake Braddock with 120 points held off North Shore from New York (3rd, 123 pts) for the runner-up spot, while Glastonbury won easily wit 90 points. Liana Epstein was the top finisher for Lake Braddock with a top 10 run of 19:14 for 7th place, while rounding out their top five were Casey Lardner (24th, 20:09), Kelly Hagan (26th, 20:14), Nadeen Khoury (31st, 20:27), and Amanda Parker (32nd, 20:28). Chesapeake Invitational - Photo Gallery by Andy Paisley - A preview meet for the Eastern Region Championships at Bells Mill Park saw the Ocean Lakes girls win the team title definitively with five runners in the top 25 including race winner Stacey Nobles at 18:57. Meanwhile, Western Branch boys defeated Ocean Lakes in the first contest of the season between the top two programs in the season. With Kellam's Bobby Peavey competing at Maymont, Western Branch junior Blake Theroux won in 16:10, but not before being challenged by Norfolk Collegiate's Brendan Leavitt (2nd, 16:16) and Ocean Lakes top runner Drew Paisley (3rd, 16:17). Stallion Stampede Cross Country Classic - Photo Gallery by Ted Plunkett - South County boys won their home invite with 5 of the top 9 finishers for a team score of 20 points, while Osbourn Park had two individuals run in Nolan Compton and Richard Arena as the pair finished first and third respectively in the varsity race. South County girls made a sweep of the team titles, while returning All-State runner Madeleine Willner led the Lady Stallions by crossing the line first in a time of 20:26 on the Meadowood 5K course. Bristol Cross (TN) - Christiansburg boys and girls were team runner-ups in the championship divisions at the 17th annual Bristol Cross with Andy Eddleton as the top individual performer for the Blue Demons with his second place effort of 16:42. Marion's Melanie Rice did not compete in the championship race, but her winning time in the small school division would have easily won the top division with a 19:31 clocking. Virginia High School had a 1-2 finish from Kevin Derr (17:35) and Brian Brillhart (17:40) to help their team to a close team victory in the small school division over Patrick Henry with only four points separating the two Group A teams. Valley Invitational - Lord Botetourt's Zeke Hunsberger ended the streak of wins by Jefferson Forest's Josh Morris this fall with a two second victory over the #7 ranked runner in Virginia with a time of 16:45 on the Weyers Cave Community Center 5K course. Jefferson Forest boys easily won the team title with a score of 28 points and six runners among the top 10 finishers. Waynesbor's Meredith Figgatt picked up her first invitational win with a time of 20:31 with 28 seconds separating her from runner-up Whitney Fulk of Fort Defiance. Jefferson Forest girls made it a sweep of the team titles for Coach Loy with a low score of 37 points. Greensboro Invitational (NC) - Chatham's Danielle Beauvais had a strong individual race to run a personal best time of 19:39 to place third in the invitational division. Andrew Rigler of Altavista had the top individual boys performance by a Virginian with his 9th place run of 17:08 in the invitational division.

Marsico runs away from field with first sub 18 performance ever at Maymont! Both Megan Marsico of Glenvar and Ben Dejarnette of Atlee earned big wins at Saturday's McDonald's X-Country Festival at Maymont in the invitational divisions, which featured many of Virginia's best as well as strong out-of-state additions. Marsico ran away from a field which included a 4:48 1600 meter runner in Amanda Winslow from Collins Hill (GA) and returning Foot Locker finalist Kathleen Lautzenheiser with a time just under 18 minutes at 17:55 and 27 seconds ahead of runner-up Winslow. Lautzenheiser had a solid run for third as she actually ran faster her 2007 winning team, but it was not the best of days for her top state ranked Midlothian team as the squad finished fourth in the team standings and behind VA #2 Blacksburg, who placed 3rd. It was a thriller for first place though between out-of-state nationally ranked squads in Tatnall (DE) and Collins Hill (GA) as it took a sixth runner tiebreaker to give Tatnall the win over the top ranked Southeast squad Collins Hill. Invitational Girls Team Scores: 1. Tatnall DE - 69 pts 2. Collins Hill GA - 69 pts 3. Blacksburg VA - 116 pts 4. Midlothian VA - 169 pts 5. Hidden Valley VA - 180 pts 6. Science Hill TN - 240 pts 7. Bishop O'Connell VA - 272 pts 8. T.C. Roberson NC - 283 pts 9. Brentsville District VA - 290 pts 10. Eleanor Roosevelt MD - 291 pts 11. Clarke County VA - 294 pts 12. Oak Ridge TN - 298 pts 13. Archmere Academy DE - 312 pts 14. Maggie Walker VA - 313 pts 15. West Springfield VA - 329 pts 16. Millbrook VA - 332 pts 17. Cardinal Gibbons NC - 333 pts 18. Potomac Falls VA - 435 pts 19. Albemarle - 438 pts 20. Western Albemarle VA - 469 pts 21. Deep Run VA - 485 pts Invitational Girls Top 15 Individuals: 1. Megan Marsico (Glenvar VA) 17:55 2. Amanda Winslow (Collins Hill GA) 18:22 3. Kathleen Lautzenheiser (Midlothian VA) 18:31 4. Juliet Bottorff (Tatnall DE) 18:36 5. Nicky Akande (Collins Hill GA) 18:43 6. Allie Scalf (Science Hill TN) 18:53 7. Vicky Winslow (Collins Hill GA) 18:58 8. Katie Beunaga (Tatnall DE) 19:02 9. Haley Pierce (Tatnall DE) 19:08 10. Lindsey Olivere (Archmere Academy DE) 19:13 11. Allison Homer (Blacksburg) 19:25 12. Teshika Rivers (Eleanor Roosevelt MD) 19:30 13. Annie LeHardy (Hidden Valley VA) 19:32 14. Joanna Stevens (Blacksburg VA) 19:33 15. Sophia Holmes (Clarke County VA) 19:40 Dejarnette comes out on top in race of juggernauts (5 of top 6 ranked in VA)! Atlee senior Ben Dejarnette showed very little race rust in his first serious 5K race of the season against a loaded field which included 5 of the top 6 ranked harriers in Virginia as well as a handful of out-of-state stars as well. Dejarnette used the downhill in the re-entry to Maymont Park to pull away from a pack which included current #1 ranked runner Andrew Colley of Jamestown and never relinquished the gap of separation for 15:40 win. Colley finished with a solid runner-up performance in 15:42, but more importantly was part of an impressive team victory for the VA #1 and SE #2 Jamestown boys who placed 3 runners in the top 10 with Colley, Colin Mearns (9th, 16:15), and John Holt (10th, 16:28). Jamestown ran without usual #4 runner Russell Hornsby, but saw the Schlickenmeyer brothers step up in the fourth and fifth spots to secure a win at Maymont quite convincingly. Collins Hill of Georgia had a successful first experience at Maymont with runner-up finishes to show on both sides as their unranked boys slipped into the #2 spot behind Jamestown. Invitational Boys Team Scores: 1. Jamestown VA - 109 pts 2. Collins Hill GA - 138 pts 3. Broughton NC - 181 pts 4. Medina OH - 194 pts 5. James Robinson VA - 202 pts 6. Clarke County VA - 240 pts 7. Blacksburg VA - 240 pts 8. Potomac Falls VA - 255 pts 9. Calvert Hall College MD - 256 pts 10. Atlee VA - 267 pts 11. Green Hope NC - 281 pts 12. Western Albemarle VA - 281 pts 13. Oak Ridge TN - 292 pts 14. Brentsville VA - 349 pts 15. Douglas Freeman VA - 361 pts 16. Albemarle - 377 pts 17. Kellam VA - 381 pts 18. West Springfield VA - 393 pts 19. Thomas Edison VA - 415 pts 20. Spotswood VA - 424 pts 21. Good Counsel MD - 471 pts 22. Maggie Walker VA - 523 pts 23. Montgomery Blair MD - 562 pts 24. Midlothian VA - 634 pts Invitational Boys Top 15 Individuals: 1. Ben Dejarnette (Atlee VA) 15:40 2. Andrew Colley (Jamestown VA) 15:42 3. Kyle Satterwhite (Western Albemarle VA) 15:59 4. Matt Sonnfeldt (West TN) 16:02 5. Donny Roys (Medina OH) 16:06 6. Leoule Degfae (Thomas Edison VA) 16:11 7. Ben Veillieux (Clarke County VA) 16:11 8. Bobb Peavey (Kellam VA) 16:12 9. Colin Mearns (Jamestown VA) 16:15 10. John Holt (Jamestown VA) 16:28 11. Alex Ott (Turner Ashby VA) 16:34 12. Tyler Stutzman (Western Albemarle VA) 16:37 13. Matt Howard (Blacksburg VA) 16:38 14. Josh Hardin (Potomac Falls VA) 16:42 15. Reidy Jones (Broughton NC) 16:43 Maymont Results: Invitational Boys - Invitational Girls - Coastal Boys - Coastal Girls - Silver Boys - Silver Girls - Bronze Boys - Bronze Girls - Private School Boys - Private School Girls - JV Red Boys - JV Red Girls - JV White Boys - JV White Girls - JV Private School Boys - JV Private School Girls - Freshmen Boys - Freshmen Girls Maymont Photos: Riefner Gallery - 1,003 photos total. Hoerner Gallery - 372 photos total. Miles Gallery - 1,375 photos total. More photos to be added. Maymont Race Videos: Invitational Girls - Invitational Boys - More to be added. Maymont Interviews: Megan Marsico (Girls Race Winner) - Ben Dejarnette (Boys Race Winner) - Coach Townsend (Boys Team Champions)

The Midlothian girls and Kathleen Lautzenheiser return as defending champions from last year's invitational division race at the McDonald's X-Country Festival. This weekend will be the first major 5K race of the season for the Group AAA state team and individual champions and both will be given stiff challenges this weekend at Maymont in their "icebreaker" race of the season. Lautzenheiser's losses to in-state competition have been quite rare over the past year. However, a new challenger may be emerging from a small school in Southwest Virginia and this weekend will likely be the only time until the post-season that two of Virginia's best will be in the same race together. Megan Marsico is the state leader at 5K (17:59) and 3 miles (16:58) and has broken several course and meet records including Catherine White's meet record time at the Knights Crossing Invite. She is certainly running at the level of an athlete who has a realistic shot of becoming a Foot Locker finalist, which Lautzenheiser happens to be. Georgia school Collins Hill is making their first trip north to Maymont all the way from Suwanee, Georgia and should make quite a first impression this weekend in Richmond. Midlothian girls are the defending champions in the field, but Collins Hill has to be considered the favorites with a potent lineup which has garnered them a #1 ranking in the Southeast region. Read more...

Liana Epstein leads the Lake Braddock girls to the Ocean State Invite in Rhode Island this weekend against a large field of top teams in the Northeast and New York including NE #2 Glastonbury (CT). (Photo by Ted Plunkett) While a large majority of Virginian high school cross country teams will be competing at Maymont on Saturday, there are also many other meets where teams will be racing at this weekend in-state and out-of-state. Lake Braddock is traveling the furthest as the Bruins head to the New Balance Ocean State Invitational in Warwick, Rhode Island. The Lake Braddock girls, ranked #5 in Virginia, will be competing against some top teams in the Northeast region and from the state of New York including NE #2 Glastonbury of Connecticut. Thomas Jefferson may have avoided direct competition last week at Oatlands having their "A" teams compete in the "B" division, but will not be avoiding top ranked squads this week at the Carlisle Invitational in Pennsylvania as the #3 ranked boys and girls team in Virginia will race against the top 6 ranked boys teams and top 5 ranked girls teams in Pennsylvania. Thomas Porter and Kaitlyn Davis of Mountain View will look to invade Maryland on Saturday and seize first place finishes on the home course for Maryland State Championships at Hereford for the Bull Run Invite. Porter's likely top competition will be Graham Bazell of Altholton High School in Maryland, who was the only runner willing to attempt to challenge Andrew Colley last week at William & Mary. Davis was the top Virginia finisher at Oatlands and will look to pick up her second major invitational victory this season after starting the season with a first place finish at Chancellor. Many teams in the Southwest portion of the state will be headed to Bristol Cross just across the state border in Tennessee. Almost the entire Eastern Region will be at the Chesapeake Invitational to get an opportunity to preview the regional championships course at Bells Mill Park.

The 2008 McDonald's X-Country Festival at Maymont will not only help sort out who will be the favorites for state cross country titles this fall, but also who will be the runners and team seeing themselves racing into December in either Portland or San Diego this season. The Jamestown boys (Williamsburg, VA) have been racing at the Maymont Festival for years and this year's meet could be the most important as the top ranked team in Virginia and #2 ranked team in the Southeast region will be the squad which everyone else in the invitational division will be attempting to measure themselves up against and try to knock off the top ranked school from Williamsburg. The race for first among the top individuals should be even more exciting and wide open with five of the top six ranked runners in Virginia in the field as well as 12 of the top 15. Read more... Pictured left by John Herzog: Andrew Colley of Jamestown is the top individual returnee from the 2007 Maymont Festival as Colley placed 3rd in the invite field behind Peter Dorrell and Jason Witt in a time of 15:39.  

MileStat.com will be providing in-depth coverage of this weekend's big event in Richmond with plenty of results, stories, photos, videos, interviews, and more from the 2008 McDonald's X-Country Festival at Maymont. The invitational division has the featured races of the meet with many of the state's best teams and individuals fighting for bragging rights not only in Virginia, but throughout the Southeast region as many Southeast region ranked teams and bubble teams have made their way to Virginia to compete. Race Videos: Open 5K - Elementary School Boys Mile - Elementary School Girls Mile Teams By Division Starting Blocks by Team and by Race Preview Articles: Invitational Boys - Invitational Girls Sports Backers Preview: Record Entries, Strongest Southeast Field Ever at Maymont Meet Website Last Year's Coverage & Results

The Lautzenheiser twins of Midlothian have been ranked among the top 15 runners in the state of Virginia throughout the fall and now another pair of sisters finds itself ranked among the 15 runners featured in MileStat.com's Cream of the Crop rankings. Cosby senior Jenna Moye, a returning Group AAA All-State cross country runner and her kid sister in freshmen Megan Moye, move into this week's rankings after impressive finishes in a loaded varsity A division last weekend at the Oatlands Invite. The Moye sisters were the second and fourth fastest Virginians on the day with their 8th (Jenna Moye - 19:15) and 12th (Megan Moye - 19:22) place finishes. Tyler Stutzman's second place finish (15:44) to one of the nation's best distance runners Solomon Haile was a great run including defeating the likes of top ranked runners Thomas Porter and Alex Ott, but Jamestown's Andrew Colley gets his shot with the #1 ranking after running the third fastest time ever at the historic Eastern State Hospital course in his 14:47 victory at the William & Mary Invite. Colley and Stutzman will not have to wait long to decide who the real #1 ranked runner is as the two will face off in another loaded field of stars at this weekend's Maymont Festival. New rankings for Group A & private school individuals after 2 week hiatus! Group AAA & AA regional rankings to be posted later Thursday.

Updated state team rankings by MileStat.com as of September 24th. New teams added to the Cream of the Crop top 10 rankings are the Clarke County and Blacksburg boys as well as the Osbourn Park girls.

Entries are now closed for the Octoberfest Invitational to be held Saturday, October 4th at Great Meadow. A total of 81 schools and roughly 4,100 athletes are already entered. Any further entries at this point will be declined by meet management. With the Great Meadow Invite being cancelled in early September due to Tropical Storm Hanna, the urgency increased for schools to get into the second invitational to be hosted at the same venue for the VHSL State Championships. It will certainly be the featured meet of the weekend with many of the state's best competing at Octoberfest.

Jamestown at W&M: 14:47, 15:11, 15:19, 16:14, 16:15 Photos by Tim O'Dowd Oakton ran fairly strong at the Oatlands Invitational in their team win in a huge field assembled for the varsity A division and made a case for themselves to be the #1 ranked team in Virginia, but Jamestown might have made an even strong impression with their team performance at the William & Mary Invitational. Looking at times alone could make the competition in the Southeast region shudder. Granted that the Eastern State Hospital course is not a full 5K course and has been stated as a 3.05 mile course for several years now, but even if the times ran by Jamestown's top five (14:47, 15:11, 15:19, 16:14, 16:15) were listed as three mile times, it would not matter as they ran that fast. Andrew Colley led the VA #1 ranked Eagles with the third fastest high school performances ever on the Eastern State Hospital course with a 14:47 victory. Read more for full story... William & Mary Invitational Results: Varsity A Boys - Varsity A Girls - Varsity B Boys - Varsity B Girls - Varsity C Boys - Varsity C Girls - JV Boys - JV Girls

List of teams by divisions who will be competing at next weekend's McDonald's X-Country Festival at Maymont. A total of 125 schools and 2865 athletes are entered in the 2008 event. (9/22 update) List of Maymont Teams by Division

Note: MileSplit Network had some growing pains with server issues due to our increased traffic load with new state sites having been added as well as existing state sites increasing their traffic as well for a big weekend of high school cross country season across the nation. As a result, viewers had difficulty accessing the site from Saturday evening into early afternoon Sunday. At the same time, webmasters had difficulty updating the site. Please be patient as we get caught up with this weekend's meet coverage on Sunday and into the week as there was plenty of great performances to report! Photo by Tim O'Dowd A great weekend of high school cross country with two major invitationals being contested at the Oatlands Invite with 101 schools and William & Mary with 50+ schools. Out of staters in the Saratoga Springs girls of New York and Solomon Haile of Maryland dominated as expected at Oatlands, while Jamestown senior Andrew Colley clocked a sensational time of 14:47 on the 3.05 mile course at Eastern State Hospital in Williamsburg for the William & Mary. More to come from this weekend including results, articles, photos, videos, and updated rankings! Oatlands Invitational Results: Varsity A Boys - Varsity A Girls - Varsity B Boys - Varsity B Girls - JV Upperclassmen Boys - JV Upperclassmen Girls - JV Underclassmen Boys - JV Underclassmen Girls William & Mary Invitational Results: Varsity A Boys - Varsity A Girls - Varsity B Boys - Varsity B Girls - Varsity C Boys - Varsity C Girls - JV Boys - JV Girls VMI Invitational Results Hilltopper Invitational Results Oatlands Invite Race Videos: Varsity A Boys - Varsity A Girls - Varsity B Boys - Varsity B Girls - JV Upperclassmen Boys - JV Upperclassmen Girls - JV Underclassmen Boys - JV Underclassmen Girls Photo Galleries: Wow! Talk about a close finish! Thomas Jefferson sophomore Stephanie Marzen appeared to have a victory in sight as she approached the finish line in sight while leading the varsity B race at the Oatlands Invite on Saturday. "Not so fast," said Chantilly junior Rachel Grochowski as she closed the gap to be running right on Marzen's heels for the final 100 meters. Marzen appeared to respond to Grochowski and distance herself by a stride or two, but Grochowski made a final surge to the finish line tape to nip her at the end with both being timed at 19:43. (Photo by Ted Plunkett) Oatlands Invitational Photo Gallery by Ted Plunkett - 1,893 total photos Oatlands Invitational Photo Gallery by Brandon Miles - 1,500+ photos Oatlands Invitational Photo Gallery by Dan Larson - 299 total photos WIlliam & Mary Invite Photo Gallery by Tim O'Dowd - 302 total photos  

Can any Virginian stop Solomon Haile at Saturday's Oatlands Invitational? The Ethiopian native competes at Sherwood High School in Maryland and is one of the nation's top returning distance runners after winning national titles in the 5K last year at Nike Indoor and Nike Outdoor Nationals. He will be given his toughest test likely until Foot Locker regionals as five of the top six runners in Virginia will be racing at Oatlands with #1 Tyler Stutzman, #2 Thomas Porter, #3 Ben Dejarnette, #5 Alex Ott, and #6 Kyle Satterwhite. (Photo from mocorunning.com) This Saturday should push the Oatlands Invitational over the top into becoming a nationally recognized event with a huge field of 101 schools featuring some national caliber teams and athletes including the Saratoga Springs girls of New York and Solomon Haile of Sherwood (MD). Both will be heavy favorites in Leesburg despite the fact that most of Virginia's best will be present to give their best against the national powerhouse squad and emerging individual national star.

Let us know if you can contribute photos to MileStat.com at milestat@gmail.com for the following 9/20 weekend invitationals: Augusta Invitational Bill McGough Invitational Hilltopper Invitational Oatlands Invitational VMI Invitational Walkers Run William & Mary Invitationals

The 50th annual William & Mary Invitational will be contested this weekend at Eastern State Hospital. The longest running high school cross country invitational might not be as large and competitive in past years with meets such as Oatlands and Maymont growing to fields of 100 plus schools, but the meet still has a large gathering and will feature some of the state's better runners and teams including matchups of VA #1 Jamestown and VA #9 Western Branch as well as VA #4 Andrew Colley and VA #8 Bobby Peavey. More...

MileStat.com is starting to receive a lot more results from coaches of Wednesday meets, which is great that many coaches are willing to spend the time to type up and send in the results to MileStat.com as it allows their team and athletes as well as other teams who competed in their meet to be able to easily view their results online. These same results are then entered into the site's database and reflected in the athlete profiles and individual/team database rankings. However, more than often the Wednesday results are sent in a format that I must convert into racetab/hy-tek flat html format in order to be able to extract the results semi-automatically into the database. How I do this conversion is by using our results formatting program called Racetab, which has a manual input feature. I create the meet through racetab and then type the results into the program through the manual entry feature. After I'm finished typing the results in then I'm able to generate a flat html version of the results to post on the website and then enter into the site's database. It takes the same amount of time or even less for a coach to type their results into racetab and then email the flat html version of the results than that same coach typing up the results in a spreadsheet or document and emailing the attachment to me. It would immensely help me and allow me to be more productive in publishing more results and entering more times into the database much more quickly. A typical Wednesday meet takes me anywhere from 15-30 minutes to type up the results into racetab to generate a flat html version of the results to post online. Not an incredibly long amount of time, but imagine if I have to do that for a dozen meets in one day? It adds up to a very consuming task as a whole. Now back in my younger days when I was in high school at the start of the MileStat.com, I use to stay up late on school nights typing up results of hard copies from weekend invitationals. That was nuts, but hey it helped the site grow to what is today. However, my site workload is significantly greater than then when it was just a hobby, so it would be greatly appreciated if coaches would explore using racetab for their results formatting program. Take your hard copy home after a meet and type away on racetab to send to me for online posting. I'll be very grateful! I'll still post results obviously not in racetab format and do not want coaches to be discouraged from sending results that are not in racetab format, but still understand it makes my job easier if you use racetab which is not any more difficult or time consuming than typing up the results into a spreadsheet or document format. Racetab creator Jason Byrne has made it even easier to learn how to use racetab by providing video tutorials. Download racetab at http://racetab.milesplit.com/download.html and then watch the tutorial videos at http://racetab.milesplit.com/videos.html Race Tab Tutorial: Creating Your First Meet Race Tab Tutorial: Manually Input Results  

Five Virginia boys teams and four Virginia girls teams are featured in the latest cross country regional team rankings by Marc Bloom and Rich Gonzalez for the Southeast Region. Oakton boys dropped from #1 to #2 in the region, while Jamestown gained a spot from #6 to #5. Thomas Jefferson boys fell 3 spots as well from #3 to #6. Two new Virginia squads are ranked though with Atlee in the #9 spot and Western Branch rounding out the top 10 with the #10 ranking. SE #4 Midlothian and SE #7 Oakton girls maintain their rankings from the previous week, while the Lake Braddock and Blacksburg girls make their first appearances in the rankings this fall as the #8 and #9 ranked squads in the Southeast region respectively. The state is certainly represented well in the latest regional rankings with 9 of the 20 ranked teams in the entire region from the Commonwealth of Virginia. These schools will be tested in the coming weeks with big showdowns looming at Oatlands and Maymont, while Manhattan on October 11th again appears to be the meet which will give a clearer picture if Nike Cross Nationals is a reachable goal.

Podcast interview with Oatlands Invitational co-meet director Derek Farrey. Farrey and co-meet director Matt Oblas in only three years have built up the Oatlands Invite to become one of the largest high school cross country meets on the East Coast as a total of 101 schools will be competing at Saturday's event including teams traveling as far as Colorado and New York. The 24 minute interview is split up in two parts. Oatlands Invitational meet director podcast interview: Part 1 - Part 2

List of teams attending this Saturday's William & Mary Invitational to be held at Eastern State Hospital in Williamsburg, Virginia. This is the 50th annual event! Meet preview to be posted on Friday. William & Mary Invitational Virtual Meet Scoring High School Girls: This Season | Last Season High School Boys: This Season | Last Season

There is a pretty solid group of 8 runners who are forming as the state's top tier of boys cross country runners this fall in Tyler Stutzman, Thomas Porter, Ben Dejarnette, Andrew Colley, Alex Ott, Kyle Satterwhite, Josh Morris, and Bobby Peavey. Who is this week's #1? It is tough to call with none of the mentioned runners having raced head to head yet. The Oatlands Invitational this weekend will change that with Stutzman, Porter, Dejarnette, Ott, and Satterwhite racing in a field which will also include of the nation's top returning runners in Solomon Haile (Sherwood HS of MD), the Nike Indoor and Outdoor Nationals 5K champ last year. Megan Marsico's recent string of jaw dropping performances could not be overlooked and helped move her up to the #2 spot in Virginia and knocking on the door of defending Group AA state champ Kathleen Lautzenheiser (pictured left by Ted Plunkett), who rolled on her anchor leg at Brentsville to lead Midlothian to victory. Marsico destroyed the field at Knights Crossing in a meet record time of 18:01 as she bested the old record held by three-time AAA state champ and Foot Locker finalist Catherine White. Complete individual rankings for each classification and each region in Group AAA and Group AA to be posted later this evening...

Jamestown boys are new #1 in VA The latest Cream of the Crop Top 10 All-Class team rankings are now released with the rest of the team rankings to be published late Wednesday night. The top two boys teams in the state, Oakton and Jamestown, opened their 2008 cross country seasons this past weekend away from the rest of the big competition found at Brentsville and Knights Crossing. Both teams won their invitationals convincingly with Jamestown's slightly more impressive to give them the nod as the new #1 ranked team in Virginia. 9/18 Update: New team rankings posted now for Group AAA (& regions), Group AA (& regions), Group A, and private schools.

Photo by Ted Plunkett At the Monroe Parker Invitational on Tuesday afternoon, the individual race for first among the boys was a thriller between Chantilly's Chris Foley and Thomas Edison's Leoule Degfae with both runners timed at 15:27 on the 2.98 mile course. With Degfae being more middle distance geared as a 1:54 half miler, it was a surprise for the crowd at Burke Lake to see the All-State 2 miler Foley reel in Degfae in the final loop to the finish and sprint past him for the win in the final strides. More... Monroe Parker Invitational Results: Boys Race - Girls Race Monroe Parker Invitational Photo Gallery by Ted Plunkett

Jefferson Forest junior Josh Morris has been breaking through with his race performance ever since July in summer track meets going from a respectable runner to one of the state's best. Between his two All-American finishes in the steeplechase and 5K at the USATF Junior Olympic Nationals in July to posting one of the fastest times ever at the Blue Demon Invite course two weeks ago, Morris is now beginning to find his name mentioned among the state's top distance runners. In a loaded year for Group AA boys, Morris might be a year away from state championship glory as a junior, but he will not afraid to attempt to test himself come championship season against the top seniors. MileStat.com's Brandon Miles talks to Morris, a recent transfer from Liberty Christian Academy, on his recent hot start to the 2008 cross country season in a podcast interview. Check it out!

Photo by Ted Plunkett Glenvar has had a rich history of producing great female distance runners with the likes of multiple Foot Locker finalist Trish Nervo and multiple state champion Kelly Clark being trained by Coach Myers at the small Southwest Virginia school. History seems to be repeating itself at Glenvar with junior Megan Marsico now emerging as one of the state's very best in cross country, especially after two sensational performances last weekend when she broke 17 minutes for three miles at the Giles County Invite and then defeated a field of highly ranked AAA and AA runners in complete domination with a 18:01 meet record time at the Knights Crossing Invite. MileStat.com's Brandon Miles talked to the defending Group A state champion and sub 5 miler in an in-depth podcast interview. Check it out!

Jefferson Forest cross country coach Jerome Loy enjoys blending music and running, most notably at the annual Runnin’ with the Wolves Invitational at Wolf Branch Farm, with boom boxes blaring appropriately themed tunes at strategic points along the Cavaliers’ home course. In recent years, he has nicknamed his boys team, which wears black uniforms and often forms a steady stream of runners, the Long Black Train, after a song by country music star Josh Turner. This fall, JF’s Long Black Train has a new engine by the name of Josh Morris (pictured right by Scott Rigler), a junior transfer from Liberty Christian Academy who is pulling the rest of the Cavaliers along behind him. Read fully story on Josh Morris by Ted Allen of Lynchburg News Advance

Thomas Jefferson freshmen Sarah Stites along with fellow underclassmen teammates Lisa Junta and Stephanie Marzen have helped make her team a new force to be reckoned with on the state stage as shown by the Thomas Jefferson girls make VA's #2 ranked squad Blacksburg work hard for a win at the Knights Crossing Invite. (Photo by Scott Rigler) The Knights Crossing Invitational continues to grow into one of the biggest and most popular cross country invitationals in Virginia as this year's event at Green Hill Park gathered 46 schools. The top performance of the meet came from Glenvar junior Megan Marsico's meet record breaking performance as she bettered the 2006 time by current University of Arkansas star Catherine White by 8 seconds with her 18:01 victory. More... Knights Crossing Invitational Results: Red Boys - Red Girls - Black Boys - Black Girls Knights Crossing Invitational Photo Gallery by Scott Rigler

This will be the first year that MileStat.com's Brandon Miles will be doing on-site coverage of the Oatlands Invitational and this year looks to be the biggest and best version of the meet with a total of 101 schools set to converge on the Oatlands Plantation course in Leesburg. Plenty of pre-meet coverage and previews on the way throughout the week. Link to list of teams attending and course map below. List of schools attending Oatlands Invitational

Tuesday - Final 9/13 meet summaries from Brentsville & Knights Crossing and return of the podcast interviews! Some fierce storms rolled through Nokesville on Saturday evening to put a damper on things and make an already late night later, but the Championship "A" relay races became even more interesting and exciting as the muddy course conditions certainly threw any pre-meet analysis of the favorites completely out of the window. The Midlothian girls won as expected though with Paige Johnston putting the Lady Trojans in the lead for good on third leg and the Lautzenheiser twins on the next two legs only increasing the gap to a margin, which made the race uncontested for first. Photo by Ted Plunkett Another Central Region school won the Championship "A" boys race, but it was not the defending champions from Midlothian nor another pre-meet favorite in Douglas Freeman. Instead it was the Atlee boys who had a strong middle legs to make the job almost too easy for their star runner Ben Dejarnette to seize the lead for team victory. Brentsville Relay Results: Championship A Boys - Championship A Girls - B Boys - B Girls - C Boys - C Girls Brentsville Relays Photo Gallery by Ted Plunkett - 832 photos total. Brentsville Relays Photo Gallery by Willie Riefner - B & C Girls Race Only. Photos can be purchased here. Brentsville Relays Race Videos: Championship A Boys - Championship A Girls - B&C Boys - B&C Girls 9/13 Weekend Invites: Brentsville Relays Knights Crossing Invitational Newport News Invitational Lake Forest Invitational Lee-Davis Invitational Woodberry Forest Invitational Eastern Mennonite Invitational Outer Banks Invitational Updated Database Rankings: Boys Individual Rankings Girls Individual Rankings Boys Team Rankings Girls Team Rankings

The Newport News Invitational saw a very early season showdown of the two runners who likely will be battling for the Eastern Region title later this season in Kellam's Bobby Peavey and Western Branch's Blake Theroux. The only definite heading into the race would be that fast times would be posted in a duel between the two as the #10 ranked (Peavey) and #11 ranked (Theroux) in the state of Virginia would meet on one of the fastest 5K courses in the state found at Newport News Park. The senior Peavey defeated the junior Theroux in their first head-to-head race of the season with a state leading 5K time of 15:32 to break the old course record of the newer version of the Newport News Park course. More... Newport News Invitational Results: A Boys - A Girls - B Boys - B Girls - C Boys - C Girls - JV Boys - JV Girls

Despite losing their long-time coach Mike Schroer after last outdoor track season, The Potomac School's top runners have continued to press on and appear to not be missing a beat after seeing two individuals win titles at Saturday's Woodberry Forest Invite on the home course of the Virginia Independent Schools State Championships. Potomac School sophomore Campbell Ross, younger brother of the 2007 VIS state champion Johns Ross, won by a convincing margin of 27 seconds against some of the better private school runners in the state with a 16:50 win. Meanwhile, Potomac School junior Anneka Wilson (pictured above by Ted Plunkett) has now improved her odds of winning a state championship this fall by winning at Woodberry Forest against last year's close state runner-up Barbara Strehler of Trinity in an impressive time of 19:23 given the heat and challenging course. More... Woodberry Forest Invitational Results: Varsity Boys - Varsity Girls - JV Boys - JV Girls

Jefferson Forest's Josh Morris continued his hot streak of cross country victories on Saturday at the Eastern Mennonite Invite as the junior dipped just under 17 minutes on a challenging 5K layout at Peak View Elementary School. Morris, ranked #7 in Virginia, has become a rising star on the state scene early in the season especially after his convincing win last week at the Blue Demon Invite. The Jefferson Forest boys also were winners on a humid and hot day in Harrisonburg as the Cavaliers had three other runners in the top 15. Photo by Ted Plunkett It was a very successful meet as a whole for the Warren County cross country team as the girls team champions and race winners also came from the school. Warren County senior Mara Smith was a runaway winner in the varsity girls' race with a margin of victory well over a minute at 20:47. Smith will be looking for her first All-State honor later this season after qualifying for state competition in the 1600 and 3200 meter run this past outdoor season. More...   Eastern Mennonite Invitational Results: Varsity Boys - Varsity Girls - Middle School Boys - Middle School Girls

The Jamestown boys did not face much competition at Saturday's Lee-Davis Invitational, but their team performance on a warm day at Pole Green Park would have been tough for any team in Virginia to seriously challenge. The #2 ranked team in Virginia had four of the top 5 finishers and nearly all under 17 minutes. Their top runner Andrew Colley (pictured right by Tom Hoerner), one of the favorites for the Group AA state titles, had a stellar race in his first meet back since suffering a season ending injury in the outdoor track season as he crushed the field with a 15:52 5K victory. Lee-Davis Invitational Results: Large School Boys - Large School Girls - Small School Boys - Small School Girls - JV Boys - JV Girls

Dante Morales (pictured above by Charles Fulghum) seems to be experiencing very little of an adjustment period in getting use to a new coach and team as the senior transfer for Oakton won his first major invitational in a time of 16:19 at the Lake Forest Invite. With plenty of preseason hype in a #1 pre-season ranking in Virginia for their boys as well as both programs being ranked among the top ten in the Southeast region, it would be easy to see a letdown performance for the Oakton boys and girls in their season opener in attempting to meet such high expectations. However, the Lake Forest Invitational in Delaware proved to show that each team is very deserving of their pre-season recognition and will be some of the state's very best squads throughout the fall. More.. Lake Forest Invitational Complete Results

Norfolk Academy has made regular appearances at the Outer Banks cross country invitational over the years and traditionally faired very well in the event with several team victories, but this year another Virginia school showed up to steal the show as the Albemarle boys and girls came down to the North Carolina beaches for some fun and sun in a cross country run. The Patriots swept the first place finishes for both team and individuals. Luke Noble (pictured left by David Fleenor) zipped through the fast and flat 5K course at Manteo High School in a winning time of 15:52.8, which was a considerable personal best for Albemarle's top runner. More... Outer Banks Invitational Results: Varsity Boys - Varsity Girls - JV Boys - JV Girls

Turner Ashby's Alex Ott had the fastest split in the 2007 Brentsville Relays at 7:25 on the 2.5K course. Can he clock the swiftest time again? He'll have competition with the likes of Thomas Porter and Ben Dejarnette among other top individuals in the field of 64 schools. (Photo by Ted Plunkett) The 2008 Brentsville Relays should usher another exciting evening of cross country action in the form of 2500 meters times 5. While this year's meet will certainly gather another strong representation of the state's best programs from various parts of the state to matchup, it is always a departure from the pressure packed 5K races down the road when these same teams enter championship season.

The Northwestern District cross country meet is over a month away, but area teams got their first look at each other in Thursday’s Judges Classic. The dominant colors near the front in both the boys’ and girls’ races turned out to be Sherando’s red and black. The Warriors’ boys, led by the senior trio of Danny Stiefvater, Scott Guichard, and Colby Witt, defended their title, and Sherando’s girls dominated the rest of the field with their overall depth in Thursday’s races on the Kernstown Battlefield Course. Read full story by Robert Stocks of The Winchester Star... Judges Classic Results: Varsity Boys - Varsity Girls - JV Boys - JV Girls - Middle School Boys - Middle School Girls

The Monroe Parker Invite originally scheduled for Saturday, September 6 has been rescheduled for Tuesday, September 16 at Burke Lake's 2.98 mile course. The major change is that the number of races has now been pared down to two races, one for the boys and one for the girls. The boys race will begin at 4:30 p.m. with the girls race following at 5:15 p.m. Each school in both the boys and girls races will have a limit of 10 entrants for each race. All of the Northern Region schools which had been originally entered for September 6 are expected to compete this Tuesday. Among the notable exceptions are Oakton, Herndon and Fairfax, all of which did not choose to enter the varsity races for the original date. Burke Lake has specifically requested that no teams are to enter the park prior to 2:30 p.m. on September 16. The Awards ceremony is scheduled for 6:00 p.m. Park personnel has also requested that all coaches, athletes and spectators must have vacated the park premises by 6:30 p.m.

Updated individual rankings for Virginia high school cross country as of September 11th. Western Albemarle's Tyler Stutzman impressed enough in his 9:42 split at the Ragged Mountain Cup to usurp pre-season #1 Thomas Porter, despite Porter winning the Chancellor Invite quite easily to start his season. Group AA boys are also well represented in the Cream of the Crop rankings with five of the top seven rankings in Tyler Stutzman, Andrew Colley, Alex Ott, Kyle Satterwhite, and Josh Morris. Newcomers to the Cream of the Crop (top 15 best individual runners in VA) include James Robinson's Jared Berman, Blacksburg's Allison Homer, Mountain View's Kaitlyn Davis, Midlothian's Leia Lautzenheiser, and Millbrook's Sullivan Parkes. Note: Updated Group A and private school rankings to be added on Friday.

Previews for the 9/13 weekend invitationals are on the way including list of teams competing at Brentsville, Knights Crossing, Lee-Davis, Newport News, Woodberry Forest, and elsewhere.  

Coaches please send in your results from your September 10th Wednesday meets as MileStat.com will gladly post the results and enter the times into our database, which will then be reflected in the site's rankings and athlete profiles. Your athletes and parents will be thankful as well as coaches from teams competing to easily find the meet results online. Email results to milestat@gmail.com Here is a list of several meets currently listed for 9/10 on MileStat.com's cross country meet calendar. 09/10 Atlee Quad Meet Atlee Mechanicsville, VA 09/10 Chatham, Altavista, GW-Danville   Chatham, VA 09/10 Concorde Meet #1   Reston, VA 09/10 Cosby, Clover Hill, James River Cosby Midlothian, VA 09/10 Dinwiddie, Colonial Heights Dinwiddie Dinwiddie, VA 09/10 Eastern Shore Invitational Arcadia Assateague, VA 09/10 Giles County Invitational Giles Pearisburg, VA 09/10 Harrisonburg, RE Lee, Waynesboro   , VA 09/10 Indian River, Kings Fork, Nansemond River, O. Smith, W. Branc   Chesapeake, VA 09/10 Luray, Page County Luray Luray, VA 09/10 Menchville @ Gloucester   Gloucester, VA 09/10 Midlothian, George Wythe, Monacan Midlothian Chesterfield, VA 09/10 Patrick Henry (Roanoke), William Fleming Patrick Henry (Roanoke) Roanoke, VA 09/10 Virginia Beach Schools XC Meet #1   Virginia Beach, VA

Tropical Storm Hanna wiped out several big meets which would have certainly shook up the pre-season rankings with many ranked teams going head to head (especially at the Great Meadow Invite). There were several meets over the past two weeks which have caused some teams to drop or gain spots in the rankings.

The weather washed out the openers for many teams including a large gathering for the Great Meadow Invite, but Jefferson Forest's Josh Morris and George Mason's Natalie Young were able to get their races in with the state's fastest times so far for 5K. Morris won the Blue Demon Invite in 16:18 to become the second fastest performer ever on the difficult Christiansburg High School 5K course, while freshmen Young placed second in a competitive field at the Gettysburg Invite (PA) in 19:23. Cross Country "Database Rankings": Boys Team - Girls Team - Boys Individual - Girls Individual Remember coaches to email your meet results to MileStat.com to get posted. We will gladly post results from your smaller Wednesday meets and enter the performances into the site's database and rankings. Check out the Racetab results formatting program for possible use for your smaller home meets. Email address to send results is milestat@gmail.com

Despite losing several members from their 2007 VIS state champion cross country squad, the Bishop O'Connell girls opened their season looking even stronger for the 2008 campaign with a win at Saturday's Peter Geraghty Invitational over one of the top teams in Maryland in Northwest High School. On a sloppy course thanks the driving rainfall from Tropical Storm Hanna, Bishop O'Connell had six girls finish among the top 20 places and Megan Fitzpatrick (pictured left by Kevin Milsted of Mocorunning.com)led the squad with a third place showing in 19:58. Fitzpatrick, a returning state champion and ranked fifth in MileStat.com's pre-season All-Class rankings, battled it out with expected challenger Britt Eckerstrom of Northwest for the lead for much of the race, but it was Gaithersburg's Abby Spitler as the surprise winner at 19:42. Nicole Carty (8th, 21:11) and Claire Whitesell (9th, 21:12), newcomers to the O'Connell squad, made an immediate impact with top 10 finishes on the Mount St. Mary's College 5K cross country course. Fairfax's Frances Dowd finished 7th individually with a time of 20:50, while the Fairfax boys had two solid individual races from Frances' brother Kevin Dowd (5th, 17:45) and Ethan Paster (12th, 18:00) to help them to a sixth place team finish. Peter Geraghty Invitational Complete Results

Well with his transfer to Jefferson Forest, Josh Morris (pictured right by Scott Rigler) has changed the complexion and pecking order in the private school and Region III rankings. Unaware of his move to becoming a Cavalier at Jefferson Forest High School in Forest, Virginia, Morris had been given the #1 pre-season ranking among private school individuals after a sensational track season which included personal best runs over the summer in the 2000 meter steeplechase, 1500 meter run, and 5000 meter run.   Morris ran for Jefferson Forest in a pre-season jamboree in Danville last month, but it could have been considered a typo and maybe he was still running for Liberty Christian Academy. However, his victory this weekend at the Blue Demon Invitational made it clear who he was running for now as he streaked across the finish line in first place with a time of 16:18 and 37 seconds ahead of second place in a Jefferson Forest uniform. Looking historically at the fastest times ever at the Blue Demon Invite, Morris is the second fastest performer all-time to only Griff Graves as his performance beats the times ran by the likes of some high school greats such as Fleet Hower, Justin Hatch, John Horst, and Tim Smith. Read More... Blue Demon Invitational Results: Varsity Boys - Varsity Girls - JV Boys - JV Girls Blue Demon Invitational Photo Gallery by Janis Lewis Blue Demon Invitational Photo Gallery by Scott Rigler

Four schools from Virginia headed north and were able to escape much of the rain (at least before it moved up the East Coast by the afternoon hours) from Tropical Storm Hanna at the Gettysburg Invitational in Pennsylvania. Teams from Battlefield, Chancellor, George Mason, and Heritage of Lynchburg all competed among the three group races of the varsity division in the meet. The George Mason girls in particular were impressive as a Group A school finishing second in the Group 2 varsity race and finishing ahead of Virginia Group AA teams Chancellor (5th, 222 pts) and Heritage (7th, 252 pts). The 2007 Group A state runner-ups in cross country were led by two freshmen and one sophomore all finishing in the top ten. A new star could be emerging in Group A and potential challenger to defending state champion Megan Marsico in Natalie Young (pictured left by Don Rich of penntrackxc.com) at George Mason. While well behind Group 2 race winner Jordan Jenkins (18:38) of New Oxford (PA), Young was well ahead of the third place finisher by almost a full minute with her runner-up time of 19:23. Read more... Gettysburg Invitational Results: JV Boys Groups 1,2 - JV Boys Groups 1,2,3 - JV Girls Groups 1,2,3 - Varsity Boys Group 1 - Varsity Boys Group 2 - Varsity Boys Group 3 - Varsity Girls Group 1 - Varsity Girls Group 2 - Varsity Girls Group 3

Herndon's Hiruni Wijayaratne flew through the mud, rain, and wind at the Fork Union Invitational for a decisive 18:59 victory. (Photo by Tom Hoerner) Despite many of the schools originally entered unable to attend due to travel restrictions from Tropical Storm Hanna traveling through Virginia on Saturday, the Fork Union Invitational still happened with over a dozen schools willing to brave the weather and travel to compete at the Hardy National 3 mile course. Herndon was making a rare appearance of a Northern Region school to compete at Fork Union and the Hornets made the best of the conditions with first place team finishes for both boys and girls. Herndon and Spotswood had a very close race for the boys' team title as Herndon knocked off the #9 ranked team in Virginia by four points with a team score of 47 points. With the Great Meadow Invitational canceled, Hortonville High School from Wisconsin was stuck in Virginia without a cross country meet to compete in. However, Fork Union coach Winston Brown was willing to accomodate and allow a last second entry for the out-of-state team. Horntonville is coached by former Manchester cross country coach Kevin Sours, who led the Lancers to a state championships in the late 1990s with both boys and girls teams. This was certainly the first time that any of the Wisconsin runners can say that they ran in a tropical storm as tropical storms or hurricanes are geographically impossible of occuring in their homestate. Hortonville girls and boys both placed fourth in the team standings. Fork Union Invitational Results: Boys - Girls - Middle School

The high school cross country team regional rankings by Marc Bloom and Rich Gonzalez have been released by the National Scholastic Sports Foundation with many Virginia teams being featured in the initial list as the Oakton boys top the list as the #1 ranked team among the Southeast region (AL, DE, FL, GA, KY, MD, NC, SC, TN, VA, WV). Several surprises in the inclusions and omissions in the rankings of Virginia schools as the regional rankings certainly do not match up with the pre-season state rankings on MileStat.com. The Thomas Jefferson Science & Tech boys shocked many in their improbable run to Nike Team Nationals and a Group AAA state championship last year. Despite losing their top four runners and  being left out of MileStat.com's pre-season top 10 All-Class rankings, the returning Group AAA state cross country champions are featured as the #4 ranked team in these regional rankings for the Southeast. The pre-season Group AA favorites and VA #2 ranked Jamestown boys are the third squad from Virginia in the Southeast boys' top 10 in the #6 spot. For the second year in a row, the Blacksburg girls seem to be overlooked at the start of the season despite being the two-time defending Group AA state champions and a team which has held its own against tough out-of-state competitors. The top two finishing schools in last year's Group AAA state race are ranked among the top 10 with three-time AAA champs Midlothian at #4 and the 2007 state runner-ups from Oakton at #7. Congrats to the Oakton program and Coach Phil Tiller for being the only school in the Southeast region to have both a boys and girls team featured in the rankings. With many of this weekend's meets looking to be a wash due to Tropical Storm Hanna, the Virginia squads on the bubble will have to wait for the coming weeks to prove themselves in big meets such as Oatlands, Maymont, Octoberfest, Glory Days, and Manhattan.

Coaches please check this link: http://www.runhigh.com/Register/SchoolList.php?neventid=234 to make sure your team has completed their entries for our meet. The teams listed below will be competing in this year's Moore Hummer Oatlands Invitational.

I know there is a lot going on today with the impending threat of Hurricane Hanna, but as of now, the BLUE DEMON INVITATIONAL IS STILL A "GO!" The weather forecast for our area is only calling for the possibly of showers (30%) tomorrow and tonight. The high is going to be 76 degrees, so things should be pretty favorable for our race. Please encourage your AD's that things will be suitable for us to still have a great race tomorrow! Thanks for your time. Travel safe and we'll see you in the morning! Weather Forecast: http://www.weather.com/weather/local/24073?lswe=24073&lwsa=WeatherLocalUndeclared&from=searchbox - Coach Guynn, Blue Demon Invite Meet Director

Only two days are left for teams to enter into the 2008 McDonald's X-Country Festival at Maymont (held September 26th & 27th in Richmond, VA) as online registration for the meet will close Sunday, September 7th at midnight. Currently, there are 90 schools entered and 927 athletes entered with that number of schools to push well over 100 over the next few days and total number of athletes to grow extensively as teams finalize their team roster for the event. Maymont Online Registration Link

Due to the impending Hanna forecast, Tim Kaine has issued a state of emergency for Virginia. School systems have canceled their trips and Great Meadow requests we don't host the event. Unfortunately, the 2008 Great Meadow Invitational is canceled. Thanks for your understanding. - Great Meadow Invite Meet Management Meet Directors: Please inform MileStat.com of the status of your meets this weekend whether or not they will be canceled or still run as scheduled. Thanks!

Time schedule change for this weekend's Great Meadow Invitational moves the Varsity B races to the second race of the day. 9:00am - Varsity A Girls 9:30am - Varsity A Boys 10:15am - Varsity B Boys 11:00am - Varsity B Girls 11:40am - JV Fr/So Boys 12:25pm - JV Fr/So Girls 1:00pm - JV Jr/Sr Boys 1:35pm - JV Jr/Sr Girls

Photo by Brandon Miles Ben Dejarnette has had a long run with bad luck. He's optimistic that now, as a senior, he's finally on a short track to success. As a freshman, he started his first varsity season of cross country for Atlee High School with a stress fracture. He came back his junior year with a hip problem. And sometime last year, when his hip finally felt healthy, he picked up a pair of unpleasant intestinal parasites. "There's all kinds of little nagging things that pop up when you're trying to get back into training," Dejarnette said. "So really, after the outdoor [track] season, I took two weeks off, got everything rested, and it was kind of like starting new. Since then, it seems like every week I've been getting a little stronger, a little faster. Read full story by Andee Sears of The Richmond Times-Dispatch

Photo by Brandon Miles Paige Johnston has one season left to help see Midlothian strongly out in front before she leaves it behind her. Now a senior, she was part of the first Trojans team to win a girls state cross country title back in 2005. That fall, Johnston was the fastest freshman in the Group AAA state meet, as well as the fastest freshman in her district and region meets. "We were the underdogs, and it was the first time our school had ever won a girls state cross country championship," she said. "Every year after has been just as exciting, but I think that year was just a tad bit more because we had no idea, and then the next year comes with expectations." Read full story by Andee Sears of The Richmond Times-Dispatch...

Photo by Brandon Miles Even with a 10-second head start, Adam Ott had no chance and he knew it. More than perhaps anyone else, the Turner Ashby High School junior understands the gut-wrenchingly frustrating but yet awe-inspiring exercise that is running with his stepbrother, Alex, so he knew what was coming. He shares a home and a last name with the defending Massanutten District and Region III cross country champion, but he doesn't share the genes that constructed the seemingly flawless distance dynamo. So whenever the two run together, he just hopes Alex lets him keep up. Sorry, Adam. After Alex finished the 800-meter practice interval Wednesday with almost as big a lead as Adam held when they started, Adam was still shaking his head after watching the phenomenon once more. Read full story by Dustin Dopirak of the Daily News Record

A total of 655 athletes and 28 schools will be competing at the Blue Demon Invitational to be held Saturday at Christiansburg High School in Christiansburg, VA. A notable early season matchup between the Blacksburg and Hidden Valley girls.

This Saturday's Fork Union Invitational could feature many of the future state cross country champions this fall with Herndon's Hiruni Wijayaratne, Glenvar's Megan Marsico, and Trinity's Barbara Strehler in the girls race, while it should be a great duel between Atlee's Ben Dejarnette and Western Albemarle's Tyler Stutzman in the boys race. A total of 40 schools will be represented at the Hardy National 3 mile course this weekend.

List of teams competing at next Saturday night's Brentsville Relays. 61 schools total and a FINAL LIST of teams attending.

A total of 49 schools are entered in the Great Meadow Invitational as of today with many top ranked teams and individuals among those listed. The top four pre-season ranked boys squads will be racing at Great Meadow with #1 Oakton, #2 Jamestown, #3 Potomac Falls, and #4 Douglas Freeman. The Western Branch boys, ranked #7, make for a gathering of 5 of the top 7 ranked teams in Virginia. Four top 10 teams will be in the girls' race including #1 Midlothian, #4 Brentsville, #6 Western Branch, and #7 Oakton. The individual matchups are just as exciting and stacked for the Great Meadow Invite. The top boys individuals include #1 ranked Thomas Porter of Mountain View, #2 Andrew Colley of Jamestown, #4 Alex Ott of Turner Ashby, and #7 Brayden Burleigh of Midlothian. Also in the race will be #8 Neal Hendricks of Oakton, #11 Blake Theroux of Western Branch, and #12 Josh Hardin of Potomac Falls. Midlothian's Kathleen Lautzenheiser won the Great Meadow Invite as a freshmen back in 2006, but finished 3rd in 2007 despite a solid run of 18:36. The top ranked runner in Virginia will look to earn another first place victory in The Plains, but will sll have several worthy runners to contend including last year's race runner-up and #4 ranked Ariel Karabinus of Osbourn Park, #9 Maggie Gentry of Brentsville, and #10 Christina Lee of Potomac Falls. Note from Great Meadow Invite meet director Dave Davis: Even with a possibility of inclimate weather Saturday (Hurricane Hanna), the meet will run as scheduled unless cancelled by school administration or by Great Meadow. We will run the shedule as published and try to get ahead if possible. If we have to cancel a late race that decision will be made on site. The course may change to protect the October Invitational and State course. At this time, I cannot speculate what will or will not happen.

So 9:42 might not sound fast for two miles for a runner of the caliber of Tyler Stutzman with track bests of 9:15 for 3200 meters and 4:14 for 1600 meters, but the Western Albemarle senior broke well under 10 minutes on a hilly and challenging two mile layout at Panorama Farms on a hot and humid afternoon for the 2008 Ragged Mountain Cup. It was an amazing feat, which should be taken seriously by all other top runners in the state of potential great things to come from Stutzman. He broke his own course record by 20 seconds from a year ago and also bested the previous best times on the older version of the two mile course for the Cup by a dozen seconds with his sensational anchor leg for the Western Albemarle Warriors. Many outstanding cross country runners have failed to come close to breaking 10 minutes at the Cup and Stutzman today simply shattered the barrier. More.. Ragged Mountain Cup Results: Team Results - Individual Results - JV Race Results Ragged Mountain Cup Interviews: Kyle Satterwhite (Western Albemarle) - Coach Male (Albemarle) - Coach Bain (Western Albemarle) - Steve Murray (Owner of Panorama Farms) Ragged Mountain Cup Race Videos: Varsity Relay Race - JV Race Photos to come!

Luke Noble and the Albemarle boys expect to be a tougher challenger for Western Albemarle at tomorrow's Ragged Mountain Cup. Western Albemarle will still be the favorites with three sub 16 minute 5K runners in Tyler Stutzman, Kyle Satterwhite, and James Howard-Smith and finished nearly 2 minutes ahead of a fourth place Albemarle squad at the 2007 Cup. However, Albemarle's confidence is much higher from a year ago with three of their cross country team members running on a 7:42 4x800 meter relay this past June. (Photo by Ted Plunkett) The Ragged Mountain Cup kicks off at 5 PM tomorrow at Panorama Farms as Charlottesville area schools will gather to compete in the 4x2 mile relay season opening race. Western Albemarle and Albemarle figure to battle it out in both boys and girls races.