Photo by John Olson of scrunners.com
Hi everyone! I can honestly say I am so excited to write this journal. I really think I could talk on and on forever about my experience this past weekend. Crossing the finish line, knowing I earned a plane ticket to San Diego, was the best experience of my life. I don’t think anyone can understand the excitement I faced when I crossed the line. I had been dreaming of this moment my entire life. However, I never, ever thought it would happen. Last year, I crossed the line in excitement, getting a 20 second PR. However, I was 111th place in the seeded race. That year, my goal was to not place last. The emotion I felt when I crossed the line this year was all because of how far I’ve come.
Top 50 fastest 5K times in the state of Virginia from the past 2010 cross country season. A total of 61 girls broke 19 minutes for 5K, while 51 boys broke 16 minutes for 5K this fall. Annandale junior Ahmed Bile's 15:02 at Foot Locker South and Hidden Valley senior Annie LeHardy's 17:24 at NXN Southeast are the fastest two performances this season.
While MileStat.com was not on-site at Foot Locker South, webmasters and contributors of our MileSplit Network were and able to get video interviews with Virginia's four Foot Locker finalists after their top 10 finishes. Post-race interviews with Annandale's Ahmed Bile, Douglas Freeman's Silas Frantz, Western Albemarle's Mattie Webb, and Lake Braddock's Sophie Chase below.
Foot Locker South Post-Race Interviews: Ahmed Bile - Silas Frantz - Mattie Webb - Sophie Chase
Photos by Thomas McElroy
Two boys and two girls from Virginia broke into the top 10 in the seeded races at Foot Locker South to qualify for the Foot Locker Nationals in two weeks at Balboa Park in San Diego. Mattie Webb (7th, 17:28) of Western Albemarle and Sophie Chase (8th, 17:31) of Lake Braddock ran personal best times to make up for not winning state titles two weeks ago to join the 40 best high school runners in the country in San Diego. Annandale junior Ahmed Bile and Douglas Freeman senior Silas Frantz battled it out for state titles at Great Meadow, but now will be teammates on the South Region team at the 2010 Foot Locker Nationals with Bile taking fourth place at 15:02 and Frantz coming in two seconds later at 15:04 for sixth place. Read Full Meet Summary...
Photo by Thomas McElroy
Photo by Andrew Kicinski
Meet Page w/ Complete Results, Photo Galleries, Seeded Race Videos
A half dozen boys' teams and half dozen girls' teams from the state of Virginia will travel to Cary, North Carolina this weekend to compete against the best high school cross country teams in the entire Southeast Region at the Nike Cross Nationals qualifier held at WakeMed Soccer Complex. The Midlothian program, coached by Stan Morgan, leads the group of Virginia squads after sweeping the state team titles in the Group AAA races at Great Meadow two weekends ago. The last time which Midlothian swept both team titles back in 2006, both teams also advanced and were selected by committee to compete at the Nike Cross Nationals. The qualifying system is much different in 2010 as both teams will need to finish in the top two at the regional qualifier race on Saturday for an automatic berth, while a third or fourth place finish will make them eligible for at-large consideration.
The top 100 fastest 5K times during the 2010 cross country season by high school boys runners within the Foot Locker South Region states. Runners currently registered for the Foot Locker South Regional are highlighted in BOLD.
The top 100 fastest 5K times during the 2010 cross country season by high school girls runners within the Foot Locker South Region states. Runners currently registered for the Foot Locker South Regional are highlighted in BOLD.
Virtual meet preview for the championship girls' race for Saturday's Nike Cross Southeast Regional in Cary, North Carolina. Virtual meet scored by using the season best 5K times currently in the MileSplit database of the top 7 runners for each of the 16 schools competing in the regional qualifier for the Nike Cross Nationals. Individual entrants are not included in the virtual meet preview. Includes links to team pages and athlete profiles with more stats and information.
Virtual meet preview for the championship boys' race for Saturday's Nike Cross Southeast Regional in Cary, North Carolina. Virtual meet scored by using the season best 5K times currently in the MileSplit database of the top 7 runners for each of the 27 schools competing in the regional qualifier for the Nike Cross Nationals. Individual entrants are not included in the virtual meet preview. Includes links to team pages and athlete profiles with more stats and information.
A total of 335 runners from Virginia are currently registered to compete this Saturday at the Foot Locker South Regional in Charlotte, North Carolina. Among the several hundred runners from the state who will be making the drive down to the fast and PR friendly course at McAlpine Greenway Park, only a select few will be in contention to potentially earn a trip to the national race in San Diego on the second weekend of December. A top 10 finish in the seeded races will guarantee a high school runner an all-expenses paid for trip to race with the nation's 40 best prep cross country runners at Balboa Park on Saturday, December 11th. Additionally, the state historically has fared well in the class races with the opportunity for both underclassmen and upperclassmen alike to earn All-South honors with top 24 finishes among respective runners within their grade across the entire South region. Read Full Preview
Contributors of MileSplit US and affiliate state webmasters will be providing coverage for MileStat.com (we'll be on-site at NXN Southeast same day), but we are looking for Virginia photographers to assist us in shooting photos for us at Foot Locker South. Contact us if available to contribute photos.
I am thankful for 10 years of having the opportunity to cover and promote the great sports of high school cross country & track in the state of Virginia. Happy Thanksgiving to all the MileStat.com site followers and "addicts"!
- Brandon Miles, MileStat.com
Kyle King leads a group of Virginia boys going into Foot Locker South with hopes of qualifying for the national race in San Diego. The Grafton senior won his second consecutive state title two weeks ago at Great Meadow with the fastest time of the day in a 15:21 PR. With the college decision out of the way as he will follow in the footsteps of Coach Matt Gutridge to UVA, King has geared his season in the training and racing schedule to run his best at this point of the season in order to give himself a shot at a top 10 finish at McAlpine Greenway Park in Charlotte. After only racing two invitationals during the regular season and arguably only exerting himself near 100 percent effort in a dominant win at the Albemarle Invite and his Group AA state title repeat performance, King should have a lot left in the tank to go for a national berth on Saturday. MileStat.com recently interviewed King, one of Virginia's best chances to have a representative and qualifier in the boys' race at Foot Locker Nationals heading into this weekend's South Regional. (Photo above by Ryan Kelly)
MileStat.com is working on a major project in attempting to find, type, and post online as many past state cross country championships results onto the site. We will attempt to do a similar project for the state indoor and outdoor championships. The site did not start until December of 2000, so while we are nearing a decade full of state meet results, there are many decades of meets before us and the internet age which have been forgotten until this point. With the help of current and past coaches as well as a trip soon to the VHSL office, we are trying to fill the holes. Complete results are preferred, but will accept brief results as holdover such as top 15 individuals and team scores until we are able to receive full results with all finishers. Athletes might enjoy seeing some of their coaches' names in the below results. Results highlighted in Red Bold are results which are missing and we do not have. Results either highlighted in Black Bold or Links to the actual results are race results which we have in our possession.
Old state meet results can be scanned and emailed to milestat@gmail.com or faxed to 804-325-1077.
1999 State Meet @ Great Meadow (November 13th): AAA Boys - AAA Girls - AA Boys - AA Girls - A Boys - A Girls
1998 State Meet @ Great Meadow (November 14th): AAA Boys - AAA Girls - AA Boys - AA Girls - A Boys - A Girls
1997 State Meet @ Great Meadow (November 8th): AAA Boys - AAA Girls - AA Boys - AA Girls - A Boys - A Girls
1996 State Meet @ Great Meadow (November 9th): AAA Boys - AAA Girls - AA Boys - AA Girls - A Boys - A Girls
1995 State Meet @ Great Meadow (November 11th): AAA Boys - AAA Girls - AA Boys - AA Girls - A Boys - A Girls
1994 State Meet @ Great Meadow (November 12th): AAA Boys - AAA Girls - AA Boys - AA Girls - A Boys - A Girls
1993 State Meet @ Virginia Tech (November 6th): AAA Boys - AAA Girls - AA Boys - AA Girls - A Boys - A Girls
1992 State Meet @ Piedmont Community College (November 14th): AAA Boys - AAA Girls - AA Boys - AA Girls - A Boys - A Girls
1991 State Meet @ Piedmont Community College (November 9th): AAA Boys - AAA Girls - AA Boys - AA Girls - A Boys - A Girls
1990 State Meet @ Piedmont Community College (November 10th): AAA Boys - AAA Girls - AA Boys - AA Girls - A Boys - A Girls
1989 State Meet @ Piedmont Community College (November 11th): AAA Boys - AAA Girls - AA Boys - AA Girls - A Boys - A Girls
1988 State Meet @ Piedmont Community College (November 12th): AAA Boys - AAA Girls - AA Boys - AA Girls - A Boys - A Girls
1987 State Meet @ Piedmont Community College (November 7th): AAA Boys - AAA Girls - AA Boys - AA Girls - A Boys - A Girls
1986 State Meet @ Piedmont Community College (November 8th): AAA Boys - AAA Girls - AA Boys - AA Girls - A Boys - A Girls
1985 State Meet @ Piedmont Community College (November 9th): AAA Boys - AAA Girls - AA Boys - AA Girls - A Boys - A Girls
1984 State Meet @ Piedmont Community College (November 10th): AAA Boys (Top 50 Only) - AAA Girls - AA Boys (Top 50 Only) - AA Girls (Top 50 Only) - A Boys
1983 State Meet @ Piedmont Community College (November 12th): AAA Boys (Missing Top 15 Times) - AAA Girls - AA Boys - AA Girls - A Boys
1982 State Meet @ Piedmont Community College (November 13th): AAA Boys - AAA Girls - AA Boys - AA Girls - A Boys
1981 State Meet @ Piedmont Community College (November 14th): AAA Boys - AAA Girls - AA Boys - AA Girls - A Boys
1980 State Meet @ Piedmont Community College (November 8th): AAA Boys - AAA Girls - AA Boys - AA Girls - A Boys
1979 State Meet @ Piedmont Community College (November 10th): AAA Boys - AAA Girls - AA Boys - A Boys
1978 State Meet @ Piedmont Community College (November 11th): AAA Boys - AA Boys - A Boys
1977 State Meet @ Dunbar Farms (November 12th): AAA Boys - AA Boys - A Boys
1976 State Meet @ Dunbar Farms (November 13th): AAA Boys - AA Boys - A Boys
1975 State Meet @ Dunbar Farms: AAA Boys - AA Boys - A Boys
1974 State Meet @ Dunbar Farms (November 9th): AAA Boys - AA Boys - A Boys
1973 State Meet @ Dunbar Farms (November 10th): AAA Boys - AA Boys - A Boys
1972 State Meet @ Dunbar Farms (November 12th): AAA Boys - AA Boys - A Boys
1971 State Meet @ Dunbar Farms (November 19th): AAA Boys - AA Boys - A Boys
1970 State Meet: AAA Boys - AA Boys
1969 State Meet: AAA Boys - Unclassified (A/AA) Boys
1968 State Meet: AAA Boys - Unclassified (A/AA) Boys
1967 State Meet: AAA Boys - Unclassified (A/AA) Boys
1966 State Meet: AAA Boys - Unclassified (A/AA) Boys
1965 State Meet: AAA Boys - Unclassified (A/AA) Boys
1964 State Meet: AAA Boys - Unclassified (A/AA) Boys
1963 State Meet: AAA Boys - Unclassified (A/AA) Boys
1962 State Meet: AAA Boys - Unclassified (A/AA) Boys
1961 State Meet: AAA Boys - Unclassified (A/AA) Boys
1960 State Meet: AAA Boys
1959 State Meet: AAA Boys
1958 State Meet: AAA Boys
1957 State Meet: AAA Boys
1956 State Meet: AAA Boys
1955 State Meet: AAA Boys
Photo by Tim Hagen
TEAM VIRGINIA sweeps for 2nd time in 5 year history
Millbrook Junior Crystal Nelson leads VA Girls for 3 straight win; VA Boys depth prevails
Experience on the Smokey Glen Farm double loop 5K course pays dividends. Virginia’s Crystal Nelson was 9th a year ago and used that experience to confidently take the lead on the opening mile. The opening mile is slightly uphill until you hit the Christmas Tree farm. Veterans know that you want to let it go over the next half mile before you reach the stream crossing and the infamous hill. Nelson had a comfortable lead approaching the first mile and never was threatened. The expected push from two current and past state champions in Maryland’s 4A division did not materialize. Anna Ryba had won all her post-season races in Maryland but just was outmatched by Nelson’s early surge. Ryba ran a steady race and used her strength on the hills to pull away from the other chasers to secure 2nd. It was Virginia’s depth that was the difference once again for the Team wins for both girls and boys. Read more...Meet Page w/ ResultsPhoto Gallery by Tim Hagen
Stafford sophomore Hannah Lowery (pictured above by John Herzog) has had a very busy fall. Between winning numerous cross country invitational races as well as winning district, regional, and state titles to go along with helping the Stafford field hockey team advance all the way to state semi-finals, the Governor's School student Lowery has had a full plate for the past few months. She has at least moved field hockey off her plate for the time being and now only has one more race left to cap off one of the most impressive and successful cross country seasons in recent history by a Virginia high school female distance runner. Lowery won a total of five major invitationals this season, while taking only second twice to Cosby's Megan Moye at the competitive Oatlands Invite and MileStat.com Invite.
Herself and fellow sophomore Sophie Chase of Lake Braddock have had two thrilling finishes with one another in their only two encounters this fall with Lowery getting the narrow win in both photo finishes determined by their chip timed feet. Since the two sophomores should make for a great rivalry over the next two years competing for state titles with only one able to be the champion, it would be fitting if both were to qualify for Foot Locker Nationals as two of the state's top hopefuls at the South regional next Saturday in Charlotte. However, the Stafford boys are expected to race on the same day at the Nike Cross Southeast Regional in Cary, North Carolina, so Lowery is still torn on which national qualifier meet to run in next week. While she has been a magician in being able to compete in cross country meets and field hockey games sometimes on the same day, she will unfortunately have to decide which race she will compete in next Saturday between Foot Locker South and Nike Cross Southeast. Either way, a West Coast-bound ticket earned to either Portland, Oregon for Nike Cross Nationals or San Diego, California for Foot Locker Nationals would be a well-deserved and well-earned trip for the 2010 Group AAA state cross country girls' champion Lowery.
Over 400 Girls & Boys set to “Battle” on November 20th
Can Virginia’s Girls keep their winning streak alive and can Maryland’s Boys dominate again?
The rolling hills of Smokey Glen Farm are ready for the teams to lay the claim, “Best Cross Country State along the Potomac”. For the fifth year in a row, girls and boys from Virginia, Maryland, West Virginia, and the District of Columbia will meet on a cross country “battlefield.” Their goal is to determine through a series of races which state along the Potomac River can claim the title of “Best in Cross Country” and take home the Potomac Cups. This weekend, there will be more than 400 runners fighting for the POTOMAC XC Cups.
Hi everyone! This past weekend at Great Meadow led to many fast times and great races by runners across Virginia. The weather was perfect for running fast times. I would like to begin my entry by saying that I had a great experience at States and am very thankful for having the opportunity to be there in the first place. I learned a lot from the experience, as I have never gone into a large championship meet being the number one ranked athlete. Getting that experience under my belt will certainly benefit me in the future.
More photos from last Friday's Virginia Independent Schools State Cross Country Championships held at Woodberry Forest School in Orange, VA. A total of 3,515 photos captured from the race footage by Brandon Miles. The new gallery adds onto the 2,366 photos already posted by John Herzog. Tag yourself and your teammates in these photos!
VIS State XC Championships Photo Gallery by Brandon MilesVIS State XC Championships Photo Gallery by John Herzog
Two years ago at the state cross country meet, Hidden Valley senior Annie LeHardy (pictured above by Frank Locascio) got the short end of the stick in a photo finish between herself and Brookville's Janel Reeves for the Group AA state title. As a senior in her last high school state cross country meet this past Saturday at Great Meadow, LeHardy made sure she would not be stuck in the same position again as she broke away from top ranked Mattie Webb of Western Albemarle and teammate Haley Cutright before the two mile mark. A state champion as a freshmen in track at 1600 meters, LeHardy continued to build her lead en route to matching the course record time of 17:34 set one year ago by Kathleen Stevens of Blacksburg with her second individual state title overall and first in cross country. Her performance also led Hidden Valley to a second straight Group AA state title, which builds momentum for the squad into the Nike Cross Southeast Regional as a returning NXN at-large qualifier from 2009. LeHardy and teammate Cutright certainly have excellent chances at qualifying individually for the national meet in Oregon if there team is unable to qualify. MileStat.com interviewed LeHardy, who has a solid and consistent four year high school career under coach Daniel King at Hidden Valley.
Week 2 of this new feature for the site, site visitors can email their questions about anything related to the sport in the state which they would like answered by MileStat.com's Brandon Miles. Email your questions to milestat@gmail.com and those questions selected this week will be answered and posted on Thursday morning. You can keep your anonymity by signing as anonymous at the bottom of the question or simply sign off as your first name and city (Example: John from Richmond, VA).
Email your Ask MileStat questions here
Photo by Mike Somers
Awareness helped Jon Ulrich win the Group A state cross country title. He was aware before the meet by his Lebanon coaches that it was the first chip timed foot to cross the line and not the torso as is the case with most meets not timed by chips which would determine his and his teammates' place order as they figured to be in a close fight with several schools for a podium spot at Great Meadow. Not sure if Ulrich knew this knowledge would eventually gain him the state individual title as well. The Lebanon sophomore Ulrich now has the opportunity to join potentially four others in boys' state meet history to win three state cross country titles after winning a photo finish over Northumberland senior Mischa Turner which based off the photo did not appear in his favor. A member also of the highest finishing Region D squad at the state meet since 1988 with Lebanon's runner-up finish to Altavista, Ulrich started the season off strong with a win at the Run Fer Da Hills Invitational but an early season stress fracture hindered him to run behind teammate Bradley Rasnake in most races and workouts during the season before coming out on top at season's end. MileStat.com interviewed the sophomore state champion from Lebanon days after his dramatic state meet victory which he had to wait 20 minutes to officially find out that he was in fact the champion.
Photo by John Herzog
Collegiate had a late blooming star last spring with Cabell Willis as a senior chopping significant seconds off his personal bests in his final high school season to drop down to run a 4:11 1600 and 9:18 3200. Following in his footsteps at an earlier stage is Collegiate School junior Scott Newton who recently won the Virginia Independent Schools Division 1 state title in cross country and looks to build upon a strong finish in cross country to chase after and surpass some of the times posted by his former teammate Willis over the next two years. As strong as the Central Region boys' individuals looked this past fall, it ended up being Newton as the only state individual champion from the Richmond area at this past weekend's state championships. MileStat.com interviewed Newton following his state title as he prepares to shoot for his first sub 16 minute performance at Foot Locker South.
Top 25 team scores based on season best 5K performances in the state of Virginia. Some differences in finish order from this past weekend's state meet showing what teams would have done if all runners their season bests.
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We are selling our "Top 10 Signs You Might Be a MileStat.com Addict" Gray Long-SleeveT-Shirts (90% cotton/10% polyester preshrunk), which we were giving out promotionally this past weekend at the VHSL State Cross Country Championships. Sizes available include Small, Medium, Large, and X-Large. Cost is $20 per shirt plus $3 shipping & handling cost. Shirts will ship within 2 business days of receiving payment. You can make a purchase online through paypal or send check in mail (made payable to MileStat.com) to 3511 Quail Hill Ct, Midlothian, VA 23112.
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Accomplished long distance runner, world cross country champion, and three-time Olympian, Craig Virgin will serve as the honorary starter and event ambassador for the American Running Association’s 5th Battle of the Potomac XC Championship. The cross-country championship will be held November 20 at Smokey Glen Farm in Gaithersburg, Maryland. The unique State vs State cross country meet pits the best of Maryland, the District of Columbia, Virginia and West Virginia in a 5K race.
Photo by Brandon Miles
Hannah Frazier became the first state champion from Bishop Sullivan Catholic School in Virginia Beach and generates lots of hope for future state titles after the freshmen claimed the Virginia Independent Schools Division 1 state cross country title this past Friday at Woodberry Forest. Frazier has been part of a formidable duo this fall between herself and Catholic Schools State champion teammate Colleen Schrader, which also helped elevate their team to a fourth place team showing. While still not a year around runner yet with other commitments such as lacrosse in the spring and two-time World Championships qualifier in Irish step dancing, if Frazier continues to roll out impressive cross country performances such as her numerous sub 19 5K clockings as a freshmen including her state win, she may eventually show off her great and fluid running form on the track as well. MileStat.com interviewed the young distance running prodigy following her victory at the VIS State Cross Country Championships to conclude a fantastic freshmen season.
Photo by Ted Plunkett
Annandale junior Ahmed Bile is the son of a 1987 world champion Abdi Bile from Somalia. 99.9% of today's high school runners in Virginia probably do not know who Abdi Bile is and probably a majority of their coaches do not either. However, both Virginia high school cross country coaches and runners know who Ahmed Bile is or now know all about him after his dramatic and remarkable last 100 meters kick to run down top ranked Silas Frantz of Douglas Freeman for the Group AAA state cross country title. He has only been running seriously for a year now after giving up soccer, which is scary for the competition to consider how much more development and potential is left in the tank for Bile. Fresh off his thrilling state meet victory, Bile now prepares for the Foot Locker South Regional and figures to be a late surging contender for a top 10 national berth. Earning a trip to San Diego this year or next fall would certainly show Ahmed is making a name for himself on his own accord and a different path to success than taken by his father, a NCAA champion at George Mason University. MileStat.com interviewed the 2010 Group AAA state cross country individual champion Bile on Monday evening after the state meet...
Collegiate junior Scott Newton followed up his 16:10 PR win at the Prep League Championships with his first individual title in the Division 1 race with a 16:29 performance at Woodberry Forest. (Photo by Brandon Miles)
Meet summary of all four division races from the 2010 Virginia Independent Schools State Cross Country Championships held Friday, November 12th at Woodberry Forest School in Orange, VA.
Come visit the MileStat.com tent to the right of the awards podium area at the state meet tomorrow at Great Meadow before the first race from 8:00 am to 10:00 AM and following the last race from 2:30 PM to 3:30 PM (if shirts left). We will be giving out free MileStat.com (top 10 signs you might be a MileStat.com addict...) long sleeve t-shirts, but you gotta show how much of an MileStat.com addict that you are by answering correctly our running trivia questions before getting a t-shirt.
MileStat.com's Brandon Miles on Friday morning walked the entire 5K state meet course at Great Meadow with video camera in hand to provide a course tour. Hopefully this will be helpful to teams and runners unable to preview the course before race day as well as a refresher for those in future years returning back to compete. Broken up into 3 video segments (start to 1 mile mark, 1 mile mark to 2 mile mark, 2 mile mark to 5K finish).
Great Meadow State Meet Course Video Tour
Start to 1 Mile Mark1 Mile Mark to 2 Mile Mark2 Mile to 5K Finish
The 46th annual Virginia Independent Schools State Cross Country Championships will be held on Friday at the Woodberry Forest School in Orange County. A group of seniors for the Bishop O'Connell girls will be attempting to win their fourth straight state team title together, while the one point differential between the Trinity boys and the defending state champions Woodberry Forest at last week's Prep League Championships foreshadows a great team battle to be revisited at the state meet.
"The Historian" provides a small look back at state cross country country meets of the past and the different locations which the meet was held. Great Meadow is the fourth location for the state cross country meet. Great Meadows has hosted the meet since 1994. Virginia Tech hosted the meet in 1993, and before that the meet was held at Piedmont Community College in Charlottesville (form the early 70’s). The 60’s saw the meet hosted by William and Mary on a 2.4 mile course.
MileStat.com is also currently trying to find as many old state meet results (before the internet and MileStat.com) as possible. We have collected complete results from all years in the 1990s at Great Meadow, the 1993 state meet at Virginia Tech, and brief results (top 10-15 individuals) from a few years in 1980s at Piedmont (84,86,88,89,90). If any long-time coaches or retired coaches have kept hard copies of these past results (especially complete results), we'd appreciate if you could fax (804-325-1077) to us. We'll be attempting to type up and post online as many state meet results that we collect during the month of November.
Clover Hill senior Abby Badura has been selected as one of twelve national finalists for the Wendy's Heisman scholar athlete award. (Photo by Ryan Kelly)
Two high school senior cross country runners from the Richmond area have been named as the Wendy's Heisman scholar athlete award winners for the state of Virginia in Atlee's Andrew Catanese and Clover Hill's Abby Badura. Badura also has been selected as one of the 12 national finalists who will travel to New York City for the awards presentation for the 2010 national finalist award winner on Saturday December 12th in conjunction with the collegiate football Heisman ceremony. Catanese has been an All-District and All-Region performer in cross country, indoor, and outdoor track numerous times, while earning All-State honors with a 7th place in the 3200 meter run at the 2010 Group AAA State Outdoor Championships. Badura was a USATF Junior Olympics cross country All-American in 2008 and has qualified for state competition four times total between cross country (2007, 2008), indoor (2010), and outdoor track (2009).
First set of questions and answers from this week's "Ask MileStat" as site visitors get a chance to ask Brandon Miles of MileStat.com questions related to the sport in the state of Virginia.
Private school rankings broken down by VIS Division 1 and Division 2 for Friday's state championship meet at Woodberry Forest. New rankings include top 10 teams and top 20 individuals for Division 1 schools and top 5 teams and top 10 individuals for Division 2 schools.
A new feature for the site, site visitors can email their questions about anything related to the sport in the state which they would like answered by MileStat.com's Brandon Miles. Email your questions to milestat@gmail.com and those questions selected this week will be answered and posted on Thursday morning. Especially could be some good questions and answers related to this weekend's state championships. You can keep your anonymity by signing as anonymous at the bottom of the question or simply sign off as your first name and city (Example: John from Richmond, VA).
Email your Ask MileStat questions here
Hello everyone! My last entry began with me saying how fast the season has passed and how I couldn’t believe I had my last district meet ever. The same applies for this entry....
Breakdown of schools in Division I and Division II for Friday's Virginia Independent Schools State Cross Country Championships at Woodberry Forest. Meet preview and pre-meet rankings forthcoming.
It has been quite a journey for all the teams and individuals who have qualified to compete in Saturdays’s VHSL State Cross Country Championships. All participants and coaches have their own stories of how they got here between the fast times and slow, the victories and the losses, the surprises and the setbacks…the common theme is they all had to figure out how to handle both adversity and success in a positive direction to lead them to this point. Some are just happy to have made it this far, while others will not be happy with anyone else but a spot on that podium. The rankings are nice and generate interest as well as might motivate some teams and individuals to prove them wrong, but they really go out the window at the start of the Saturday’s races. The only rankings that matter are the official state meet results, but let’s delve into who might be some of the teams and individuals to look out for in all of the six races at the 2010 Virginia High School League Cross Country State Championships...
Race Previews: Group AAA Girls - Group AAA Boys - Group A Girls - Group A Boys - Group AA Girls - Group AA Boys
MileStat.com's final team rankings (top 16 deep) for Group AAA, Group AA, and Group A as well as Cream of the Crop (All-Class) before this Saturday's VHSL State Championships at Great Meadow.
MileStat.com's final individual rankings (top 25 deep) for Group AAA, Group AA, and Group A as well as Cream of the Crop (All-Class) before this Saturday's VHSL State Championships at Great Meadow.
The last time that the Stafford boys were in the hunt for a state title was back in 1996 with their only state champion squad in school history. The revival of this program which currently features one of the top boys' programs in the state of Virginia with their recent Northwest Regional title as well as one of the fastest individual female runners in the state in sophomore Hannah Lowery (17:47 5K best) is atrributed to one coach. The one person who has had the most important role in building and molding the Stafford boys from a bottom dweller in the Commonwealth District only a few years ago into a Group AAA state title contender for this year and possibly years to come, while also maximizing the talent of a gifted runner in Lowery is head cross country coach Pete Augrom. Coach Augrom had to prepare his team to be ready to beat some great teams with experienced coaches to get his team out of the district to have even a shot to advance to the state meet. A native from Pavillion, New York, Augrom got exposed to high level and competitive high school cross country and has clearly prepared and pushed his team to reach that level of performance as well. MileStat.com interviewed Coach Augrom following a successful regional meet for Stafford, which included a boys' team championship and girls' individual winner.
The Ocean Lakes cross country program coached by Mike Nestor has proven that being a school from the Eastern Region does not automatically mean that you cannot compete with the best cross country teams in the fall and distance runners during the track season. Coach Nestor has coached two individual state champions in Stacey Nobles and Drew Paisley as well as an indoor state champion girls' 4x800 meter relay to go along with the numerous district and regional champion teams featuring many individuals qualifying for multiple state meets and All-State honors. At last week's Eastern Region Championships, Coach Nestor achieved a first since becoming the head coach of both programs a decade ago with the Ocean Lakes boys and girls sweeping the team titles. With few losses due to graduation from their current top seven for both boys and girls for the 2011 cross country season, Ocean Lakes can certainly try to go for another first next fall to become the first Eastern Region school with a pair of squads on the state meet podium. MileStat.com interviewed Coach Nestor following their regional title double as the teams hope to both break into the top five in state competition on Saturday...
W.T. Woodson junior Paul Gates (pictured above by Ted Plunkett) expected to be one of the top runners in the Northern Region this fall after a great track season clocking personal bests of 4:22 in the 1600 and 9:30 in the 3200 last spring. He was not out winning invitationals earlier in the season and others were taking the spotlight and top rankings for the region, but came through with a big victory at the Patriot District meet in one of the more competitive districts in the state with a 15:15 performance at Burke Lake Park. Gates followed up with a third place finish at the regional meet behind Annandale's Ahmed Bile and Chantilly's Sean McGorty and since none of the top three runners are seniors, the Northern Region should be even stronger and very exciting next fall with all three back to battle at Burke Lake. Gates gave up lacrosse last spring to focus only on running and his focus now is centered on a top 15 All-State finish Saturday at Great Meadow. MileStat.com interviewed one of the Northern Region's best in Gates prior to the state championships...
Photos by Frank Locascio
Blacksburg (1st, 19 pts), Cave Spring (2nd, 83 pts), Abingdon (3rd, 92 pts), and Christiansburg (4th, 130 pts) boys advanced onto the state meet from Region IV. Blacksburg's George Carter won with a time of 16:25 and only Cave Spring junior Cody Seymour (2nd, 16:30) was able to break up Blacksburg from a perfect sweep of the top seven places. Blacksburg only had a 40 second spread and looked very much like the top ranked team in the state and defending Group AA state champion caliber squad from earlier in the season.
Hidden Valley (1st, 34 pts), Blacksburg (2nd, 42 pts), Christiansburg (3rd, 99 pts), and Cave Spring (4th, 109 pts) girls advance to the state meet from Region IV. Hidden Valley's Annie LeHardy (18:31) and Haley Cutright (18:33) dropped the field by the two mile mark to open up over a 30 second margin for a 1-2 finish and led the Hidden Valley girls to their fourth straight Region IV title over Blacksburg as seniors. Hidden Valley had four All-Region performers in LeHardy, Cutright, Carolyn Bethel (5th, 19:50), and Ashleigh Torres (11th, 20:29). Cave Spring freshmen Katie Fortner ran well individually to place third with a time of 19:08.
More to come from Region IV Meet at Dan Daniels Park in Danville.
Region IV Championships Results: Boys Race - Girls Race (top 15 only - full results to be posted soon)
Photo Gallery by Frank Locascio
The close call finish which decided the Prep League title by 1 point
Trinity boys celebrate first title since 1981
Slowed by summer injury at start of season, Collegiate's Scott Newton and his 16:09 PR win might make him private school state title favorite now
Taylor Clevinger and Ali Doswell dominate up front for St. Catherine's girls with 1-2 finish
Woodberry Forest's Kevin Bennert races in only 2nd day back running after missing nearly 2 full months due to injury. Bennert's gutsy 3rd place finish almost pushed Woodberry Forest over the top against Trinity.
Full meet summary to be added soon along with photo gallery.
Prep League/LIS Championships Results: Varsity Boys - Varsity Girls - JV Boys/Girls
Race Videos by Brandon Miles: Varsity Boys - Varsity Girls - JV Boys/Girls
Video Interviews by Brandon Miles: Scott Newton - Guy Shelby/Mac Strehler - Kevin Bennert - Taylor Clevinger/Ali Doswell
Photo Gallery by Brandon Miles - To be posted soon.
Photo by Jim Granger
In the girls race at Friday's TCIS Championships in Chesapeake, Bishop Sullivan junior and Catholic Schools state champ Colleen Schrader led from start to finish and ran a very impressive 18:41 on a muddy and beat up Bells Mill Park course, which hosted the Eastern Region Championships on the previous day. Her ninth grade teammate, Hannah Frazier, was second in 18:51. Norfolk Academy though put four seniors on the All-Conference team and won two kick battles at the end to edge Bishop Sullivan 51-54 to win their third straight TCIS title.
Photo by Jim Granger
In the boys race, a lead pack of Devin Tupper (Norfolk Collegiate), Greg Swanson (Norfolk Christian), and Ian Granger (Norfolk Academy) stayed in tact for the first half of the race. Right before the two mile mark, Granger opened up a 10 yard lead and opened it to 30 yards on the big down and up hill after the two mile mark. Swanson followed and cut into the lead the last 400, but Granger opened it back up on the last 100 meters and won in 17:14. For the team title, Swanson's Norfolk Christian team fell just a few points short of defending champs Peninsula Catholic, who had a giant pack of five in the mid-teen places.
TCIS Championships Results: Boys Race - Girls Race
Hello everyone! It’s been a while since I’ve posted, but this journal will catch you up on everything from the week leading up to my district meet and the week leading up to my region meet....
I am sorry to say that I have gotten very behind on my MileStat journal during the past few weeks. So I will just review a few of the most exciting things that have happened to me since the last time I wrote...
For the first time ever, the VHSL is offering online ticket sales for the VHSL Cross Country Championships on November 13, 2010. Admission tickets are $8, or $9 with a donation to the VHSL Foundation. Please share this link with your cross country athletes and parents. Avoid the lines on Saturday morning and click
http://vhsl.ticketleap.com/vhsl-cross-country-championships
to order you tickets on-line.
Radford's Kaitlin Smith won the girls race and Glenvar's James Kasper was the boys winner. James Kasper (pictured above by Frank Locascio) of Glenvar, running the race of his life, surged to the front late then nipped the diving Travis Cockerham of Galax at the tape. (via www.roanoke.com)
All photos by Michael Somers
The cold rain was an inconvenience to some runners on Thursday racing at their regional meets, but it was a blessing for Stafford sophomore Hannah Lowery as the rain postponed her field hockey game to leave her concentration solely on the sport which does not cancel due to a little rain. She has had to pull double time all fall long between the two sports as her Stafford field hockey team is state tournament bound, while Lowery herself individually is considered to be one of the top contenders for the Group AAA state cross country title. She has done better than pretty well juggling and perfoming well in both sports. As a less busy and time strapped two-sport athlete at the Northwest Region Championships in Charlottesville, Hannah Lowery broke the meet record time by seven seconds with her 18:05 performance and just missed the course record of 18:02 set by Ariel Karabinus in last year's Albemarle Invitational.
Patrick Henry senior Patrick Woodford gets little respect but still finds a way to win Northwest Regional titles. Last February, Woodford won the indoor regional 3200 title and it was a surprise. Last May, Woodford defeated several runners with faster personal and season bests for the outdoor regional 3200 title. Despite being a two-time regional champion on the track and winning several invitationals, Woodford was not considered an odds on favorite to win the cross country regional crown on Thursday as well. Woodford made a break for the win at the major hill found at the two mile mark on the Panorama Farms 5K course and never looked back. At the end when he crossed the line with a personal best time of 16:02, he finally looked back in the chute to see his teammate Harnel Paultre kicking past others for second place in 16:08.
The Commonwealth District was essentially the state qualifier meet for the Northwest Region boys' teams with four of the state's top 10 ranked programs advancing on. The regional race itself ended up becoming a re-run of those four teams with the chance that the order might get re-arranged. The order changed for all four Commonwealth District teams from districts to regions, while still maintaining their position in the top four to advance to the state championships. The VA #3 Colonial Forge boys came in as the favorites and had escaped an upset barely at the district meet at the hands of the VA #4 Stafford squad. Despite posting a team average two seconds faster than last year's AAA state champions from Mountain View (16:38) posted in their 2009 region win, Colonial Forge (16:36 average) would not be able to hold Stafford off for a second straight week. Coach Pete Augrom's squad at Stafford averaged 16:26 at Panorama Farms with only a 35 second spread for a top five which nearly all placed among the top 15 for All-Region. Stafford's Tyler Oliver (4th, 16:11), Ian MacLeod (10th, 16:20), and Greg Bohmke (11th, 16:22) held their own against a solid performance from Colonial Forge's front three in Brian O'Loughlin (6th, 16:15), Jordanis Lozier (7th, 16:16), and David Pennesi (9th, 16:20). While Colonial Forge was winning the meet through three runners, Stafford (55 pts) made up the difference then gained its 20 point advantage over Colonial Forge (75 pts) in the critical #4 and #5 runner spots with Brandon Hinton (15th, 16:38) and Joey Abbatello (18th, 16:45). . The Riverbend boys (3rd, 83 pts) qualified for their school's first state meet appearance in school history, while host school Albemarle (4th, 95 pts) could very well match or better their regional finish at next week's state meet.
The Colonial Forge girls went into the regional championships considered favorites to win, despite a strong season and Cardinal District title for the defending regional champions from Osbourn Park. Osbourn Park's chances of repeat certainly were hurt when one of their top runners Kayla Tyrrell had her season cut short before the district meet due to a stress fracture injury. If Tyrrell had been in the lineup for the regional meet, it may have made things more interesting with Osbourn Park girls (88 pts) slipping to third place behind Albemarle (2nd, 87 pts) by one point, but it also might have been insignificant on the team outcome with the way which the Colonial Forge girls raced. Averaging 19:37 as a squad by placing their top five among the top 20 and under 20 minutes, Colonial Forge girls had arguably their best team performance of the season to generate lots of momentum for a state meet podium run next week. Colonial Forge showed some power up front with four ahead of Osbourn Park's first finisher with Shaina Manuel (4th, 19:21), Jenna Walker (8th, 19:21), Lilly Moore (10th, 19:34), and Hannah Dickinson (13th, 19:41). It was fitting that senior Colleen Wade, who was a member of the last regional team champions for Colonial Forge as a freshmen, wrapped up the team scoring and regional team title in 20th place with a time of 19:58 as the team's fifth finisher. The Mountain View boys were unable to defend their regional title this week and will be unable to defend their state title next week after failing to advance out of the ultra competitive Commonwealth District, but at least Coach Dave Davis will have a girls' team representing Mountain View in state competition as the Lady Wildcats finished fourth with 96 points.
Northwest Region Championship Results: Boys Race - Girls RaceNorthwest Region Meet Photo Gallery by Michael Somers
Watch out Midlo. Lake Braddock is coming for you again. In a similar path taken last year en route to their shocking Group AAA state title over the four-time defending champions Midlothian, the Lake Braddock girls (pictured above by Ted Plunkett) are coming together and running their best as a team in each race leading up to Great Meadow. Last year, Lake Braddock lost their district meet only to bounce back and win the regional meet. The same reverse finish order occurred in 2010 with the Lake Braddock girls on Thursday recovering from a district meet title loss to West Potomac by turnaround in a week's time to claim the Northern Region title at Burke Lake Park. The difference from last year's regional meet is that Lake Braddock faced even tougher competition from not only their Patriot District champion rivals West Potomac (3rd, 108 pts) but the previously undefeated Thomas Jefferson girls out of the Liberty District. The Thomas Jefferson girls, who had defeated the likes of Bishop O'Connell and Blacksburg during their invitational season, had even gotten back to full strength with the return of Lisa Junta to their lineup after missing much of the last half of the cross country season.
Led by individual champion Sophie Chase (pictured left by Ted Plunkett), who finished second in the regional race last November as a freshmen, the Lake Braddock girls matched up as the superior team through four runners and nearly putting three runners ahead of TJ's top finisher Kelly Rogers (8th, 18:34). Chase won by 12 seconds over Thomas Edison's Myah Hicks (17:50) as she bettered her district time by four seconds on the historic Burke Lake 2.98 mile course with a 17:38 clocking. Freshmen Hannah Christen was missing from the district meet due to illness and she made a huge difference once plugged back into Coach Mike Mangan's lineup finishing fourth overall with a time of 18:13 to win top freshmen bragging rights over Robert E. Lee's Bailey Kolonich (6th, 18:16). Casey Lardner (10th, 18:34) made for three Lady Bruins among the top 10, while Katie Roche (22nd, 18:54) and Tara Landy (38th, 19:24) for a final winning team score of 71 points to put them 31 points ahead of runner-up Thomas Jefferson (2nd, 102 pts).
Despite losing their first meet of the season, the Thomas Jefferson girls still appear to be a state meet podium caliber squad and Junta's return is promising as another week of running under her might allow her to move up from her current fifth position on the team at the regional meet to higher spot and individual finish to lower the team score. Rogers and Stephanie Marzen (12th, 18:37) were the team's two All-Region performers, while Sarah Stites (23rd, 18:56) made for a third runner under 19 minutes. The Liberty District champions actually put six runners ahead of Lake Braddock's fifth runner with Rehka Schnepf (31st, 19:15), Junta (32nd, 19:17), and Sarah Neilsen (33rd, 19:18) finishing in a line together, but definitely will need better front running or their pack as a whole to move up for the state meet to fare better against the likes of Lake Braddock and top ranked Midlothian.
The Patriot District champion West Potomac girls are certainly not out of the state meet top three podium picture either as they almost became the second team to defeat the TJ girls trailing them by only six points in third place with 108 points. The duo of Sarah Jane Underwood (8th, 18:31) and Dale Lescher (11th, 18:36) held their own up front for All-Region honors and their remaining top five kept their spread under one minute with Sophia Passacantando (19:01), Colleen Boye (19:05), and Sami Miller (19:29). The West Springfield girls showed how strong the Patriot District girls are this year by becoming the third team from the district to qualify for the state meet with a score of 130 points for fourth place to shut out Concorde District champions Oakton (5th, 164 pts) and Liberty District runners-up Langley (6th, 167 pts) from state meet appearances.
It is probably a testament to his talent as he has pretty good genes with his father Abdi being a 1987 world champion at 1500 meters who boasted PR's of a 3:49 mile and 1:43.6 800, but the rest of the competition in the state of Virginia has to be scared that Annandale junior Ahmed Bile (pictured right by Dave Watt) is already running so well in only his second race back after missing the entire cross country season prior to the district meet due to injury. Bile bidded his time as he lurked behind the race leaders after 2 miles in Abraham Yacob of Robert E. Lee and Concorde District sophomore champion Sean McGorty of Chantilly before striking and using his top gear in the last quarter mile of the course to pull them in and pull away for a 15:22 win. The sophomore McGorty ran a tough race as part of the lead group throughout to hold off a hard charging W.T. Woodson junior Paul Gates (3rd, 15:26.8) for second place in 15:26.3. A total of 17 runners broke 16 minutes on the Burke Lake 2.98 mile course to make for a 15:57 cut-off for top 15 All-Region honors.
It was a Patriot District battle for the boys' team crown between West Potomac (1st, 78 pts) and Lake Braddock (2nd, 84 pts). Lake Braddock closed the gap on West Potomac from their runner-up district meet to nearly match the Lake Braddock girls with a first place trophy as well by improving their fifth runner situation by 23 seconds from the district meet as the two squads ran nearly identical time averages from their district to regional races. The West Potomac boys are looking to get on the podium next weekend with the power of depth and pack, which was at a 33 second spread on Thursday with Brady Corum pacing the team in ninth place with a time of 15:44. Ben Aleixo (15:57) was West Po's top finisher at the district meet and followed Corum in by snagging the final All-Region spot in 15th place. Mark Hanak (16:09), Marc Lotterie (16:15), and Corey Rosenberg (16:18) rounded out Coach Jenn Dietz's top five for a team score of 78 points to give Dietz her first regional team title in her first season as the head cross country coach at West Potomac.
Lake Braddock's Sam Rubenking was racing with the leaders over two miles before finishing fifth overall with a time of 15:35. Rubenking was one of three Lake Braddock runners to break 16 minutes as they were the only school to have a trio under the time barrier including Rubenking, Luke Sohl (11th, 15:53), and Nick Tuck (14th, 15:56). The South Lakes boys will be advancing to their first state meet in a decade as they might have had a goal of challenging for a regional title, they will certainly a third place finish (130 pts) and guaranteed spot in next Saturday's VHSL State Cross Country Championships after a long drought. With a few traditional powers in Oakton (8th) and Thomas Jefferson (6th) encountering down years, it has opened the door for new teams to break into the top four and represent the Northern Region at the state meet including a big surprise in fourth place with Herndon (4th, 147 pts) edging out James Robinson (5th, 152 pts) for the final state meet spot after finishing third at the district meet behind Robinson and Oakton. They were considered a long shot to qualify compared to other teams for that fourth spot.
Northern Region Championships Results: Boys Race - Girls RacePhoto Gallery by Ted PlunkettPhoto Gallery by Dave Watt
Race Videos by Ed Lull: Boys Race - Girls Race
Race Videos by Chris Medrano - To be posted on Friday.
Under the guidance of Coach Mike Nestor, it is hard to believe with the combined success which the Ocean Lakes boys and girls' cross country teams have enjoyed within the Eastern Region over the past decade with a total of six regional team titles prior to 2010 that both teams have never experienced first place together at the regional meet. The sweep finally happened on Thursday with steady rainfall throughout the day to muddy up and slow down the course at Bells Mill Park in Chesapeake.
Ocean Lakes junior Audrey Batzel (pictured above by Ryan Kelly) followed up her Beach District individual title with an Eastern Region title. Batzel posted a strong 18:37 5K performance in the mud to lead the Ocean Lakes girls to the team title with 52 points. Batzel and the Ocean Lakes girls got competition once again from Beach District rivals Princess Anne (2nd, 65 pts) and Lizzie Cornell (2nd, 18:45). Currently ranked #12 in Group AAA, Batzel is the Eastern Region's best chance at seeing an individual girl on the state meet podium while Cornell and Hickory's Teresa Williamson could sneak into the top 15 at Great Meadow with a breakthrough race. Joining Batzel and Cornell under 19 minutes were Southeastern District champ Williamson (3rd, 18:50) of Hickory and Cornell's sophomore teammate Ariel Briales (4th, 18:53). Advancing to state competition as teams with Ocean Lakes and Princess Anne were Kellam (3rd, 90 pts) as the third Beach District team and Southeastern District champions Grassfield (4th, 107 pts).
The Ocean Lakes boys exhibited their depth and strength as a whole team with their top runner Jon Winters running poorly due to illness and finishing back in the seventh spot for the team but still winning the Eastern Region team title. Nearly three Ocean Lakes runners cracked into the top 15 for All-Region honors with David Harrison (9th, 16:33), Brandon Clifford (15th, 16:37), and Austin Gillies (17th, 16:41). Connor Gulley (17:01) and Brandon Winters (17:04) completed their team scoring with a total of 71 points and mere top five spread of only 32 seconds. There was little separation at the Southeastern District Championships between the top three boys' squads and the breathing room did not grow an inch at the regional meet between Grassfield (2nd, 96 pts), Hickory (3rd, 100 pts), and Western Branch (4th, 105 pts) to match the Beach District girls by sending three teams to the state cross country meet. Grassfield ran well up front with three individuals among the top seven including race champion Jeremy Greenwald (pictured above by Ryan Kelly) as the senior clocked a great winning time in not ideal conditions at 15:42. Greenwald could be a darkhorse challenger for the Group AAA state title as he has not really faced major competition outside of the Tidewater area. Two juniors from the Beach District battled out for second place and setting the state for the 2011 regional meet between Brent Coulter (2nd, 16:02) of Landstown and Sean Helmke (3rd, 16:05) of Kellam.
Eastern Region Championship Results: Boys Results - Girls Results
Eastern Region Meet Photo Gallery by Ryan Kelly - To be posted by Friday morning.
The biggest day of regional championships is on Thursday with three of the four Group AAA (Eastern, Northern, Northwest), two of the four Group AA (Region I & Region II), and two of the four Group A (Region A & Region C) being held. Rain is expected throughout much of the state, so it could be a damper on things including fast times.
Links below to meet pages which include pre-meet information such as race start times, course maps, and links to past regional meet results. We hope to have all meet results posted by late Thursday night. We are really spread thin for coverage help between the seven meets on Thursday, so would appreciate any photo or video contributions for those attending these meets. Let us know if you can help!
Thursday's Regionals
Eastern Region Championships - Photo coverage by Ryan Kelly.
Northern Region Championships - Video coverage by Chris Medrano. Photo coverage by Dave Watt.
Northwest Region Championships -
Region I -
Region II - Video, photos, & interview coverage by Brandon Miles. Photo coverage by Tim Hagen.
Region A -
Region C -
The daughter of a long-time successful high school cross country coach in Pennsylvania (Bill Bravin at Hollidaysburg Area HS), George Mason High School head coach Julie Bravin has to have made her coaching dad proud with the program that she has built on her own in over a decade at a small Group A school in the city of Falls Church. Under Coach Bravin in the past 12 years, George Mason has become one of Group A's top programs producing state champion individuals in Susanna Sullivan (cross country/outdoor track) and Natalie Young (outdoor track) along with several state meet top three finishing podium squads. The girls' team has qualified for the state meet every year in cross country during that entire time period.The 2010 George Mason girls' cross country team returned all seven runners from the 2009 Group A state cross country champion team and they have been showing no signs of letting down at all this fall in pursuit of a three peat (won first title in 2008) as their final race before the pinnacle race at Great Meadow was a dominant 7 finishers among the top 11 for another Region B crown.
More impressive this fall is Bravin's coaching job with the George Mason boys who recently won their school's first regional cross country title on Wednesday at Panorama Farms against an Altavista squad which has finished among the top four in the last two state meets as well as maybe picked up the torch from the Clarke County dynasty with their numerous state titles in the last decade after the Mason boys snapped their streak of district championships last week. They will attempt to match or better the performance of their 2003 squad which finished as a shocking state runner-up following a fourth place regional finish. MileStat.com interviewed Coach Bravin following her team's school history making day and momentum building regional race into the state championships...
She has been use to flying through the grass and mud every fall since she was a young kid, but while riding on a four legged animal called a horse. Hickory junior Teresa Williamson, a still active equestrian rider throughout the year, has found this fall that she does not need the assistance necessarily of a horse to go fast. Williamson made a huge leap in performance and emerged as an Eastern Region contender following her 18:38 5K performance at the MileStat.com Invite. She re-affirmed that the quick time at Pocahontas State Park was no on-time fluke race by winning the Southeastern District title last week despite losing one of her shoes early in the race. Prior to this fall of 2010, Williamson had only season of cross country and one season of indoor track under her belt in terms of any running, so her curve of improvement is still going strong. The night before she races with the Tidewater's fastest cross country runners at Bells Mill Park in Chesapeake for the Eastern Region Championships, Williamson answered a series of interview questions from MileStat.com...
George Mason boys join George Mason girls as Region B team champs
Defending state champion Katlyn Ayers pulls away comfortably for 19:12 win
Clarke County boys team may be down, but Steven Trayer & Paul Myer look to continue individual state glory
Full meet summary, race videos, interviews, and photo gallery to come from Wednesday's Region B Cross Country Championships at Panorama Farms in Charlottesville. Complete results posted.
Region B Meet Results: Boys Race - Girls RaceRegion B Meet Photo Gallery by Brandon Miles - 817 photos total.
Race Videos - To be added Thursday morning.
Interviews - To be added Thursday morning.
Tabatha Arwood was worried about the weather Wednesday. The Lebanon junior wanted the conditions to be equal for the Region D cross country meet at treacherous Sugar Hollow Park. (via TriCities.com)
Hello everyone and welcome back to the fifth entry of my MileStat.com blog. It has been awhile since my last entry and Mattie has officially lapped me with her sixth entry to use running terminology. For the sake of saving you from reading a ridiculously long blog entry, I’ll start by talking about how districts went and then end with what our team’s last workout before regionals was...
In a trial run to see how much additional site traffic might be generated by opening up more of MileStat.com's site content to non-subscriber visitors of the site as well as give those currently not subscribers an opportunity to see what they have been missing out on...MileStat.com immediately will unlock the database's rankings pages (including 5K/3mile lists & season best 5K generated team scores)and individual athlete's statistics (includes all performances by an athlete from meet results posted on site) on their profile pages from requiring a subscription in order to view through a temporary period extending through the state cross country meet weekend (November 14th). Race videos, photo galleries, and interview articles & videos will still require subscription access during this time period.
On another note...We are one month away from the 10 year anniversary of the creation of MileStat.com!
To be the clear cut best among the Central Region girls in this fall's cross country season, you have got to be really, really good. With gifted runners such as Erica Dobbs, Anna Spiers, Molly Breidenbaugh, Bonny Turnage, and Kaila Blackburn among others, there at least a handful of girls who could very easily be a Central Regional champion in most years. However, the season so far put together by Cosby junior Megan Moye (pictured above by John Herzog) has many of those same girls thinking about racing for second instead of first place at this upcoming Saturday's Central Region Championships at Pole Green Park in Mechanicsville. Moye not only finished well ahead of the Central Region's best at last month's MileStat.com Invitational, but beat two of the state's top ranked runners in Group AAA in Lake Braddock's Sophie Chase and Stafford's Hannah Lowery en route to a Pocahontas State Park course record breaking of 17:42. Her only loss to in-state competition this season was finishing seven seconds behind Mattie Webb with a top five finish and 17:44 clocking at Great American. Moye's exceptional race in Cary, North Carolina has her debating now which meet to attend in late November between Foot Locker South and Nike Cross Southeast (held on same course as Great American) with bigger goals now of qualifying for a national championship meet in cross country. After missing by just two seconds a district meet race record held by a past Foot Locker Nationals finalist and Nike Cross Nationals individual qualifier in Kathleen Lautzenheiser (Midlothian '09), Moye will look to build towards a potential berth by first taking care of business in-state by racing for her first regional title this weekend then compete for her first state crown on the following Saturday at Great Meadow. MileStat.com interview the #2 ranked runner in the state of Virginia, Megan Moye, leading up to her regional meet on Saturday...
In her latest MileStat.com athlete journal entry, one of the state's most prized distance running recruits this year in Western Albemarle senior Mattie Webb announces her verbal college committment after an enjoyable recent visit to a certain ACC school. With her college decision out of the way, Webb can focus on a strong finish to her cross country season as one of Virginia's best high school runners, and she competes next on Thursday at the Region II Championships in Winchester. Find out which school she decided on by reading her recent blog!
Northside senior Erin Wheeled had a nice tuneup race leading up to the VHSL State Championships next weekend. She put down an 18:09 5K personal best performance at Rockingham County Fairgrounds to claim the Region III cross country title. Wheeler's performance on Tuesday certainly sets the tone for the rest of this regional week for other top female runners in the state to try to match her run. Less than 12 months ago, Wheeler was running over 20 minutes for 5K and not in serious contention for All-State top 15 honors. Fast forward to present day and Wheeler is now setting herself up to be one of the top darkhorse challengers for the Group AA state race and has a goal to shatter 18 minutes next month at Foot Locker South. MileStat.com interviewed Wheeler following her big win at the Region III Championships...
A new course for the Region III Championships at the Rockingham County Fairgrounds proved to be a perfect venue for runners across the board to either end their season with a personal or season best or extend their season another week by qualifying for the VHSL State Championship's Group AA race. Leading the barrage of PR's in the meet as she flew on the downhills and pushed through the uphills was Northside senior Erin Wheeler. Wheeler clocked the ninth fastest 5K time in the state of Virginia this fall with an 18:09 performance as she dropped 35 seconds from her last race on the same course at the October 13th regional preview meet. After a 5:26 first mile with Jefferson Forest's Leigha Schimmoeller, Wheeler was able to continue to hold the hot pace for the next 2.1 miles to become the regional champion following a runner-up finish in 2009. The #5 ranked runner in Group AA has come a long way from her junior season of cross country in which she was running over 20 minutes for 5K in most races as Wheeler appears to be one of the top challengers following top ranked and favorite Mattie Webb of Western Albemarle in next Saturday's state finals.
With her first sub 19 minute performance, Leigha Schimmoeller (2nd, 18:55) led a dominant team showing for the Jefferson Forest girls to claim another regional title. The Lady Cavaliers were decisive champions in 2009 with 48 points, but won by an even larger margin this year with a team score of 36 points. The Jefferson Forest girls conceded first place individually to Northside's Wheeler, but then took the next three places with Schimmoeller, sophomore Hannah Owen (3rd, 19:17), and 2009 regional champion Mary Deis (4th, 19:25). Their next three finishers were just on the fringe of top 15 All-Region honors with Anna Carter (15th, 20:26), Katie Vann (16th, 20:31), and Carsen Wilkerson (17th, 20:31) to complete their team scoring and send them to the state meet as the top team representing Region III.
Erin Wheeler led the Northside girls to a runner-up finish with 78 points and only their school's second state meet appearance in 35 years. The Harrisonburg girls (3rd, 104 pts) bounced back from losing the Massanutten District title to Turner Ashby to grab a spot in the state meet with top runner Tabea Zimmerman returning back to top form to finish 7th individually in 19:59 and be followed closely behind by teammate Maria Rose (8th, 20:00). Wilson Memorial (4th, 139 pts) has only been competing in Group AA for a short time after competing as a Group A school for years, but now find themselves to be a Group AA state qualifying team for a second straight season with an underclassmen loaded lineup including four sophomores and a freshmen.
Based off district meet times alone, the William Byrd boys would not be the team considered to challenge for the team title. However, after running a difficult and slower district meet course, the William Byrd team relished in the opportunity to run fast at the Rockingham County Fairgrounds on Tuesday afternoon. Jefferson Forest boys had been the pre-meet favorites and defeated William Byrd decisively in their last matchup at the Runnin With The Wolves Rocktoberfest by 45 points. William Byrd did not run with their top runner Kevin O'Connor in that race though and inserting him back into the lineup made a huge difference to close the gap on Jefferson Forest. Both O'Connor (13th, 16:29) and Nick Leffell (4th, 16:09) finished among the top 15 to earn All-Region honors to lead William Byrd (91 pts) to a close nine point victory over Jefferson Forest (100 pts) in the 16 team regional field.
Outside of Blue Ridge District's William Byrd as the team champions, the Seminole District dominated the team standings with three of the four state meet qualifiers from the district with Jefferson Forest, Brookville (3rd, 160 pts), and E.C. Glass (4th, 175 pts) shutting out any teams from the Massanutten or Southern Valley districts from moving onto to Great Meadow. It was slightly surprising for neither Robert E. Lee (5th, 183 pts) or Rockbridge County (7th, 199 pts) to qualify after both Southern Valley District teams ran well and posted fast times at the regional preview race on the same course in the middle of October.
A sophomore is currently leading Region II with Skyline's Thomas Madden and now a tenth grader has ascended to become the best in Region III also. Broadway's Daniel Richards seems to have made the sophomore jump as he went from 21st place with a time of 18:18 at the regional meet (different course) as a freshmen to becoming to the Region III individual champion with a new personal best time of 15:54. Richards had a group of upperclassmen to deal with throughout the race with Staunton River junior Stuart Robertson (2nd, 15:58), Rustburg junior Kyle Bibler (3rd, 16:06), and William Byrd's Leffell, but was able to pull away late for a four second advantage by the finish line over Robertson.
Region III Championship Results: Boys Race - Girls Race
New Group AAA cross country individual (top 25) and team (top 15) rankings prior to this week's regional championships. Regional rankings also included featuring the top 10 teams and top 15 individuals per region. No individuals or teams who failed to qualify out of their district championships are included in the latest rankings.
Group AA cross country team and individual rankings prior to the regional championship meets. Includes top 25 individual and top 15 team rankings for the Group AA classification along with regional rankings for the top 10 teams and top 15 individuals in all four regions (I, II, III, & IV). Rankings only include teams and individuals who were able to advance out of their district championships.
Group A cross country team and individual rankings prior to the regional championships. The latest update includes the first regional rankings with top 5 teams and top 10 individuals for Region A, B, C, and D along with the top 15 teams and top 25 individuals for all of Group A. MileStat.com will be on-site covering one of the most competitive regional meets in Group A at the Region B Championships to be held Wednesday at Panorama Farms in Charlottesville.
A busy week of championship meets this past week including the Catholic Schools State Championships, WCAC Championships, VIC/Blue Ridge Championships, IAC/ISL/MAC Championships, and competitive Norfolk Academy meet helped shape and influence the latest private school rankings which will be impacted again this Friday with the Prep League/LIS Championships at Collegiate's Goochaldn Champus and the TCIS Championships at Bells Mill Park.
Meet summaries from all four of the Northern Region district meets (Concorde, Liberty, National, Patriot). Summaries to continue to be added throughout Sunday night into Monday from district meets around the state of Virginia. The Patriot District boys' race was a great collection of many of the Northern Region's star runners, but W.T. Woodson junior Paul Gates put the hammer down in the final 400 meters to pull away for a 15:15 victory.
