Meet Information
Gaeta's opener is solid, but is outperformed by Hower
Carlstrom runs fastest current 5K time in state
By MileStat.com Staff
Saturday, October 6, 2001
CHARLOTTE, NC - After bypassing racing for the the entire month of September, Oakton senior
Phil Gaeta finally opened his cross country campaign with a solid showing as he took third in the
invitational division at the Wendy's Invitational with a time of 15:40. Ranked as the #6 runner
in the state, Gaeta intrigued many with questions and debate over why he hadn't race yet. Well if
it was to get more solid training in, it seems to be paying off with his strong race on the McAlpine
Greenway Park's 5K course in Charlotte, which the Foot Locker South Meet is also run.
However, Gaeta was outperformed by another Virginia runner as Marion senior Fleet Hower, ranked #5
in the state, cruised to another win as he won the 3A race by over 30 seconds with his time of
15:28. 15:28 is a 5K PR for Hower who's previous best was a 15:46. The time also shows the great
leap in improvement Hower has had this year. The last time he ran on the McAlpine course
was at last year's Foot Locker South Regional meet where he finished with a time of 15:57. With
Foot Locker over a month away, Hower will look to only lower that time even more significantly
on the McAlpine Greenway Park 5K course.
Another under-raced stud of Oakton's, Keira Carlstrom ran a stellar race in the girls invitational
division. She finished 3rd in the race as she ran the fastest 5K time of the season by any high
school female runner in state of Virginia with her time of 18:12. Not only does she look like
she is very capable of repeating as a state champion, but also shows the signs that she has what
it takes to advance to the Foot Locker National Meet.
The top performing team from Virginia was the Oakton boys who took 4th in the invitational division
172 points as they put 4 runners under 17.
Elite Performances: 8 boys, 3 girls