Fork Union Invitational 2001

FORK UNION, VA -- Runners like North Stafford senior Kristyn Shiring and Fork Union junior Andrew "Kippy" Keino make cross country such a great spectator sport. They sure made all the spectators at the Fork Union Invitational mezmorized and enertained as they both ran magnificent races en route to jaw dropping, record breaking times.

Shiring has been on a roll as of late, after breaking 11 in the 3200 twice during the outdoor season, she has only improved as runner this cross country season. She started off her season in style as she improved her time by 50 seconds from last year's Chancellor Invitational to win this year's invitational last weekend in 19:46. She came into this weekend's Fork Union Invitational with high expectations having run a 19:21 on this same course last year. Well her expectations couldn't have possibly been as high as the outcome of her race.

Improving her time by 1 minute and 11 seconds from last year's race, Shiring crushed the course record by 24 seconds (set by Jeannie Addison of Thomas Jefferson/Governor's School last year) as she won the race in a time of 18:10! "I've never broken 19 before, so I was really happy about my race today," said the excited Shiring just gleaming with joy. She certaintly made sure she broke 19 as she ended up almost breaking 18 as well. It makes you wonder how well she is going to run once she gets someone to run with in a race this season. She took the lead 400 meters into the race and never looked back. She had opened up a huge lead by the mile mark as she hit that mark by 5:36. Going out fast didn't bother Shiring, she was focused and wanting to win. "I don't really concern myself with time and splits, I just concern myself with positioning."

For someone that is running so well and so fast as Shiring, you would expect her to have high hopes of winning a state title, but she just has one basic goal. "I just want to every time I race." At the rate she is improving, her goal of just finishing in the top 5 at the state meet is not only likely, but too easy of a goal. Why not want it all? Shiring certainly has the tools to win it all.

With all of the excitement centered around Shiring in the varsity girls race, Claire Whitenack of Albemarle's great race to finish second could be easily overlooked, but it will not be. Like Shiring did with the rest of the field, Whitenack separated herself from the rest of the lead pack early in the race and set her own pace throughout the race to run a sensational time of 18:50. For the second consecutive year, Whitenack earned runnerup honors, but ended up bettering her time by 15 seconds from last year's race.

The Paul VI girls dominated the meet and were impressive up front with Mary Hogan leading the way with her fourth place finishing time of 19:31. The team proceeded to place 2 more runners in the top 15 (Boyce, 5th, 19:35 and Fogerty, 13th, 20:30) for a team score of 103.

A shocker out of the Central Region was the James River girls who beat some state ranked teams such as #3 ranked Douglas Freeman and #8 Brooke Point to finish second with a score of 133 points. A 26 second difference between the Lady Rapids #1 and #5 runners was a major factor in the team's success at the meet.

The heavily hyped up duel between juniors Alex Tatu of Thomas Dale and Kippy Keino in the varsity boys race looked to living up to its billing at the beginning stages of the race. The two runners shot out like a rocket from the start and it appeared to be a foot race. Tatu led for the first 800 meters. "I wanted to run a competitive race and at the 800 mark, I felt Tatu slowing down, so I took the lead," Keino explained. By that mark, the two were far ahead of the chase pack as they battled it out. Keino then took the lead and picked up the pace even more from an already quick pace as the two went through the mile mark at a blazing 4:30 first mile. By the time they had reached the crest of the course's only major hill called Jackson's Bluff, Keino had opened up a 10-15 second lead on Tatu. "I started to open up a lead on him in the woods and then built a bigger lead at the hill." Keino maintained this lead through the remainder of the race and gutted it up the last portion of the race to run a course record breaking time of 15:25 as Tatu followed in 15:37. "It was hard," said an exhausted Keino, "At the end, I was hurting."

By far, this was Keino's best race ever so far as a high schooler. He credits his improvement to his extensive base training over the summer in his native land of Kenya. "I'm feeling real strong. I got a strong base over the summer in Kenya. Much better than last year where I only ran 1 month during the summer. We'd run at least 10K a day over there. It was difficult when I came back from Kenya where I had gotten use to running at elevation and in the mornings to come here and run in the heat of the day, but I'm starting to get used to it."

Keino has some high aspirations for this season and this race just might be the breakthrough race "Kippy" needed. "I don't like to make guarantees, but I want to run well at the Foot Locker South Regional Meet and run sub 4:10 in the mile this year." Keino seems to be headed in the right direction as he continues to represent the Keino family name well.

The boys team race shaped up to be a battle with the top teams in the Central Region. With Maggie Walker, Hermitage, Clover Hill, Mills Godwin, and Douglas Freeman all present at the meet, it was figured to be a close team battle. However, with Godwin missing two of their runners due to sickness (including #2 runner Scott Kalafatis being stricken with mono) and Maggie Walker just being too deep for any squad, it continued to not be as close.

Winning by 18 points was the Maggie Walker squad who happen to be ranked #7 in the state of Virginia. The team was able to put 3 guys in the top 15 with senior John Piersol (4th, 15:58), sophomore Andrew Stegmaier (9th, 16:15), and junior Jonathan Charlesworth (13th, 16:25). The squad only looks to get better as the season progresses as will John Piersol who takes a lighter emphasis on the summer running and early season meets, but then always seems to put it together at the end when it counts.

Like the James River girls were in the girls race, the Hermitage boys surprised a few as their squad put forth a great team effort to finish second with 106 points. Leading the squad was senior Matt Kirkland who placed 10th with a time of 16:18. The team possesses a great amount of depth as their #7 runner finished with a time of 17:35. With that luxury of depth, the Hermitage boys have a few guys that could step up if another runner has an off day.

Having a strong race even with his squad having a few runners missing in action was Mills Godwin senior Matt Wolak who closed strong to pass Piersol on the final stretch and close on Tatu with a fast time of 15:44.