Charger Open 3200 2008

Despite cold and windy conditions for Saturday's Charger Open 3200 at Chantilly High School, there were some solid performances by athletes tuning up for next weekend's Foot Locker South and Nike Cross Southeast regional meets. Potomac School junior Anneka Wilson (pictured right by John Herzog), a strong contender for a top 10 national qualifying spot next week in the Foot Locker South regional, won the girls' race by 36 seconds in a time of 11:22. She has yet to be defeated in any race this season. Concorde District champion Stephanie Bray (11:58) of James Robinson beat out National District champion Myah Hicks (12:01) of Thomas Edison for the second fastest time. Edison's Leoule Degfae and Chantilly's Chris Foley have had several battles this fall with Foley outkicking Degfae for the win at Monroe Parker Invite in September, while Degfae claimed the Northern Region title on the same Burke Lake Park course in October with Foley as the regional runner-up. The two runners had another close head to head encounter in the 3200 meter race on Foley's home track with Degfae coming away as the winner in 9:39 and Foley three seconds back at 9:42. The Albemarle boys, surprise state runner-up team finishers in the AAA race two weekends ago at Great Meadow, made the trip north from Charlottesville with their top seven runners. Albemarle will be one of several teams from Virginia to compete at the Nike Cross Southeast Regional next weekend in Cary, North Carolina. Albemarle's top four was impressive this weekend with All-State finishers Anthony Kostelac (3rd, 9:47) and Luke Noble (4th, 9:50) trailing in after Degfae and Foley under 10 minutes, while teammates Nathan Rouse (6th, 10:09) and Garrett Bradley (7th, 10:10) were not far off sub 10 minute times. Charger Open 3200 Results