A top 25 list of returning Group AA girls athletes by event from last year's indoor track season. The Blacksburg girls will be tough to beat in Group AA with their big three in short sprinter Alyn Carr, long sprinter Kendell Wiles, and mid-distance runner Hannah Brown. All are capable of winning state titles individually this winter.

Photo by Jeff George of ncrunners.com   Midlothian girls 3rd, Blacksburg 6th, Hidden Valley 9th, Grafton 11th at the NXN Southeast Regional. Hidden Valley's Carolyn Bethel (4th, 18:04) and Midlothian's Kara Dickerson (5th, 18:08) qualified individually for Nike Cross Nationals. The Midlothian girls were only 3 points away from the automatic qualifying 2nd place team spot and now will have to wait and see if they get one of the four at-large selections.   NXN Southeast - Championship Girls Results

Top 50 boys cross country teams in our database rankings (as of 9/13) based on current season best 5K times among their top 7 runners. Albemarle scored a dominant win at the Oatlands Invitational and Midlothian rolled as well to fast times at the adidas Cross Country Challenge in Cary, North Carolina to establish both right now as the best two teams in Group AA. Meanwhile, Blacksburg and Lafayette with victories at VMI and William & Mary appear to be the top performing squads in Group AA so far.

41 points was the magic number for both Blacksburg boys and girls to start their 2011 cross country season with team titles at Hidden Valley's Clash with the Titans. Each squad had worth challengers in their season opener, but four boys and five girls in the top 15 individual places proved Blacksburg to have superior depth to the rest of competition on Saturday.

The Blacksburg girls have had to deal with the Hidden Valley girls as a thorn in their side for much of the past four cross country seasons, but the Blacksburg boys have remained relatively unchallenged in their neck of the woods at the district and regional level during that same time period. That might all change this fall though with Abingdon emerging as a legitimate contender in the Group AA ranks. They will waste no time facing off this season as both squads open up on Saturday at the Clash with the Titans in Roanoke.

The Blacksburg girls will be looking back to return to championship glory after being defeated by their district rival Hidden Valley the past two years at Great Meadow with a good crop of young talent surrounding one of the top returning middle distance runners in Virginia, Hannah Brown (2:09 800/4:54 1600). Individually, Crystal Nelson of Millbrook was the most consistent and top performer last fall among all the returnees in Group AA including a 17:49 personal best to finish out at Foot Locker South. Meanwhile, Cave Spring's Katie Fortner will look to continue to progress from her stellar freshmen year breaking 18 minutes for 5K, 11 minutes for 3200, and 5 minutes for 1600. Forter and Brown should battle often in Southwest Virginia this fall, while Powhatan's Rachel Byrd is a darkhorse after a surprising strong finish from the Region I runner last fall when she finished 5th at the state meet. Read more...

The Louisa County boys and Blacksburg girls were the top programs in Group AA for much of the indoor season and seem to have remained ontop of the classification this spring as favorites in the upcoming Group AA State Championships in Harrisonburg. In the latest MileStat.com team rankings based on scoring the database's event rankings this season as a meet, Louisa County boys hold a cushion on a handful of teams capable of scoring anywhere from 30 to 40 points in state competition, while two familar River Ridge rivals hold the top two rankings for girls between Blacksburg and Hidden Valley. Region III squads Robert E. Lee and E.C. Glass should also be in the mix.

Photo by John Herzog   A handful of Virginia schools are competing this weekend at the Volunteer Track Classic in Knoxville, Tennessee. One of the leading performances by Virginians in Friday's events was the Lee-Davis girls setting a new meet record by three seconds in the 4x100 meter shuttle hurdles with one of the faster times in state history in the event at 1:02.71. The relay featured state indoor 55 hurdles champion Montasia Golden as well as another state qualifier caliber hurdler in Brie Jackson.   In the rarely contested 2000 meter steeplechase, two Blacksburg seniors placed well with quality times in Sarah Dorrell (7:34.02) and Frank Locascio (6:23.65) both placing third respectively. The hammer throw is just as uncommon event as the steeplechase for Virginia high schoolers, but Virginia High School's Nik Huffman impressed in his event debut with a mark of 166'3", which will rank the sophomore and returning Group A state discus runner-up among the top 15 nationally.   Volunteer Track Classic - Friday Results

  Blacksburg junior Hannah Brown and Bassett senior Michelle Church (pictured above by Ryan Kelly) both posted stellar personal best 3200 meter performances on Friday night at the Raleigh Relays. Region IV distance runners Brown and Church placed third and fourth respectively in a field featuring virtually all of North Carolina's best with times of 10:49.60 and 10:50.06 respectively. Brown was coming off a VA top 5 all-time indoors mile performance of 4:51 at the New Balance Indoor Nationals two weeks ago, while the VMI recruit Church earned Group AA All-State indoors in two races in the 1000 (3rd, 2:59) and 3200 (4th, 11:20). Brown's Blacksburg teammate and New Balance Indoor All-American miler George Carter took sixth place honors in the high school boys' 3200 meter race at North Carolina State University's outdoor track facility in Raleigh with a time of 9:21.68.   Raleigh Relays High School 3200 Results

Known by her peers and coaches for her humble and friendly attitude, Blacksburg’s Alyn Carr has emerged as one of Virginia’s top sprinters this indoor season. Despite just being a sophomore, she has already established herself as one of the top sprinters in the US. Carr ran the 11th fastest time nationally in the 55-meter dash (7.09) at the Virginia Tech Invitational. In the process, her time broke the Virginia Group AA record previously held by Caroline graduate Kisha Garrick (7.10), who is now competing collegiately at Virginia. Read Full Story

The Blacksburg boys and girls were both recognized today in Marc Bloom's Harrier Super 25 national rankings in the first edition of the 2010 cross country season since the pre-season rankings. Ironically, both squads from Blacksburg were ranked #24 in the United States as their dominant sweeping victories two weeks ago at the competitive Knights Crossing Invitational had to have positively influenced their national recognition. After taking last weekend off from racing, the Blacksburg squad returns to competition this weekend at the Maymont X-Country Festival in Richmond.   The Blacksburg girls will be one of four Harrier US top 25 teams at Maymont with US #10 Tatnall of Delaware, US #20 Green Hope of North Carolina, and US #22 North Gwinnett of Georgia also set to race in the invitational division on Saturday. Maymont will be an excellent opportunity for the Blacksburg girls to move up in the national rankings facing three higher ranked squads. The Blacksburg boys will be pre-meet favorites to repeat as champions at Maymont as the only national ranked squad in the invitational division. Top challengers for the Blacksburg boys will be Baldwin (PA) and Green Hope (NC). Baldwin finished second to Blacksburg last year at Maymont and is one of the top ranked teams from the state of Pennsylvania, while Green Hope is currently ranked #1 in the 4A classification in the state of North Carolina. Brookwood (GA) is the only team ranked ahead of the Blacksburg boys in the national rankings from the Nike Cross Southeast Region, but will not be at Maymont this year after competing in the past.   Harrier XC Super 25 National Team Rankings by Mark Bloom (Results through September 18th)

Hannah Brown (pictured above by Frank Locascio) sure picked a difficult course to set a new 5K personal best and break a meet record on. The Blacksburg junior who ran under 5 minutes for 1600 meters and won the Group AA 800 outdoor state title with a 2:12 personal best in the event showed herself to be just as capable of excelling at the 5K distance in her first race of the cross country season by winning the Blue Demon Invitational in a new meet record time of 18:59. Following individual race champion Brown, the Blacksburg put three more runners under 21 minutes on the Christiansburg High School's hilly and challenging home 5K course layout while placing six among the top 15 places for a low team score of 27 points.   The Jefferson Forest girls (64 pts) finished as a respectably solid second place in the team standings with distance and points to spare on the third place and host school Christiansburg girls (110 pts). For the second straight weekend, Cave Spring freshmen Katie Fortner ran strong up front in the field to take runner-up honors and join a short list in the course's history under 20 minutes at 19:40.   The Blacksburg boys put on an even more dominant team display than their female counterparts by flirting with a near perfect score of 15 with only Group AA All-State caliber runner Cody Seymour of Cave Spring able to break up their top five in fourth place with a time of 16:45. Battling it out for first place individually were Blacksburg teammates Frank Locascio and George Carter with Locascio pulling out a slight margin of victory at the end in a time of 16:21 over Carter in second at 16:22. Despite not running one of their top five runners in Anthony Noegel, Blacksburg followed Locascio and Carter pushing the pace up front with Caman Skelton (3rd, 16:36), Zach Link (5th, 16:59), and Matthew Paiser (6th, 17:10) for a 49 second spread and team average of 16:41. A 5K performance under 17 minutes at Christiansburg usually is a good sign for an eventual Group AA All-State finisher, so Blacksburg might have a handful of guys on the podium at Great Meadow come November.   The Abingdon boys certainly stamped themselves as the next best team in Southwest Virginia and Region II following Blacksburg with their runner-up finish and team score of 69 points putting them well ahead of the other teams competing at the Blue Demon Invitational. Abingdon had a great 17 second swarm of finishers for their top four runners finishing between places 8 and 14 as well as times between 17:33 to 17:50.   Blue Demon Invite Results: Varsity Boys - Varsity Girls - JV Boys - JV Girls Race Videos by Tayloe Skelton: Varsity Boys - Varsity Girls - JV Boys - JV Girls Photo Gallery by Frank Locascio Photo Gallery by Tayloe Skelton

It was a dramatic finish to determine the Group AA state cross country champion in 2009 and expectations are for another exciting ending in 2010 with the top two finishers from that race back in defending champion Kyle King of Grafton and returning state runner-up Tommy Curtin of Loudoun County. King had a strong track season as a state runner-up three times in the 1000 indoors as well as the 1600 and 800 outdoors. Blacksburg's George Carter has been one of the best in his class since freshmen year, but no state title to show so far as he hopes to finish his high school cross country career with another team title for his top ranked Blacksburg boys by taking the individual title as well. Blacksburg has four individuals ranked among the top 20. Region II once again looks to be the unbalanced congregation of the majority of Group AA's top teams with 8 of the top 10 pre-season ranked teams with the Western Albemarle boys leading the bunch and crossing their fingers that their injuries and illness issues which kept them out of the state meet last year due not make another huge appearance this upcoming season. Potomac Falls boys still keep a solid core of runners including sub 4:20 1600 runner Juan Campos to make another podium run, while Brentsville looks to show it can still be a top notch program in the post-Coach Dulin era.

Group AA girls pre-season cross country rankings with 15 deep in teams and 25 deep in individuals. The Blacksburg and Hidden Valley girls certainly still linger as state title threats despite taking losses due to graduation from their Nike Cross Nationals qualifying squads from a year ago, but the Western Albemarle girls return virtually everyone from their state meet podium team. Their squad will be led by someone who was not the team's front runner last fall, but after an incredible outdoor track season clocking PR's of 2:18 800, 10:58 3200, and 18:00 5K, Mattie Webb (pictured left by Ted Plunkett) will not only be running upfront for Western but could be challenging for the Group AA state individual crown. Behind Webb are four other girls who have ran under 19:30 for the 5K. The Hidden Valley and Blacksburg girls should have solid front three, but will rely on their program's tradition, their coaches, and summer training to have the fourth and fifth runners to become state champions again. Annie LeHardy and Haley Cutright for Hidden Valley and Sarah Dorrell and Hannah Brown for Blacksburg are two of the best 1-2 duos in the state. The new Woodgrove High School in Loudoun County should make an immediate impact in Group AA with much of the key members from last year's Loudoun Valley squad in Group AAA including Audrey Houghton.

MileStat.com visited one of the state's top cross country programs on Thursday with the Blacksburg boys and girls working out at Brown Farm in Blacksburg, which included a 20 minute tempo run and 5x460 meter repeat workout. More to come from the practice including photos. Workout videos & interviews posted below.   The Warm-Up 20 Minute Tempo Run 460 Meter Repeats Coach James DeMarco Interview Hannah Brown & Sarah Dorrell Interview George Carter & Frank Locascio Interview

The Blacksburg and Ocean Lakes High School cross country teams are the next stops on MileStat.com's pre-season cross country practice tour as we go from one end of the state to the other end of the state in one day for a workout with the Blacksburg team on Thursday morning then Friday morning with the Ocean Lakes team in Virginia Beach.   The Blacksburg boys are the defending Group AA state champions and return an en even stronger team in 2010 with potential hopes of Nike Cross Nationals after only graduating one member of their top seven and also adding incoming freshmen Michael Carter (4:43 1600). Older brother George Carter leads the Bruins, who continued to develop in the track season with five guys back who have ran 10:00 or faster for 3200 meters.  Carter individually is searching for first state title and figures to be in the mix with last year's top two finishers Kyle King and Tommy Curtin for the Group AA cross country state crown with his personal 5K best of 15:48 and finishing as a state runner-up twice in track as a junior.   The Blacksburg girls enjoyed the NXN experience as the top finishing team ever in meet history from the Southeast, but lost several key members from last year's team including the Stevens twins and Leah Fitchett but still are led by two talents in Hannah Brown and Sarah Dorrell who ran on Blacksburg's national record breaking DMR. Blacksburg coach James Demarco's toughest task this season will be filling out the remaining top five and developing them to match up with the likes of defending Group AA state champions Hidden Valley and a Western Albemarle squad looking to leapfrog both squads. As a sub 5 minute 1600 performer and 800 meter state champion in track, junior Hannah Brown is looking to translate her success on the track oval to the cross country course after dealing with illness and setbacks last fall.   The Ocean Lakes program has steadily been one if not the best cross country program in the Eastern Region since coach Mike Nestor took over both programs just under a decade ago. The team and their coach are still riding high from winning their first state track team title this past spring behind long jump state record holder Justin Hunter and 1600 meter state champion Drew Paisley. Paisley had led the Ocean Lakes boys for the past few years, but now moves onto run for the University of Virginia so it is up to senior Jon Winters to pick up the load to continue the Ocean Lakes tradition of success and become the top team in the Eastern Region once again. Ocean Lakes, Eastern Region champions two years ago, had to play third fiddle last year to Grassfield and Western Branch, but Winters who closed his track season with a 4:24 1600 PR and his younger brother Brandon Winters and David Harrison, are three of five returnees back from their top 7 last year.   Ocean Lakes girls have some spots to fill to round out their top five to repeat as regional champions with Princess Anne, Grassfield, and others expected to present stronger challenges, but will be led by one of the pre-season favorite to win the Eastern Region title in Audrey Batzel, who ended her outdoor season running a 5:05 1600 PR at the state meet.

Blacksburg sets DMR National Record, FitzSimons has 2nd stunning anchor!  (Photos by John Olson and Victah Sailer)

Blacksburg sets DMR National Record, FitzSimons has 2nd stunning anchor!  (Photos by John Olson and Victah Sailer)

Chad Wright, JAM, won the boys discus with a Meet Record 191-11. (Photo by Don Rich)  

The Blacksburg girls ran only a couple seconds off the outdoor state record with their 9:09.39 performance on Saturday at the Vince Bradford Relays in Lynchburg. In the same meet, the Nike Indoor Nationals 4xmile champion Blacksburg boys won the 4x1600 in 18:33 as well as dipped under 8 minutes in the 4x800 in 7:59.63. Atlee's Marques Atkinson ran a state leader in the 300 meter hurdles at 38.64 and Appomattox's Kenny Scott leaped to a #2 ranking in the state with his long jump mark of 22'6.25". More to come from the meet including photos and videos.   Vince Bradford Relays Complete Results

2009 was an abnormally great year for high school state records to be broken as a total of three new state outdoor track & field records were broken in Virginia last spring with the national record breaking 4x800 from the Albemarle boys at the Penn Relays. as well as the Blacksburg girls DMR and Bethel girls 4x400 setting new Virginia state outdoor records on the final day at the Nike Indoor Nationals.   Are there any records in jeopardy of being broken in 2010? Check out the full list of Virginia high school outdoor track & field state records.

Joanna Stevens of Blacksburg and Chris Foley of Chantilly wrapped up Saturday's events for Virginians at Nike Indoor Nationals posting some sizzling and historically impressive two mile times at the Reggie Lewis Center in Boston with their All-American performances. Stevens finished fourth in the girls field with a time of 10:12.21 and right behind three of the nation's best runners in Foot Locker Nationals champion Megan Goethals (1st, 10:10), Emily Sisson (2nd, 10:10), and Aisling Cuffe (3rd, 10:11.65) in a breakaway group of top four finishers. Her race at Nike Indoor Nationals is the third fastest indoor performance all-time at the 2 miles or 3200 meter distance in Virginia high school history behind only a 9:57 and 10:07 races from all-time great Erin Keogh.   Meanwhile, the UVA recruit Foley held his own against as well as beating many national caliber distance runners and Foot Locker/NXN finalists from this past fall in his race tonight with a significant personal best run of 9:09.75 for a fourth place All-American honor. Foley's time converts to a 3200 time just over 9:06 and now ranks him just outside of the top 10 all-time in Virginia high school indoor history.   Click for more updates: The Western Branch girls (pictured left by Matt Shaukus) claimed the national title in the 4x200 meter relay and despite not getting the sub 1:40 performance they were looking for on a banked track for the first time, a national championship is a national championship with their time of 1:41.27. Western Branch jumped out to the lead on their opening leg with Shakia Williams and stayed out in first for good with a strong second leg from Keilah Tyson. With no seniors on their relay, Western Branch will be back and stronger in 2011 with an opportunity to become the greatest girls 4x200 all-time in state history and break the state record. (Watch Video Interview w/ Western Branch girls 4x200)   Virginia's other strong favorite to win a national title in a girls' relay on Saturday in the Blacksburg 4xmile had serious aspirations entering this weekend of breaking the national record and a sub 20 goal time with 3 sub 1600 meter runners including two sub 4:50 legs in Kathleen Stevens and Joanna Stevens. However, Blacksburg was not on their "A" game without their "A" team as Kathleen Stevens was unable to run due to sickness today. Not at full strength, they finished with a time well off their goal at 20:24.07 and were defeated by the school who had the national record they were chasing in Saratoga Springs with the Toga girls as champions at 20:15.06. Still a solid national runner-up performance for the young ladies from Blacksburg without Kathleen Stevens.     With all the talk about the Blacksburg girls trying to break the national record which they ended up taking second to Saratoga Springs, many forgot to talk about the Blacksburg boys, who became the Nike Indoor  Nationals champions in the 4xmile relay a time of 17:45.63. Their total time averages out to just over 4:26 per mile leg and sub 4:25 for 1600 meters. The relay team (pictured above by Matt Shautkus) consisted of George Carter, Matt Howard, Quinn Hull, and Zack Link. Despite the event being a 32 lap race, the top two teams had little separation for the final finish with Blacksburg winning by a thrilling 12 hundredths of a second over Shenendehowa (17:45.65) of New York. (Watch Video Interview w/ Blacksburg Boys 4xMile)     Western Branch boys are keeping up with their female counterparts in the All-American and now national titles count as the boys 1600 SMR relay of Jeff Lewis (200), Tevis Snellings (200), Cameron Cipcic (400), and Blake Theroux (800) won at Nike Indoor Nationals in a time of 3:30.71. The state of Virginia was well represented in the event with four of the top 8 teams including three All-American squads in Western Branch, Fork Union (3rd, 3:32.65), and Bethel (4th, 3:32.74). In vain with too much ground to make up, Anthony Kostelac of Albemarle split a 1:51.7 800 meter anchor leg to give his team an 8th place overall finish! (Watch Video Interview w/ Western Branch boys SMR)   More to come from Saturday's action at the Reggie Lewis Center for the 2010 Nike Indoor Nationals.

Blacksburg might be losing two great runners and twins to graduation after this spring in Kathleen and Joanna Stevens, but Coach James DeMarco has another star coming up and running faster than the twins did as a sophomore in Hannah Brown. Brown (pictured right by John Herzog)  has ran personal bests under 5 minutes for 1600 meters and under 3 minutes for 1000 meters this indoor season and last week won her second consecutive Group AA state indoor 500 meter dash title. Brown will be running as a key leg on Blacksburg's 4xmile relay this weekend at the Nike Indoor Nationals, which the team will be attempting to break 20 minutes and break the national record held by Saratoga Springs. MileStat.com intern Elisabeth Greenwood interviewed the Blacksburg sophomore Brown last week as she prepares for Boston with her teammates. Read more...

Only two days removed from strong races at the Reebok Boston Indoor Games, the Stevens twins (pictured above by Frank Locascio) of Blacksburg knocked half dozen seconds off their US #1 and #2 10:26 3200 meter performances earlier in the season at Monday's River Ridge Championships. After being usurped from the top of the national leaderboard in the 3200 meter run two weeks ago by Foot Locker Nationals champion Megan Goethals of Michigan with her 10:25 performance, the Stevens twins got an opportunity to run a fresh 3200. On the banked Virginia Tech indoor track, Kathleen Stevens won in a US #1 time of 10:19.85 and followed in by twin sister Joanna Stevens in a US #2 time of 10:20.64.

MileStat.com's Athletes of the Week from a very light schedule of meets from this past weekend.

The 2009 All-MileStat.com Cross Country Team has been announced with a total of 42 athletes being selected among the 7 member first, second, and third teams for both boys and girls. Awards winners also announced for Runner of the Year, Coach of the Year, Team of the Year, Freshmen of the Year, Most Improved Runner of the Year, and Comeback Runner of the Year. Congratulations to all selections for this fall's All-MileStat.com Team!

Both Blacksburg girls and Hidden Valley girls exceeded expectations and national rankings to finish sixth and 13th respectively at the Nike Cross Nationals on Saturday in Portland, Oregon. The sixth place finish for the Blacksburg girls is the highest finish by any Virginia team (boys or girls) in the meet's history and second highest ever by a Southeast region squad. Kathleen Stevens put her team and herself on the national map as she almost came up with the individual win against a field of All-Americans and state champions but was outkicked in the end by Katie Flood of Iowa to finish as a narrow runner-up in 17:48.   Nike Cross Nationals Results: Boys - Girls

With the Blacksburg and Hidden Valley girls making the trip today to Portland, Oregon to compete this weekend at the Nike Cross Nationals, MileStat.com releases a feature including the top 7 runners of each team filling out a questionnaire survey to get to know better each team and their team members.

MileSplit US will have on-site coverage at the Nike Cross Southeast Regional in Cary, North Carolina this weekend from Brandon Miles of MileStat.com and various photographers. Expect race videos, photos, interviews, and complete results to be posted soon after the completion of the meet. An in-depth meet preview highlighting the top ten teams and top dozen individuals is now available.          

One week from now, 44 teams will be in Portland, and each with the dream of contending for the national championship of high school cross country. Photo by Alan Versaw.

  Photo courtesy John Olson, SCRUNNERS                                                    

Jamestown's Colin Mearns will look to become Jamestown’s second individual state champion in a row and follow in the footsteps of last year’s Group AA champion Andrew Colley, who set a new course record. Mearns appears to be taking his running to another level at season’s end similar to last fall when he had a great stretch of races extending into December for the Nike Cross Nationals.  Mearns is the top returnee from last year’s state race with his 15:28 fourth place finish among a collection of stars in the outstanding class of 2009 runners.

Joanna and Kathleen Stevens are identical twins.  With their blond hair and similar physiques, there’s no denying that about the Blacksburg (Va.) High runners. (Photo by Brandon Miles)

Great American: A significant day for Virginia girls teams in putting the state on the national map for the 2009 cross country season as three of the top five teams in the Race of Champions were from the state in runner-up Blacksburg (116 pts), third place Midlothian (130 pts), and fifth place Hidden Valley (137 pts).   Octoberfest: The top ranked boys individual and team in Group AAA went down at Great Meadow with Centreville's Yazid Zouaimia and the Mountain View boys (pictured left by Nicoll Knudsen) defeating #1 ranked Kevin Dowd of Fairfax and the Grassfield boys. Kaitlyn Davis and Katherine Walker had a great Northwest Region duel with Davis picking up the win. West Potomac girls won by a wide margin.   Results from elsewhere: Andrew McCullen and the Oakton boys had very impressive 2nd place finishes at Wendy's with McCullen (pictured by Ken Charnock, LandsharkPhotos.com) losing the individual title at the line with VA's fastest 5K time of 15:18. At the flrunners.com Invitational, the Lake Braddock girls take second place honors in the Race of Champions behind Winter Park of Florida with 114 points. In Greensboro, the Lee-Davis girls repeated as team champions at the Hagan Stone Park Classic with 3 runners among the top 5.    

While the Blacksburg boys have gained respect within the state of Virginia this fall as the top ranked team in the state. The respect in the region and national level appears to be lacking. They look to their upcoming race at Maymont to get more attention. Meanwhile, there is an abundance of studs who will be contending for the boys individual title.

The Tatnall girls are back to defend their Maymont title from a year ago as the top ranked team within the Southeast region. In the invitational girls division with Tatnall will be many of Virginia’s top ranked teams as well as strong squads from California, Georgia, Maryland, New Jersey, and North Carolina. Virginia's #1 ranked team Blacksburg will hope to gain a victory at Maymont as a springboard to a Nike Cross Nationals berth, which has been the season end result for many past champions at Maymont.

Two teams in one district separated by 40 miles find themselves earning pre-season national recognition with three-time Group AA state champion Blacksburg girls ranked #10 and Hidden Valley girls ranked #18 in the MileSplit US National Pre-Season Cross Country Team Rankings. Both teams also were featured in an article in the Roanoke Times this weekend on the rivalry, which will see several clashes throughout the season. The Blacksburg girls opened hitting on all cylinders at the Great Meadow Invitational with a decisive win against four-time AAA state champions Midlothian, while Hidden Valley quietly began their season in winning their home meet Clash with the Titans without competing with their full squad.

Wesley Frazier, Ravenscroft, (Photo by Chris Watters) has put herself on the national map with a 17:49 on a tough dual meet course.

The rivalry between the Blacksburg and Hidden Valley girls has been one of the state's best the past two years in cross country. In consecutive years, Hidden Valley has handed the Blacksburg girls a rare defeat at the regional meet, while the Blacksburg girls have turned it around in one week on both occassions to claim the Group AA state crown. Last year's state meet was as good as it gets and dramatic to an extreme as a sixth runner tiebreaker decided the state title in favor of the Blacksburg girls. The Hidden Valley girls got redemption in the post-season though in defeating both Blacksburg and four-time AAA state champions Midlothian at the NXN Southeast Regional in Cary, NC to position themselves well heading into the 2009 season returning their entire top five.   With all the focus on two River Ridge District powerhouse schools emerging on a national level, it is easy to forget the other great teams in Group AA, which looks to be a highly competitive year. Potomac Falls will be much stronger with the return of their star runner Christina Lee after missing last fall due to injury, while Western Albemarle girls receive a boost in the transfer of private school Division II state runner-up Peri Bowser from St. Anne's-Belfield.

The Blacksburg boys could be beginning a two year reign of dominance in Group AA (and throughout the state of Virginia) as many of the traditional powers over the last few years will be undergoing a rebuilding year. The scary thought about the Blacksburg boys is with the exception of Matt Howard (pictured left by Scott Rigler), virtually the same team will return for the fall of 2010 with a strong class of juniors.   On the other hand, a lot of question marks linger for the teams trailing Blacksburg in Group AA. Grafton had a lot of success on the track and posted quick times, but will need to translate the same success in major meets west including at Great Meadow for the state championships. Christiansburg and Cave Spring join district rival Blacksburg returning young squads from 2008. Meanwhile, Brentsville looks to make a run for the podium after failing to qualify for state competition last fall for the first time in many years.

Jamestown might not be expected to repeat its Group AA state team title from a year ago, but certainly has a good shot of keeping the individual state title in the hands of the Eagles with Colin Mearns (pictured left by Tom Hoerner) returning. Mearns ran in the shadows of 2008 Group AA state cross country champion and course record breaker Andrew Colley for much of last fall, but showed a glimpse of what to expect emerging as the #1 runner in the final two races of the season for Jamestown ahead of Colley at the Nike Cross Regionals and Nike Cross Nationals.After a state runner-up finish in the 1600 meter run indoors and another second place state meet finish in the 3200 meter run outdoors, Mearns is ready to claim a first individual state title.   At first glance going into this year, it did not feel like the Blacksburg boys could be that dominant of a top ranked team, but it is looking more like that could be the case as four of their top five runners are featured among the top 15 pre-season ranked individuals in Group AA behind one of the top challengers for Mearns in junior George Carter. There are many unproven runners in Group AA coming into this year with only three returning All-State cross country finishers from 2008.

The Stevens twins of Blacksburg rolled on the notoriously fast road downhill mile race, the Draper Mile in Blacksburg on Friday, clocking the second and third fastest performances all-time in the race's history with Joanna Stevens as the winner at 4:41.5 and twin Kathleen Steven as the runner-up at 4:42.7. The Stevens sisters were second and third in last year's Draper Mile with times of 5:02 (Joanna) and 5:05 (Kathleen) respectively, so both rising seniors were over 20 seconds faster from a year ago.   Winning the men's race was another Blacksburg High runner in rising junior George Carter taking first over two late 20 something's runners in 4:11.3. Carter was fifth in last year's race with a time of 4:26.   Draper Mile - Complete Results

For over 45 years the Volunteer Track Classic has been a fixture on the Southeastern high school track and field schedules. This year should be no different.  A National Scholastic Sports Foundation (www.nssf.org) Select meet, the 2009 Vol Classic will see the inclusion of collegiate competition as the UT Lady Vol  College sections bring in the 2009 NCAA Indoor Champion Lady Vols, Alabama, Ohio State and Carson Newman College.  On the high school side the action should be great on the track as well as the field as numerous nationally ranked teams and individuals start competition Friday at 5PM.

The Stevens twins of Blacksburg have been on a tear at the start of the indoor track season and leading performers on the track for Coach James DeMarco's loaded distance crew. Last weekend at Liberty, Joanna Stevens broke the school record in the 1600 meter run in a personal best time of 5:02 with sister Kathleen Stevens not far behind in third place at 5:05.30. The twins switched their finish order in 1000 meter run on the following day with Kathleen finishing ahead of her sister for the first time in some time with a US #4 and state best time of 2:58.38, while Joanna also broke 3 minutes for the first time ever as well in runner-up at 2:59.04. Each will be featured in the invitational mile race this Saturday at the Virginia Tech Invitational with hopes of pushing towards the sub 5 barrier. One half of the twins in Kathleen is featured in an athlete spotlight interview article to discus their recent stellar performances and the unique sibling relationship of having an equally fast twin teammate.

Congratulations to the following 2008 All-MileStat.com Cross Country Team award winners: Boys Team of the Year: Jamestown Girls Team of the Year: Blacksburg Boys Runner of the Year: Thomas Porter (Mountain View) Girls Runner of the Year: Megan Marsico (Glenvar) Boys Coach of the Year: Buz Male (Albemarle) Girls Coach of the Year: Daniel King (Hidden Valley) Boys Freshmen of the Year: Shaquon Wilkins (Riverbend) Girls Freshmen of the Year: Sarah Stites (Thomas Jefferson S&T) Boys Most Improved Runner of the Year: Jordan White (Great Bridge) Girls Most Improved Runner of the Year: Stephanie Cario (Lee-Davis) Boys Comeback Runner of the Year: Ben Veilleux (Clarke County) Girls Comeback Runner of the Year: Allison Homer (Blacksburg) Full write-up on each award winner to come soon!

Team rankings broken down by regions in Group AA. These rankings were calculated by scoring the performances entered in the database so far this season as a meet. We took the individual rankings and relay rankings and scored them as a normal meet: 10-8-6-5-4-3-2-1. #1 ranked teams for each region Region I: Warhill boys & Courtland girls Region II: Louisa County boys & Louisa County girls Region III: William Byrd boys & Jefferson Forest girls Region IV: Blacksburg boys & Blacksburg girls

Group AA indoor team rankings as of December 26th. Blacksburg and Louisa County are the top two teams in Group AA for both boys and girls. Joanna Stevens (pictured above by Ted Plunkett) has the fastest times in Group AA at 1000 and 1600 meters to lead the deep distance crew for Blacksburg. These rankings were calculated by scoring the performances in our database currently as a meet.  We took the individual rankings and relay rankings and scored them as a normal meet: 10-8-6-5-4-3-2-1.

Photo by Victor Arrieta Allison Homer of Blacksburg is the comeback story of the year in Virginia high school cross country. Homer's junior year was completely lost due to a hip injury, which doctors had told her that she would never run competitively again and recommended that she should try another sport. With the support of her teammates and faith of her coach, Homer went against the advice from the medical professionals, began training this summer to prepare for this cross country season, and surprised many by her return this fall to lead Blacksburg to another state title as the team's #1 runner throughout the season. The journey of a runner certainly can have its share of highs and lows. There were many lows for Homer last year between all the doctor visits to determine what exactly was wrong with her and being forced to stand on the sidelines and unable to run during the cross country and track seasons. She stuck it out though and was determined to not give up on the sport of running. As a result of persistence and refusal to quit, Homer now finds herself headed to Portland, Oregon this week to compete alongside some of the best high school runners in the country at the Nike Cross Nationals. The Blacksburg senior was the fourth individual finisher at the NXN Southeast Regional this past Saturday in Cary, North Carolina to earn an all expenses paid for trip by Nike to compete at the national cross country meet. There will not be a single runner in the field on Saturday who is more deserving of this trip and experience than the resilient Homer.

Midlothian girls will be seeking redemption at Manhattan, while Thomas Jefferson and Lake Braddock girls will face off for the first time this fall to establish Northern Region supremacy heading into championship season at Glory Days. Bishop O'Connell girls want to show they belong as well and can run with the top teams at Bull Run Regional Park. Top ranked Blacksburg girls should win big at Albemarle, but Ocean Lakes and Osbourn Park hope to make them sweat a little.

#1 and #2 ranked teams face off for the first time this season to settle the debate (for now at least) at Saturday's Manhattan Invitational. Jamestown and Oakton boys have been head and shoulders better than the rest of the competition so far this fall, but both will have their hands full when they race against each other and a loaded field at the Manhattan Invitational. Meanwhile, Glory Days Grill Invitational will feature 6 schools which are ranked among the top 10 currently led by the Octoberfest champs from James Robinson, who are racing in their fourth major invitational in as many weekends and so far have improved their team performance each weekend.

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.

Highlights and Results from: NB Ocean State Inv. (RI), McDonald's XC Festival (VA), McQuaid Inv. (NY), Roy Griak Inv. (MN), Stanford Inv. (CA), Carlisle Inv. (PA), Jim Danner Inv. (OR), Culver Inv. (IN), Palatine Inv. (IL), LoboCat Inv. (CO), Albuquerque Academy Inv. (NM) & Midwest Meet of Champs. (OH) The best weekend yet.  That's an easy way to describe this weekend's national cross country action.  Most of the top teams in the land took part in an invitational, with some teams coming up very big.  US#5 York (IL) kicked off their season by winning the Palatine Invitational, one of the big highlights of the weekend thus far.

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.  

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.

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

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

The Oakton boys and Midlothian girls will begin the 2008 cross country season as the top ranked teams in the state of Virginia. Not far behind Oakton in the #2 spot is Group AA's top ranked squad in Jamestown. Meanwhile, a trio of Group AA schools are ranked ahead of the next Group AAA school after Midlothian in Blacksburg, Hidden Valley, and Brentsville. Rankings include: Top 10 rankings for Cream of the Crop All-Class Rankings Top 10 rankings for Group AAA, AA, A, and private school classifications Top 5 rankings for each region in Group AAA and AA

Photo by Tom Hoerner Outside of the three-time Group AAA state champions from Midlothian, the next two best teams in the state of Virginia could come from the same district in Group AA's River Ridge District in the Blacksburg and Hidden Valley girls' squads. Blacksburg has won two consecutive state titles in Group AA, while Hidden Valley became a quick upstart last fall with the addition of two star freshmen in Annie LeHardy and Haley Cutright. Both teams possess a great deal of depth and talent which will make them major players not only the state stage, but possibly nationally with Nike Cross Nationals aspirations. Blacksburg's sixth runner Trinity Foreman has ran sub 5:10 for 1600 meters, while Hidden Valley's fifth runner Mary Catherine Sowder runs a 11:44 for 3200 meters.  

Photo by Mark Howard The Draper Mile was held on Friday, August 1st in Blacksburg, VA with a decent turnout of area high school runners for the fast downhill mile race. The Blacksburg girls particulary had a very strong showing with their probable top five for this upcoming season clocking in at times of 5:02, 5:05, 5:11, 5:12, and 5:24. Draper Mile Results

Photo by John Herzog Blacksburg senior Peter Dorrell heads to New York City on Friday to compete in the high school boys' mile in one of our country's most storied and prestigous events in the Millrose Games contested at Madison Square Garden. Dorrell is the first Virginian to be invited to the boys' mile race in five years as a 4:16 mile win at the Montgomery Invite on January 12th helped secure his spot in the field. The five-time state champion is riding high heading into this weekend after running the nation's fastest 3200 meter time of 9:06 and publicly stating where he will be running collegiately in a MileStat.com video interview last weekend at the Tech Invite. The College of William & Mary and Coach Alex Gibby are certainly excited to receive the verbal committment from one of Virginia's top distance runners, but having a Millrose mile champion would be even better. Check out Dorrell's chances and the top competitors that he will be facing in the Friday night race at MSG in MileSplit US national editor Scott Bush's preview article. The high school boys' mile with Dorrell is expected to be shown in a taped NBC show of the Millrose Games on Saturday. Check your local listings for the airtime of the meet. Millrose Games on TV Friday: 7-8 p.m. (Eastern Time) on ESPN2 Saturday: 2:30-3:30 p.m. (Eastern Time) on NBC Check your local listings MileSplit US Article: Milers to Shine in Spotlight at Millrose Friday Night Video Interview w/ Peter Dorrell Video: Virginia Tech Invite Boys 3200 - Dorrell's US #1 9:06 3200 Video: Montgomery Invite Boys Mile - Dorrell's 4:16 win Official Millrose Games Website

Blacksburg senior Peter Dorrell (pictured left by Ted Plunkett) received an invitation to take part in the always elite and prestigous high school mile field at Millrose Games set to to be held on Friday, February 1st at the Madison Square Garden in New York City. Dorrell helped his case for earning an invite by winning the mile race at the Montgomery Invitational in Landover, Maryland on January 12th in a US #4 time of 4:16.81. Dorrell's time still stands as the fastest flat track mile time in the nation currently as the three faster times were all recorded on one of the country's fastest banked tracks found at the New York Armory.Dorrell becomes the first Virginian to qualify for the high school boys' mile race at Millrose since Fork Union's Kippy Keino qualified two consecutive years in 2002 and 2003.List of entire Millrose Games HS mile fields

Peter Dorrell (pictured left by John Herzog) felt drowsy. "Real snotty," he said, referring to his nose. "Just not feeling perky." The redheaded senior at Blacksburg High School was nursing a cold before Saturday's VHSL state cross country meet at Great Meadows. He was one of three Timesland runners to claim an individual title on Saturday. In Group A, Radford's Nathan Brame repeated as champion in the boys' division. Glenvar sophomore Megan Marisco added the girls' state title to go along with her first-place finishes in the Three Rivers and Region C meets. Read full story... 

No region in the state has as strong of an individual runner finishing third at their regional championship than Tim Smith of Cave Spring as was the case at the Region IV Meet on Friday afternoon at Dan Daniels Park in Danville. The #8 ranked runner in Virginia, Smith could be a regional champion in virtually any other region, but had to be relegated to a third place finish with the showdown ahead of him between Virginia's top two ranked harriers in Griff Graves of Abingdon and Peter Dorrell of Blacksburg. Graves made certain there was little drama at the end of the race as he started to break away with a surge at the hill roughly around 1 1/4 mile and continued to press into the 1000 meter woods loop to gap Dorrell. The two-time AA state champion continued to press and distance himself from his biggest threat for a third title next weekend at Great Meadows to finish 24 seconds ahead with a final time of 15:54. Dorrell appeared to shut it down in the final mile to save himself for another duel next week with a runner-up time of 16:18.  Meanwhile, Dorrell's Blacksburg boys led a River Ridge District sweep of the four teams advancing onto the state meet with Christiansburg, Cave Spring, and Hidden Valley joining Blacksburg in shutting out teams from the other districts of Region IV for a top four finish.  The big upset occurred though with the Hidden Valley girls defeating the defending AA state champions and Virginia's #2 ranked team from Blacksburg. The young squad with only freshmen and sophomores in their top five has great momentum heading into the state meet led by the Region IV individual champion in freshmen Annie LeHardy. LeHardy went wire-to-wire with Blacksburg senior Laurel MacMillan with a one second win of 19:23 on a challenging 5K layout at Dan Daniels Park. Pulaski County also made it out from the River Ridge District in third, while the Marion girls made sure it was not a complete sweep on both sides by the new district joining the old Region IV schools with a fourth place finish. The Blacksburg girls will hope to bounce back next week at full strength as they raced without two of their varsity runners in Allison Homer and Avery Mattingly.  More to come from Region IV including results, race videos, photos, and interviews with Griff Graves, Tim Smith, Annie LeHardy, and Laurel MacMillan. Region IV Meet Race Videos: Boys - Girls  Region IV Meet Photo Gallery by Brandon Miles  Region IV Meet Video Interviews: Griff Graves - Tim Smith - Annie LeHardy - Laurel MacMillan

Freshman Annie LeHardy of Hidden Valley scored a major victory Wednesday as she won the River Ridge District girls' cross country title and nearly led the Titans to an upset of Blacksburg for the team crown at Green Hill Park. LeHardy pulled away from a three-way battle with Pulaski County's Sabrina Hall and Blacksburg's Laurel MacMillan to cover the 5-kilometer course in 18 minutes, 46 seconds. Her time was only 21 seconds off the meet record set by Hidden Valley's Jennifer Beury in 2003.Read full story... 

  With 117 girls crowding towards the starting line at sunny Green Hill Park on Wednesday, a single thought kept running through Jane Gay's head. "Don't start off too fast. ... Don't start off too fast -- I kept telling myself that," the North Cross senior said. Gay listened to her inner voice, staying near the front of the pack but letting others set the early pace. She eventually pulled ahead and outstrode Blacksburg's Laurel MacMillan to win the girls' race at the 34th annual Metro Cross Country Championships. Read full story... 

US #4 Midlothian girls came ready to make a statement at the Maymont Festival's invitational division race as the Lady Trojans put four runners in a loaded top 20 to take the team title by a 42 point margin of victory against a great field which included two fellow US top 25 squads. Midlothian was led by individual champion Kathleen Lautzenheiser (pictured right by John Herzog) as the sophomore broke away from a pack of a half dozen with well under a mile left for a 18:41 5K win. The state of Maryland was well represented with US #6 Eleanor Roosevelt in second place in their first 5K race of the fall, while Southeast Region bubble team Winston Churchill stepped it up big to take third place honors over many quality teams. The Blacksburg girls showed themselves as a team to be reckoned with taking the next highest place by a Virginian squad after Midlothian in fourth despite not having their top runners at full strength. Joining Lautzenheiser under 19 minutes from Virginia in the invitational race were Liz Barclay (3rd, 18:49), Laura Rapp (5th, 18:51), Paige Johnston (6th, 18:55), Kristen Wolfe (7th, 18:58). More on the Maymont girls...

 Two Northern Region teams in the Oakton boys and Lake Braddock girls received national rankings in Marc Bloom's latest Harrier Super 25 national team rankings. Virginia having three different schools represented in the top 25 national rankings speaks loudly of the quality of teams found within our state, but there is one school which for some reason keeps being forgotten in the NTN regional rankings in particular.

 Podcast interview with Blacksburg coach James DeMarco. Coach DeMarco has a very special group for this fall with a Blacksburg girls' team contending for their second straight Group AA state title as well team national aspirations, while Peter Dorrell is gearing up for a run at qualifying for Footlocker Nationals.

MileStat.com's Brandon Miles takes a crack at the top 10 girls cross country teams in the state for this upcoming season. The top 5 of the 10 are revealed on Sunday with the remaining 5 to be posted on Monday. No surprise with Midlothian on top as the Lady Trojans will have one of the country's most fearsome top sevens in the nation. Midlothian pulled off the huge victory last year at Manhattan Invite and gained valuable experience with a top 10 finish at Nike Team Nationals to better prepare for a likely return trip this fall. The Lake Braddock girls, who had a group last year which would have been Virginia's best any other year if it was not for the Midlo girls, return another team with plenty of firepower with four sub 11:30 3200 meter gals including Christine Moore (pictured left by John Herzog). The defending AA state champions of Blacksburg look to firmly establish themselves as the next team after Midlothian. Maggie Walker looks to be one of the squads to move further up the totem pole than others with a very strong front two in Susannah Piersol and Clarissa Schick and possibly give the Central Region a second year in a row of two of the three podium teams in AAA. Brentsville has a solid core of five back from their tough second place finish to Blacksburg in the AA state race and will look to thrive in the new underdog role and take back their title.  Complete top 10 teams list posted Monday 7:50 PM.

The Stevens twins, Kathleen and Joanna (pictured above by John Herzog), came on late last fall as freshmen to help the Blacksburg girls to a state championship over Brentsville, who had returned everyone from a 2005 state champion squad. More will be expected out of the twins to keep Blacksburg ontop in AA with Brentsville still as a legitimate contender with a very talented squad coming back this fall for Coach Rob Dulin. The Catherine White era is over in AA leaving the door open for a new champion as Laura Rapp of Heritage and Christina Lee of Potomac Falls look to be two of the top contenders after strong spring seasons on the track with AA state runner-up finishes to White.

 Video interview by Brandon Miles with Blacksburg's rising senior Peter Dorrell. Dorrell was one of Virginia's top distance runners this past spring after becoming the first male athlete to win three state titles in the distance events in the same state championships. Look for more interviews during the week at High Performance Camp with the likes of Nathan Brame, Catherine White, Laura Rapp, and others.

MileStat.com's Brandon Miles makes his top five team prediction for the Group AA girls in this weekend's state championships. Charlottesville girls are picked to win led by Rashawnda James (pictured left by John Herzog at the Dogwood Track Classic) and a possible state meet record breaking 4x100 to follow up their indoor state title with an outdoor one. In a close second is Region II champs Park View, who will have very reliable points in the throwing events from Natalie Baird and her two fellow junior teammates Lauren Tomlinson and Julia Anyaugo in a possible 1-2 finish in both the shot put and discus. Their distance girls will have to deal with brutal heat and tough competition, but the Blacksburg girls should slip into the top three. Meanwhile, Kristin Smith and Catherine White can to score 30 or more (for Smith at least) the points for their teams in Rustburg and Northside to take top five showings. More pre-meet insight on the Group AA State Meet to follow...

Fork Union senior Szymon Rola had a splashing debut in the 2000 meter steeplechase in Friday night's portion of the Volunteer Track Classic at the University of Tennessee. Rola won the race in six seconds with a final time of 6:19.99. Rola's time is only five seconds off the national qualifying time in the event for Nike Outdoor Nationals, but the qualifying time is insignificant to Rola as both Fork Union teammate Axel Mostrag and Rola will be headed back home to Poland at the end of the May and jump into the track championship meet series there. Mostrag competes in the 3200 meter run later this evening with current state leader Peter Dorrell of Blacksburg (9:10 best), while Fork Union will be loading up their outstanding 4x800 meter relay on Saturday in Knoxville. The Fork Union boys without Mostrag or Rola won the DMR in 10:36.09, while the Blacksburg girls (12.33.51) were a close second with less than two tenths of a second separating them from a win in the girls' race.

Journal entry by Blacksburg junior Laurel MacMillan on her trip to compete at the Arcadia Invitational in California this past weekend. MacMillan ran a personal best of 11:03 for 3200 meters to finish ninth in the seeded girls 3200 meter run.

Blacksburg coach James DeMarco has been selected as the first ever MileStat.com Coach of the Week (week ending April 7th). DeMarco had two individuals competing in different parts of country on family spring break vacations with Laurel MacMillan at the Arcadia Invitational in Calfornia and Peter Dorrell at the Florida Relays as both had personal best runs this past weekend. Meanwhile, DeMarco was with his team at Radford for the Faster Farther Higher Invitational in which the Blacksburg girls took a share of first as a team, while the boys team finished second in the team standings. Very insightful (and lengthy) interview with DeMarco included.

 MileStat.com Athletes of the Week for the week ending in April 7th are both juniors in Blacksburg's Peter Dorrell and Park View's Natalie Baird. Dorrell faced Florida's best in Gainesville over the weekend at the Florida Relays and came away with a personal best for 1600 meters in 4:15 and doubled back for a 9:10 3200 meter rin. Meanwhile, Baird swept the throws at the Colonial Relays including a personal best mark of 42'9" in the shot put and five throws of six over 140 in the discus.

The glory days of AA distance running appears to be returning back to the level of the early part of the decade when the likes of Bobby Lockhart, John Crews, Fleet Hower, Bryce Ruiz, and Danny Kane dominated the state scene over the state's AAA runners. Jamestown's Andrew Mearns busted out a 8:39 3K (equivalent to a 9:17 3200) at the Colonial Fridays and Blacksburg junior Peter Dorrell topped that run on Saturday at the Florida Relays at the University of Florida. After taking second in the 1600 meter run to one of the country's top returning middle distance runners in Joseph Franklin in a personal best time of 4:15 on Friday evening at the Florida Relays, Dorrell followed up in the 3200 meter on Saturday at UF with a 9:10.00 victory over Florida's best.

While many head off to their spring break destinations to do anything but running, Blacksburg junior Peter Dorrell was out to take care of business while in sunny Florida as he ran a personal best 1600 meter time of 4:15.72 to finishing second at the Florida Relays hosted by the University of Florida in Gainesville. He picked a great race to produce his best time with 7 runners in the race at 4:20 faster with Joseph Franklin taking the win in 4:14.64. The Blacksburg junior now has the fastest time in the state, but it may be shortlived depending on Axel Mostrag's performance in the mile Saturday at the Arcadia Invite. New: Video of Dorrell's race!

This weekend\'s Asics Invitational will be hosted at Liberty University\'s Tolsma Track Center in Lynchburg and will be hosted over two days on Friday and Saturday. The meet will feature four individual state leaders including the likes of Bethel\'s Shakia Forbes and Harrisonburg\'s Tim Beierle as well as the state\'s fastest 4x400 meter relay in the Osbourn Park girls. Events will start at 4:30 PM on Friday and resume again on Saturday at 9:00 AM.

Mills Godwin senior Anne Marie Gordon likes drama apparently. Not only is she in theatre at school, but seems to like to wait till the final attempt when clearing personal best heights in the pole vault. At last March\'s National Scholastic Indoor Championships, Gordon cleared 11\'7.25\" on her third attempt at the height. On Saturday at the Keydet Invitational, Gordon cleared a best height of 11\'9\" in similar dramatic fashion on her final attempt at the height.

The All-MileStat.com Girls Cross Country Team has been selected for the 2006 season. Awards were given out to runner of the year, coach of the year, freshmen of the year, most improved runner of the year, and comeback story of the year. Also being named were first, second, and third teams consisting of seven members for each team. Performances throughout the season were looked at with championship and post-season races being given stronger, but not ultimate consideration. The very unpredictable and inconsistent nature of the sport on a week to week basis makes any selections tough to break down into a science, but our hope is the main goal of trying to give as much as recognition as possible to individuals in the sport is noted and appreciated. MERRY CHRISTMAS & HAPPY HOLIDAYS!

Midlothian girls join Midlothian boys as a Southeast #1 ranked team in the Nike Team National regional rankings after a huge victory at the Manhattan Invitational. Hermitage boys (SE #3), Brentsville boys (SE #4), West Springfield boys (SE #9), and Lake Braddock girls (SE #6) all maintain their positions from last week, while Jamestown boys (SE #7) and Blacksburg girls (SE #10) slip one spot each.

Week 4 rankings for the Nike Team Nationals Southeast Region have been released. Jamestown boys at #5 and Oakton boys at #10 make first ranking appearances this season after their performances at Maymont. Midlothian and Brentsville boys maintain their #1 and #2 spots in the region after an off weekend. West Springfield boys reappear in the rankings at #6 and Thomas Jefferson boys drop from #3 to #6 after Maymont. All four of the Virginia girls\' teams from week 3 maintain their ranking positions with Midlothian at #3, Lake Braddock at #5, Blacksburg at #8, and Brentsville #10. Midlothian and Brentsville were off last weekend, while Lake Braddock won the Oatlands Invite and Blacksburg finished third at Maymont.

The Blacksburg boys and girls swept the team titles at the Metro Invitational on Thursday afternoon at Green Hill Park. The Blacksburg girls, ranked #3 in the state and #8 in the Nike Team Nationals Southeast region, were big winners with 42 points as they finished 53 points ahead of second-place Patrick Henry. Meanwhile, the Blacksburg boys (66 pts) won by a convincing margin of 36 points over Cave Spring (102 pts). Northside senor Catherine White made her first appearance since dropping out at Great American two weeks ago with a leg cramp with her third consecutive Metro Invite championship in 18:26.05 on the Green Hill Park 5K course. Cave Spring\'s Tim Smith (16:08.61) pulled off a fairly big upset over Blacksburg\'s top runner Peter Dorrell (16:20.71). to win the boys\' individual title.

Northside senior and defending AA state champion Catherine White opens her season tomorrow at the Knights Cross Invitational held at Green Hill Park in Salem. High expections are placed upon White this season as she was a three-time All-American last year in cross country and track including a national runner-up finish for two miles last indoor season at Nike Indoor Nationals. White has had some great performances at Green Hill in the past including a 17:57 5K at the Fab 5K last month. The meet will also feature one of the state\'s top girls teams in Blacksburg. A great individual battle should be waged between one of A\'s best in Nathan Brame of Radford and the #3 ranked individual in AA in Peter Dorrell of Blacksburg.

Predictability is a word that serves Group AA girls well this fall with the Brentsville girls returning a full squad from a team that simply dominated at the state meet last year and two-time individual state champion Catherine White looking fitter than ever heading into this season. Behind Brentsville and White, there are plenty of great teams and individuals filling out what should be a strong fall for Group AA.

The Liberty Christmas Invitational turned out to be the meet of the weekend as seven state best performances were found at the first annual meet. The Blacksburg girls (90 pts) and Hermitage boys (55 pts) won team titles as the Blackburg girls blew out the field with their dominance in the distance events and relays, while the Hermitage boys barely squeaked out the win over three other teams in the hunt.

Midlothian girls (63 pts) simply destroy NTN southeast #4 ranked Oakton (115 pts) for the AAA girls\' state team title. A NTN berth would be well deserved for the Lady Trojans (19:09 team average) after such a dominating performance with four runners hovering in and out of All-State honors with M.C. Miller (11th, 18:52.33), Paige Johnston (14th, 18:56.08), Erin Stehle (16th, 19:04.06), and Samantha Dow (18th, 19:13.86). Anne Tenser (40th, 19:41.45) ran a solid fifth for Midlothian. Rachel Rose runs the second fastest time of the day to win the AAA girls\' race in 17:57.77. The fastest time of the day belonged to Northside\'s Catherine White as she defends her AA state crown in 17:48.66. AA runner-up Becky Stewart (18:32.38) leads her Brentsville squad (19:19 team average) to their first AA state crown by a 25 point margin over Blacksburg. Craig County senior Lori Crotts surprised everyone in winning the girls\' Group A race over her Region C rival Kelly Clark of Glenvar (2nd, 18:55.11) as she did it in convincing fashion with a time of 18:15.45. No shocker in the girls\' team scores for Group A as Clarke County won by a 63 point margin. The Group AAA boys race sees a crazy finish with Chantilly senior Brad Siragusa (15:21.64) finally come up big in his final state meet as he outkicks favored junior Mike Spooner of West Springfield (15:25.26) for the win. The team battle was pretty wild as well as a mere four points seperated the top three teams in state champion Oakton (95 pts), state runner-up Thomas Jefferson (16:20 average, 98 pts), and state third-place finisher Midlothian (99 pts). Abingdon sophomore Griff Graves (15:51.34) got the last laugh on Christiansburg senior John Horst (16:01.40) in winning the Group AA individual state crown, while the Brentsville boys (16:24 team average) had a dominating team showing with 63 points putting them well-ahead of runner-up Western Albemarle. The Clarke County boys certainly showed they belong ranked among the top teams in Group AA and AAA with a dual meet-like score of 20 points to win the Group A state title with nearly 7 all-state individuals with their top 7 all in the top 17 places. Clarke County junior Simon Biddle-Snead successfully defending his title in 16:09.19, while senior teammate Michael Leonard was the race runner-up in 16:29.75. More detailed state meet summary to come later.

The Octoberfest Invitational saw some heavyweight matchups with some of the state\'s best racing against one another. The Thomas Jefferson boys proved their legitimacy as the top ranked team in the state with a convincing win by 55 points over second place Herndon with five runners under 16:50 on the Great Meadows hill course for 5,000 meters. Chantilly senior Brad Siragusa proved just why many are considering him the best runner in the state this year by getting revenge on Herndon\'s Abe Daganchew and beating Group AA\'s best in John Horst of Christiansburg and Zac Edwards of Northside in a time of 15:44.10. Horst finished a strong second in 15:48.09 for his second consecutive victory over a Group AA #1 ranked runner in Edwards (3rd, 16:01.43) this week and Abingdon\'s Griff Graves at Bristol Cross last weekend. Dagnachew, a race leader and with the lead pack for most of the race, faltered badly in the latter portion of the race to a 20th place finish. Another upset in the AA ranks was the Sherando boys (216 pts) knocking off Fort Defiance (247 pts) for fourth place honors. On the girls\' side, the individual and team winners were probably surprises to most, but no shocker for those who have seen Albemarle\'s Rachel Rose and the Blacksburg girls race all season. Albemarle junior Rachel Rose took a convincing victory over Group AAA #1 ranked Stefanie Slekis (18:16.41) with a winning time of 17:58.96. Rose had previously been ranked #2 in Group AAA behind Slekis. Meanwhile, the Group AA #3 and #9 state ranked Blacksburg girls defeated four higher ranked teams in #4 Westfield (2nd, 161 pts), #5 Fairfax (3rd, 185 pts), #6 Lake Braddock (4th, 206 pts), and #7 Brooke Point (5th, 209 pts) with a team score of 150 points. With a strong top four that all finished in the top 20 places in Ariel Burbey (7th, 18:56.64), Allison Homer (15th, 19:36.83), Laurel MacMillan (19th, 19:41.84), and Cate Berenato (20th, 19:42.06), the Blacksburg girls were able to negate a weak fifth runner to take it to the larger Group AAA schools from northern Virginia.

The River Ridge District from southwest Virginia is staking a claim as one of the best and most competitive AA districts in the Commonwealth. Numerous athletes from the River Ridge are on top of the double A rankings. Four of the State

The great thing about high school cross country is the fall colors. Take Wednesday\'s Region III championships at Green Hill Park, for instance. There was the maroon hair of Pulaski County\'s Will Frye and Lance McDaniel. There were the gray disguises worn by Jefferson Forest. However, in the long run the day belonged to the Blue Demons of Christiansburg on the boys\' side, the Blacksburg girls\' team and Northside\'s Catherine White.

William Fleming

Photo by John Herzog With one of the strongest high school cross country fields in the Southeast region year in and year out, the McDonald’s X-country Festival at Maymont will once again deliver a top-notch event to its top-notch competitors this weekend in Richmond. “I would say it was stronger than last year,” says event director Dan Ward. “And last year it was one of the top meets in the Southeast. We have schools from 10 states and the District of Columbia. They’re coming from as far south as Georgia, as far north as New York and as far west as Colorado.” Ward points out that the McDonald’s X-country Festival at Maymont, which has signed up 125 teams with over 2,865 runners, an all-time record, will have more Nike ranked and bubble teams at the national, regional and state level than any other meet in the Southeast. Read on for full story...

While most will be looking forward to seeing the outcome of the Blacksburg-Hidden Valley girls, the River Ridge District boys should also be an intriguing race to watch with the Blacksburg boys looking to redeem themselves after a poor showing at Great American earlier this month. Arguably the district's most talented two boys individuals in George Carter and Andy Eddleton battled earlier this season on the district course at Green Hill Park with Eddleton coming out on top. Eddleton has had the better and much more consistent season than Carter, but is coming off a race in which he finished behind a Blacksburg runner who has not ran in their top 7 this season. The slate is wiped clean for both Carter and and Eddleton today with championship season beginning for the River Ridge District athletes.

So much for the curse. Heading into Saturday's Knights Crossing Invitational cross country meet, Glenvar's Megan Marsico (pictured right by Scott Rigler) was hoping to put memories of recent disappointing performances on the Green Hill Park course behind her. She did it in a big way. Marsico crushed the 226-runner field in the girls' varsity race, winning by more than a minute. The reigning Group A champion, Marsico also broke the meet record set by former Northside star Catherine White. "I look up to Catherine White," said Marsico, whose time of 18 minutes, 1.56 seconds was nearly eight seconds faster than White's 2006 time. "She's an awesome runner, and I want to be as good as her." Read full story on Marsico & Knights Crossing Invite by Mark Taylor of The Roanoke Times