BURKE, VA -- The season opener for Northern Region schools in Virginia pitted two NTN Southeast ranked squads against each other in SE #5 Thomas Jefferson Science & Tech and SE #8 West Springfield. There was no surprise in Thomas Jefferson coming out as the winner by a 35 point margin of victory as their superior depth was shown by placing seven runners ahead of West Springfield\'s #5.
Thomas Jefferson, who expect to have top runner Brian Landry back in time for mid-season competition, looked dominant at the Monroe Parker Invitational as they nearly put three runners under 16 minutes on the 2.98 mile Burke Lake course with Paul Norland (4th, 15:33), Richard Prevost (5th, 15:51), and James Komen (8th, 16:00). Coach Matt Ryan\'s #4 was solid as well as Aiden McHugh (15th) finished in the top 15 with his time of 16:20. Ben Treweek finishing 43rd with a time of 16:57 is a little further back than they would like their fifth runner to be, but if Landry comes back that will not matter for Thomas Jefferson. The team has several runners that are in position to step up in the number five spot until then with Treweek, Timmy Galvin (48th, 17:01), and Kevin Brown (54th, 17:07).Thomas Jefferson\'s depth was also showcased in other races on the day with JV race winner Alex Witko and JV race top 10 finishers Will Clark (4th, 17:23) and Kyle Lamson (6th, 17:28) running faster times than West Springfield\'s fifth runner.
The Spartans of West Springfield matched up pretty well with Thomas Jefferson through four runners at 32 to 36 in favor of TJ as they were led by race winner and Foot Locker hopeful Mike Spooner in a time of 14:58. Alex Martis (9th, 16:07) and Leo Walker (10th, 16:08) also had strong individual races to finish in the top 10 in the competitive meet, while Loring Ross (16th, 16:22) has definitely stepped it up for Springfield in the #4 spot.
However, the #5 man woes were very glaring for them with Anthony Trueheart finishing a distance 75th place in a time of 17:32.
Thomas Jefferson will be at the Brentsville Relays next week along with SE #1 Midlothian and SE #6 Brentsville in the 2500 meter relay event.
While West Springfield\'s Spooner could not control what his teammates were doing behind him, he could control what he did with his own feet moving forward as he ran away from the field early on with a 4:45 first mile and then hitting two mile mark in 9:45 as he cruised to a 25 second victory in his final time of 14:58. The time matches his personal best from Burke Lake Park a year ago in his Patriot District title run as the defending Northern Region champion was 33 seconds faster than his 2005 race at Monroe Parker in which he finished second to eventual Foot Locker finalist Brad Siragusa of Chantilly.
Few could have predicted Saturday\'s race runner-up to Spooner to be T.C. Williams junior Bradshaw Kenimer. After all, Kenimer had only run 16:07 at the Burke Lake course last year to finish 28th at the Northern Region Meet. He dropped his 1600 meter time significantly to 4:24 during the spring, but his 3200 meter time was fairly modest at 9:56. However, Kenimer came ready to race in the opener at Burke Lake as he ran a huge personal best with a time of 15:23 to pull ahead of Washington-Lee\'s Chris Tyson (3rd, 15:27) for second.
The Lake Braddock girls started off their 2006 season in impressive fashion at the Monroe Parker Invite as they won by a 45 point margin over Westfield with four runners in the top 14 places. Coach Mike Mangan\'s girls were led by Christine Moore as she dipped under 19 minutes on the Burke Lake 2.98 mile course in a time of 18:54 to finish fifth overall. Returning AAA All-State cross country runner Michelle Presley finished eighth in 19:01 and was closely followed to the line by teammates Anna Corrigan (10th, 19:04) and Erin Landy (11th, 19:06). Hayley Sullivan finished out Lake Braddock\'s top five with a 24th place run of 19:31.
W.T. Woodson senior Sarrah Hadiji opened her cross country season with a win at Monroe Parker in a time of 18:00 on the 2.98 mile course. Her time was 17 seconds from her 2005 race at Monroe Parker in which she finished in second place. Hadiji hopes to improve to another first place finish this fall from her second place showing in last November\'s AAA state cross country race. Standing in her way will be returning state champion Rachel Rose of Albemarle.
Chantilly sophomore Lia DiValentin certainly showed flashes of big things to come from her this fall in her freshmen year of track season as she earned All-American honors indoors in the freshmen mile at Nike Indoor Nationals and running a 11:06 for 3200 meters outdoors. DiValentin, an AAA All-State performer for 3200 meters this past June, competed in her first cross country invite at Monroe Parker and had no problem transferring her track success to cross country finishing eight seconds off Hadiji in second place with a time of 18:08.
Also joining Hadiji and DiValetin in running under 18:30 for the day, West Potomac junior Elizabeth Heath ran 36 seconds faster than 2005 at Monroe Parker to finish third overall in a time of 18:20.
Westfield finished second to Lake Braddock with 103 points as Tasia Potasinski was the Lady Bulldogs\' top finisher of the meet with a fourth place finishing time of 18:45. Teammate Alexis Deegan (15th, 19:15) also finished in the top 15, while Laura Pramstallar (19;20) was not far off in 18th place. Rounding out the top five for Westfield were Brittany Sevachko (28th, 19;42) and Chrissy Esposito (39th, 20:04).