Slow ride, take it easy...
At last Saturday\'s Brentsville Relays, a fierce team battle was found between the two top ranked teams in the Southeast region from Virginia, SE #2 Brentsville and SE #1 Midlothian boys, in the 5x2500 meter relay event. The two teams exchanged leads on each other through the first four legs, but Brentsville\'s top runner Adam Henken was able to hold off a challenge from Midlothian\'s front runner Jason Witt on the final leg to give Brentsville a three second win. Now the two teams along with their girls\' programs will be joining each other for a 12 hour bus ride to Hoover, Alabama for this weekend\'s Great American Festival. All four teams are ranked in the Nike Team Nationals Southeast regional rankings with the Midlothian boys at #1, Brentsville girls at #2, Midlothian girls at #2, and Brentsville girls at #5.
The Brentsville and Midlothian runners see each other every summer at the Blue Ridge Running Camp in Harrisonburg, Virginia. Their head coaches, Rob Dulin at Brentsville and Stan Morgan at Midlothian, also attend the camp annually as part of the camp staff. The move of Great American from North Carolina to Alabama affected many of Virginia\'s top programs who could not afford to make the trip due to financial and school constraints. However, both coaches wanted their teams to return to compete at Great American. With both teams returning boys and girls teams that would be considered preseason contenders for the two automatic bids for the Southeast region, Great American would be a great opportunity to compete against the region\'s top ranked teams to improve their teams\' standings. But with plane tickets over $400, Great American carried too hefty of a price tag.
At camp, Dulin and Morgan started talking about the dilemna both of their teams were facing in making the trip and came up with the idea of sharing a charter bus together down to Hoover. \"We thought it would be fun to travel together,\" said Dulin. The idea went from there and later became official. The girls on each team were especially excited to learn of the news as they made friendships at camp and past meets. Midlothian junior Erin Stehle spoke on behalf of her teammates that, \"The Midlo girls are definitely excited to ride down with the Brentsville girls because we all get along so well that we even sometimes forget we aren\'t even on the same team. The 12 hour trip down should be so fun with the joined teams.\" The same sentiments were shared by Brentsville senior Becky Stewart. \"Our team is really close with Midlo. Whenever we\'re at the same place, we make sure we get to talk to each other. We\'ll usually all talk before races start and we\'re all really excited for the Great American trip,\" said Stewart.
The Brentsville and Midlothian teams are also in for a special treat on Friday night or more like \"Friday Night Lights\" as they will be attending a game of one of the nation\'s top high school football teams, Hoover High School, in an away game at Mountain Brook High School. Brentsville coach Rob Dulin contacted Mountain Brook\'s cross country coach and they worked out having a pasta dinner at the school and watch the game afterwards. Midlothian coach Stan Morgan broke the news to the kids about the game and they were excited as many of the guys have watched MTV\'s \"Two-A-Days\" show on the Hoover football team. However, the coach wanted to make the point clear to his runners that they need to be more focused and excited about Saturday when they compete in the Nike Race of Champions against some of the top teams in the Southeast region and nation. \"We aren\'t making a 12 hour bus ride to watch a football game. We are there to take care of business,\" said Morgan.
A full bus of 57 occupants will be filled when the Brentsville gang, driving south on I-95, picks up the other half of riders at Midlothian High School at 1:30 PM on Thursday. Brentsville\'s ride will be two hours longer than the Midlothian team coming from two hours north of Midlothian.
MileStat.com\'s Brandon Miles will be along for the ride with both teams to document what should be a very interesting and fun trip for two teams with serious goals and dreams they hope to hope to accomplish in Hoover.
More to come on \"The Road To Hoover\".