Oatlands Invitational Results & Coverage

Oatlands Invitational
MileSplit Staff

 

Boys Team Champions - Battlefield

 

Boys Team Runners-up - Chantilly


Photo by Ed Lull

 

Boys Individual Champion - Louis Colson (Thomas Edison) 15:16 * Meet Record*

 

Girls Team Champions - Oakton


Photo by Ed Lull

 

Girls Team Runners-up - Washington-Lee

 

Girls Individual Champion - Emily Mulhern (Urbana - MD) 18:32

 

Results and coverage from the 2013 Oatlands Invitational. Much more on the way from our on-site coverage. The Battlefield boys put on an impressive team display with the #5 ranked team in Group 6A defeating 3 of the top 4 ranked teams ahead of them including top ranked Chantilly by a margin of 53 points. We were covering the Braddock Relays on Saturday night, so additional coverage will not come later and added on Sunday and into Monday.

 

Boys Summary: Thomas Edison's Louis Colson keeps beating Sean McGorty's times. If he keeps it up, Colson may end up matching one of the state's all-time best in McGorty's success last year at the national level later this fall at Foot Locker Nationals. After running 7 seconds faster than McGorty did at Monroe Parker Invitational last year with a 14:43 performance two weeks ago on the historic Burke Lake Park 2.98 mile course, Colson again ran faster McGorty's 2012 performance in another invitational at the Oatlands Invitational on Saturday with a 15:16 course and meet performance for Colson (McGorty ran 15:26 in his 2012 win at Oatlands Invite). However, the course was slightly altered from a year ago and prevous years at Oatlands due to new row of trees being planted to move the start to the left and the finish line area being shortened to adjust for distance. Nonetheless, Colson has shown that he is in the ballpark and range to be considered among the top 15 high school cross country runners in the nation after his first several races this fall.

Colson didn't make a move for the lead until the two mile mark as he had plenty of competition in the field for the pace to be honest and fast up until that point to set himself up for a good time. Trailing Colson into the finish line chute as the next two finishers were two runners from the state of Maryland in Chase Weaverling of Poolesville (2nd, 15:28) and David Dorsey of Catoctin (3rd, 15:38) as well as another out-of-state runner in West Virginia's Andrew Milliron of Jefferson High School (4th, 15:40). Weaverling, a Maryland state champion last spring on the track at 1600 and 3200 meters is now 4th fastest in meet history behind only Colson and a Foot Locker National champion in Solomon Haile (15:25) and a Foot Locker National runner-up in Sean McGorty (15:28).

The second finisher from Virginia was perhaps the next superstar in the making in Loudoun Valley's Andrew Hunter as the sophomore was able to finish ahead of many more experienced and higher ranked runners in our state to grab 5th place in a new 5K personal best time of 15:45 on the hilly course. Currently ranked #3 in Group 3A classification, Hunter was able to defeat the likes of Group 5A #2 ranked Mackenzie Haight of George C. Marshall (6th, 15:52) and Group 5A #3 ranked Ryan Thomas of Albemarle (16th, 16:13) along with the top 3 ranked runners in the 6A classification with Chantilly duo of Ryan McGorty (9th, 15:57) and Dakota Lange (13th, 16:09) as well as Oakton's John Stoney (8th, 15:56).

Two other big individuals surprises with their finishes against a loaded field of top ranked runners were Washington-Lee's Hailey Demsie (7th, 15:55) and Battlefield's Haben Zemichael (11th, 16:07). It was Demsie's first race of the season and he showed no race rust after a promising spring with a 9:34 3200 PR, while Zemichael has always been thought as a slow starter to his season as shown with a 16:25 performance on a 3 mile course at Monroe Parker just weeks prior to Oatlands.

Zemichael's race was a huge boost for the Battlefield boys, who came ready to race on Saturday in a matchup against many of the top ranked teams in the state of Virginia in their classification with probably only James Robinson and Osbourn Park as the only teams missing having strong aspirations of contending for the Group 6A state title this fall. A third place team in last fall's Group AAA state race, the Battlefield boys went into the meet ranked fourth in Group 6A after their Monroe Parker Invitational performance and would get a chance to race against two teams that beat them at Monroe Parker in VA #1 ranked Chantilly and VA #2 ranked Patriot.

Neither Chantilly or Patriot had a chance or hope to get a second straight win on the Battlefield boys after they put four runners among a very tough top 30 to crack into with Zemichael (11th, 16:07), Ryan Miller (16th, 16:13), Justin Wilkens (19th, 16:18), and Aaron Hill (30th, 16:34). Hill was the team's top runner in their first two meets of the season, while Wilkens was the first finisher in their last race at the Judges Classic. With a #1 caliber runner as their fourth man, Hill finished ahead of Chantilly's 3rd finisher and Patriot's 2nd finisher to leave no doubt of the team champion on this day as a 53 point buffer was created between first place Battlefield with 147 points and second place Chantilly with 210 points as Patriot took 3rd at 213 points.

The Albemarle boys did not have the best of races from their star in 2012 Northwest Region champion Ryan Thomas faltering to a 16th place finish, but his teammates certainly picked him up from behind as their squad can certainly make a strong case for state title contention in the Group 5A classification in grabbing 4th place with 281 points to put them ahead of VA #6 ranked Oakton (5th, 302 pts) and the current Group 5A #2 ranked Stone Bridge squad (6th, 327 pts).

Girls Summary: When it was discovered on race day that both Jordan Selby and Kathryn Eng were going to be back in the line-up and racing for the Washington-Lee girls following missing the team's opener at Monroe Parker Invite, the team battle for first became very clear cut that it would be between the VA #2 ranked Oakton girls and VA #10 ranked Washington-Lee girls. The Oakton girls were coming off two strong invitational showings in winning the Great Meadow Invite two weeks ago and last week finishing second to the state's best team in Blacksburg at Knights Crossing Invite. Meanwhile, the Washington-Lee girls had the Monroe Parker Invite won through four runners including against 2012 Group AAA state champs Lake Braddock, but the absences of Selby and Eng had their fifth buried back in the field and they finished well outside the top 3 in the final standings. 

Early on in the race and even at two miles, Washington-Lee looked to have the advantaged on the Oakton girls, but a disciplined and well executed race strategy for a team led by Foot Locker finalist Allie Klimkiewicz moved up well collectively in the last mile to take over first place team position. Klimkiewicz appeared content for much of the race running with the chase pack and helping pull along teammate Hailey Dougherty. It paid off for Dougherty as she ran a stellar race to grab 6th place with a 19:02 performance, but Klimkiewicz ended up not having enough real estate to make up enough ground on Urbana's Emily Mulhern to try and win her 3rd invitational in the young season.

Mulhern, a Maryland state champion in cross country last fall, certainly did not let Klimkiewicz come closer to her in the final though and closed well over the last 1000 meters of the race to knotch a 18:32 victory as Klimkiewicz came across the line 11 seconds later as the runner-up at 18:43. Mulhern was a runner-up to Klimkiewicz two weeks ago at the Great Meadow Invite.

The Oakton girls were able to get their top five all under 20 minutes on the challenging Oatlands Plantantion 5K course with Klimkiewicz, Dougherty, Kara Kendall (24th, 19:41), Leya Salis (35th, 19:53), and Maryn McCarty (38th, 19:58) to help them get under 100 points, which is not easy to do in a race with 49 full teams. Their team score of 91 points was 12 places better than the runners-up from Washington-Lee at 103 points as the two squads were a class above the rest of the field with fellow 6A Northn region teams Battlefield (3rd, 246 pts) and Chantilly (4th, 256 pts) grabbing the next two places. It turned out that Klimkiewicz helping to pull Dougherty along to a great race as the team's #2 runner was the biggest point swing between the two teams as no more than 2 points separated any of the other top 5 position match-ups besides the #2 spot with a 10 point swing in favor of Oakton.

The Washington-Lee girls put up a worthy fight and certainly cannot be counted as a state title contender and definite podium team in the state meet with their top five of the day in Sarah Angell (4th, 19:00), Jordan Selby (19th, 19:30), Sarah Sears (23rd, 19:36), Jordan Grimaldi (34th, 19:53), and Kathryn Eng (40th, 20:06). It was Selby's first race back after breaking her ankle in the exchange zone of the state outdoor meet 4x800 and she should only get in better shape as the season progresses.

Other Virginians placing among the top 10 in the deep varsity A division race were Woodgrove sophomore Emma Gillies (5th, 19:00), Robert E. Lee senior Bailey Kolonich (7th, 19:06), and Chantilly senior Nora Raher (th, 19:10). Both Gillies and Kolonich found themselves nearly 30 seconds or more away from the race winner at Oatlands, but each could become state champions later this fall as the better runners in their classifications with Gillies in 4A and Kolonich in 5A.

 

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