The VA #1 ranked James Robinson traveled all the way down to Orlando, Florida this weekend to compete at the Disney Classic at the ESPN Wide World of Sports Complex as well as a handful of other Virginia schools including Brentsville, Christiansburg, Hanover, Mountain View, Walsingham Academy, and Westfield. Competing in only their second 5K race of the season (first being in a 3rd place finish behind two nationally ranked squads at the Carlise Invitaitonal in Pennsylvania), the Robinson boys inserted 5 runners among the top 13 places to claim the team title in the 4A division (largest schools) with 43 points.
Leading the Rams for the second meet in a race was John Tolbert with a 4th place finish of 16:20 and his teammates kept the spread tight to a mere 25 second margin as Tolbert was followed by Dustin Justras (6th, 16:22), Patrick Myers (9th, 16:34), Luke Sharkey (11th, 16:35), and Nathan Schulte (13th, 16:45). Their entire top 7 was nearly under 17 minutes on the Disney 5K course, which doesn't always seem to run the fastest despite the lack of hills as humidity and sometimes rain has slowed down the times in past years. Nick Hite (19th, 16:58) and Brendan O'Connell (21st, 17:00) provided insurance depth for their team in the #6 and #7 spots at Disney. Once they return from their victory and fun at Disney, the Robinson boys will get their first major in-state test against top Virginia competition next weekend at the MileStat.com Invitational in Mechanicsville.
The Brentsville boys, expected to compete for a top 3 state podium place in the 3A classification later this fall, made for 2 Virginia schools among the top 3 in the varsity 3A division race as they kept their team score under triple digits at 92 points for third place. The Tigers had a team average of 16:55 and had two finishers among the top 15 in Corey Tooke (8th, 16:33) and Richard Knab (12th, 16:42). Westfield also had a pair of individuals finish well in the 4A race between Nick O'Connell (7th, 16:28) and Johnny Pace (17th, 16:56) to pull them into 5th place in the team standings.
Mountain View junior Jordan Angers had the best individual performance of the meet by the Virginian contigency at Disney. Coming off an excellent race at the Octoberfest Invitational (6th, 19:08) last weekend, Angers continued her hot streak down in Florida as she ran only 5 seconds off her 5K personal best with a runner-up finish in the 3A division race in a time of 19:05. Her Mountain View squad placed 6th overall in the 3A division, which was the 3rd highest finish among Virginia girls' teams in their respective divisions as Westfield took 5th in the 4A race, while the Hanover girls earned a 4th place showing in the 2A race. Westfield sophomore Sara Freix was the only other Virginian besides Angers under 20 minutes at Disney in 14th place with a 19:39 clocking.
Disney Results & Coverage at https://fl.milesplit.com
The VA #1 ranked James Robinson traveled all the way down to Orlando, Florida this weekend to compete at the Disney Classic at the ESPN Wide World of Sports Complex as well as a handful of other Virginia schools including Brentsville, Christiansburg, Hanover, Mountain View, Walsingham Academy, and Westfield. Competing in only their second 5K race of the season (first being in a 3rd place finish behind two nationally ranked squads at the Carlise Invitaitonal in Pennsylvania), the Robinson boys inserted 5 runners among the top 13 places to claim the team title in the 4A division (largest schools) with 43 points.
Leading the Rams for the second meet in a race was John Tolbert with a 4th place finish of 16:20 and his teammates kept the spread tight to a mere 25 second margin as Tolbert was followed by Dustin Justras (6th, 16:22), Patrick Myers (9th, 16:34), Luke Sharkey (11th, 16:35), and Nathan Schulte (13th, 16:45). Their entire top 7 was nearly under 17 minutes on the Disney 5K course, which doesn't always seem to run the fastest despite the lack of hills as humidity and sometimes rain has slowed down the times in past years. Nick Hite (19th, 16:58) and Brendan O'Connell (21st, 17:00) provided insurance depth for their team in the #6 and #7 spots at Disney. Once they return from their victory and fun at Disney, the Robinson boys will get their first major in-state test against top Virginia competition next weekend at the MileStat.com Invitational in Mechanicsville.
