Tackling the overwhelming task of summarizing the 64 district meets held in Virginia this past week, I have taken a different approach in making a list of the ten best team and individual performances this past week. Some of them will not be in order based off actual team and individual\'s current state rankings, but how I rate their most recent performances at districts. I\'ll also be trying to recognize some performances that can be overlooked. I cannot recognize all, but I\'ll try to do my best. As you will see with the first top ten list with the boys teams, I took heavily into account how last year\'s teams faired from districts to the state meet at Great Meadows in their time differences among their team averages (top 5 finishers). No perfect science in analzying this sport, but I think it is an important stat to look at because a lot of these teams are competing with the same runners, same coaches, same training plan, and most importantly same courses. The Brentsville boys and Hermitage boys for example cannot have the same application used as Brentsville competed in a totally different course for their district meet from 2005 and Hermitage competed on a different Pole Green course and had to deal with quite different weather and course conditions in their Saturday district meet than the pleasant conditions that were found statewide on the Wednesday and Thursday meets. Enjoy!
1. Midlothian boys @ Dominion District Meet - After taking an over four week lay off from racing after finishing third in the Nike Race of Champions at Great American, the Nike Team Nationals Southeast #1 ranked team from Midlothian needed to show they are still the team to beat with plenty of criticism from teams ranked below them of hiding from the competition. While Midlothian has traditionally held a stranglehold on the Dominion District as this year was their eighth consecutive district title, the team performance they put up was nonetheless impressive when comparing historically to past great Midlothian teams and runners. The results were clear that this is the best Midlothian boys team ever and they have been doing some serious training since Great American.
The Trojans were led to victory by junior Jason Witt, who successfully defended his individual district title with a course record time of 15:46. The course record had been previously held by his older brother Ryan, an All-State runner and Foot Locker South Senior race champion and record holder.
While two solid individuals in Manchester\'s Andrew Duty (2nd, 16:13) and James River\'s Charlie Schmitt (3rd, 16:26) came in between Witt and his fellow teammates, the rest of them did not take long to come in after Schmitt with five Midlothian runners finishing within a 12 second span with Mark Merritt (4th, 16:33), Tommy Reese (5th, 16:34), Jonathan Mellis (6th, 16:36), Michael Hammond (7th, 16:37), and Thomas Cole (8th, 16:45). Midlothian averaged 16:18 on the Pocahontas State Park 5K course, which is 40 seconds faster than they averaged on the same course last year at the district meet. Midlothian went onto finish a close third in the AAA race at the VHSL State Meet and five points away from a state championship. Their team averaged 23 seconds faster per runner from Pocahontas to Great Meadows with a 16:24 team average.
Projected State Times
Jason Witt 15:46 - :23 = 15:23
Mark Merritt 16:33 - :23 = 16:10
Tommy Reese 16:34 - :23 = 16:11
Jonathan Mellis 16:36 - :23 = 16:13
Michael Hammond 16:37 - :23 = 16:14
Thomas Cole 16:45 - :23 = 16:22
Michael Rogers 17:14 - :23 = 16:51
In comparision to recent great Midlothian squads, this team stands above the rest. Midlothian only had two runners (16:13, 16:20) under 17 minutes last year at the district meet at Pocahontas prior to finishing five points away from a AAA state championship. In Midlothian\'s 2003 state champion season, Midlothian only had three runners (16:01, 16:08, 16:32) under 17 minutes. In 2002, Midlothian had four runners under 17 minutes (16:20, 16:23, 16:51, 16:56) on a team that nearly upset a nationally ranked Thomas Jefferson S&T team.
The common course for districts is great to get a read on the Midlothian team because it will not be the same case for the regional meet for the top ranked team in the state and Southeast region as the Central Region\'s home course at Pole Green has been somewhat altered and times have shown so far from Wednesday meets and weekend invites that the new course is running faster than the old one. Midlothian had averaged 7 seconds faster at the regional meet last year at Pole Green from districts though.
However, times and course comparisions can be thrown out of the window as Midlothian will be getting a major test from Southeast #3 ranked Hermitage, who are the defending Central Region champions.
2. Brentsville @ Northwestern District Meet - After suffering a narrow one point defeat at Disney to Hermitage and jeopardizing their Nike Team Nationals hopes, Brentsville returned stronger than ever at the start of the championship season at the Northwestern District Meet held at Kernstown Battlefield in Winchester. Coach Rob Dulin\'s boys put up their best team performance of the year as they dominated a very tough AA district. Brentsville the top three places individual with district champion Adam Henken clocking a 15:44 personal best and being followed to the line by teammates Henry Melius (2nd, 16:05) and Ray Delgado (3rd, 16:13). It was especially a big performance for Delgado, who had been underperforming prior to the district race, but it appears Brentsville has their big front three running at their best making them a tough team for any team in the state to beat. Luke Watts also had an exceptional race as the team\'s fourth finisher in sixth with a personal best of 16:25 to give Brentsville four of the top six finishers. Brentsville senior Andrew Johnson rounded out the team\'s scoring in 11th place at 16:45. The team\'s top five averaged 16:15 on the 5K course.
Unfortunately, the 2006 Northwestern District Meet course is not held at the same venue as the 2005 meet, so state meet time projections are tough to project accurately without any time differences between team averages. However, looking at the quality of runners in which the Brentsville runners finished ahead of is pretty convincing evidence that this team is much better than shown at Disney as well as their three earlier showdowns with top ranked Midlothian. Brentsville had three runners ahead of the defending AA 1600 meter outdoor champion in Ryan Witt, who earned All-State honors in 2005 state cross country meet with an eighth place finish.
It was the tighest the time spread has been all season for Brentsville after having a 1:20 gap at Great American and 1:18 gap at Disney, the team dropped it down with 1:01 gap between their top five at the district meet. The improvement should be noted. The front runner for Brentsville in Henken certainly did not slow it down for his teammates to catch up as he ran 22 seconds faster than the winning time from the Judges Classic held on the same course in mid September posted by Clarke County senior and defending Group A state champion Simon Biddle-Snead. Midlothian and Chapel Hill better watch out! Brentsville is coming on strong!
3. Oakton @ Concorde District Meet - Champions never go down easy and Coach Phil Tiller\'s defending AAA state champion Oakton boys showed at the Concorde District Cross Country Championships that they have a team who will in contention for another state ring once again.
Oakton averaged 15:41 on the Burke Lake Park 2.98 mile course and finished 29 points ahead of Robinson to defending their district title from a year ago. Oakton averaged 15:35 as a team in the 2005 district race, but it is easy for your average to be lower when you are led by two All-State and Foot Locker All-South performers in James Phillips and Matt Kroetch. Oakton has shown themselves to be one of the deepest teams in the state this fall as they have a roster of contributors that extends beyond their top seven. The case was apparent at the Glory Days Grill Invitational when they had two runners in the varsity B race running under 17 minutes for 5K. However, they have lacked the firepower up front to compete with some of the other top ranked teams in the state such as Midlothian with Jason Witt, Brentsville with Adam Henken and West Springfield with Mike Spooner.
After their district meet performance, Oakton may still not have a runner to knock heads with runners of that caliber, but definitely have several runners moving up to match up well with the other top teams\' runners past the number one runner. Oakton junior Joe Lorusso and senior Matt Saunders came up big at Burke Lake as the top two finishers in the race and ahead of one of the state\'s top runner distance runners in Ermin Mjuezinovic (3rd, 15:31) of Herndon with Burke Lake bests of 15:15 and 15:18 respectively. And the truth is that Oakton could have three runners up there as senior Alex Nissen had an off day finishing fifth in 15:50. Nissen had finished only a second behind Lorusso at Glory Days when both runners posted 5K personal bests of 16:09 (Lorusso) and 16:10 (Nissen) respectively. Especially looking ahead to the state meet against a favored Midlothian team, Oakton will need these three runners to key in on Midlothian\'s second runner Mark Merritt and try to finish in between Witt and Merritt.
Last year, the Oakton crew ran an average of 45 seconds slower from their district meet at Burke Lake to the state meet at Great Meadows. Based off their district meet performance, Oakton would then have had six runners under 17 minutes at states, but front running would still have to be an issue with the top projected time of Lorusso at 16:10. Last year, 16:14 was the cutoff time for All-State in AAA. If Oakton can get at least one of their guys in the top 15 at states and then another two not far behind, the defending state champions could be in good position.
2005 district average - 2005 state average = Average time difference
15:35 - 16:20 = + :45
Projected State Times
Joe Lorusso 15:15 + :45 = 16:10
Matt Saunders 15:18 + :45 = 16:18
Alex Nissen 15:50 + :45 = 16:35
Brian Hendricks 15:59 + :45 = 16:44
Tony Smith 16:17 + :45 = 16:52
Russel Fielding 16:24 + :45 = 17:09
4. West Springfield @ Patriot District Meet - The Spartans of West Springfield won last year\'s Patriot District Meet by a fairly close margin of ten points over West Potomac. The same two teams were the top two finishers in the district again, but this time by a much wider margin of 54 points. Coach Vic Kelbaugh\'s boys averaged 12 seconds faster from 2005 with four of the top six finishers in always competitive Patriot District. Team leader Mike Spooner, who recently verbally committed to run for the Vols next fall at the University of Tennessee, ran seven seconds better at 14:51 to successfully defend his district title. Meanwhile, the next three finishers for West Springfield ran well also as they put four runners under 16 minutes with Alex Martis (3rd, 15:38), Leo Walker (5th, 15:52), and Loring Ross (6th, 15:53).
The issue continues to remain if West Springfield\'s fifth runner will be good enough for them to hold off teams with seven runners they can put in front of the Spartans\' fifth finisher. Alex Kingsley (17th, 16:31) and Tom Crompton (18th, 16:35). In comparison to other top teams in the region as they head into Thursday\'s Northern Region Meet at Burke Lake Park, Oakton had all seven runners run faster than Kinglsey at their district meet at Burke Lake, while Thomas Jefferson had six runners. While their district meets were ran on different days, weather and course conditions were not significantly different.
West Springfield averaged 43 seconds slower at the state meet last year from districts, but doing the math it does not make sense that Mike Spooner runs seven seconds from last year\'s district meet, but is projected to run nine seconds slower than the state course. It is almost a given that better and faster runners have less time differences going from faster or shorter courses to slower or longer courses. The 43 seconds probably has more accurate application to the team\'s probable fifth runners in either Kingsley or Crompton, which could be an area of concern as times of 17:14 and 17:18 last year would add on at least 50 points to any team\'s score. Not as bad as last year\'s 80 points that were added on to West Springfield\'s team score at states from their fifth runner, but puts great pressure on all of their top four runners to come through and keep the overall team score under 100 points to keep them in the state title hunt.
2005 district average - 2005 state average = Average time difference
15:57 - 16:40 = + :43
Projected State Times
Mike Spooner 14:51 + :43 = 15:34
Alex Martis 15:38 + :43 = 16:21
Leo Walker 15:52 + :43 = 16:35
Loring Ross 15:53 + :43 = 16:36
Alex Kingsley 16:31 + :43 = 17:14
Tom Crompton 16:35 + :43 = 17:18
Anthony Trueheart 16:50 + :43 = 17:33
5. Thomas Jefferson @ Liberty District Meet - Since moving over from the Concorde District last year, Thomas Jefferson definitely has had an easier going in their new district as they have not had to face teams of the quality as of Oakton yet within the Liberty District. In 2005 at the Liberty District Meet, Thomas Jefferson tallied a low 19 points with a team average of 15:59 and this year put up 25 points with a six second drop in their team average at 15:53.
It is interesting to note while Oakton and West Springfield averaged 45 and 43 seconds slower respectively from districts to the state meet, but Thomas Jefferson had only ran 30 seconds slower on average. Possible reasons could be that Oakton and West Springfield have to race harder in their district meets with greater team competition, while Thomas Jefferson can cruise more so through their district meet or just Thomas Jefferson improved more from districts to states. However, looking more closely at the results, the big difference had to have been All-State runner Brian Landry missing the district meet last year, but racing at states to help improve their team average significantly. Without Landry, Thomas Jefferson averages 16:55 at the state meet with their first five finishers and averages 55 seconds slower from districts to states.
Based off times run by other top runners in the region at Burke Lake during districts week, one could argue Thomas Jefferson\'s top finisher Paul Norland probably had a lot more left in the tank as he successfully defended his Liberty district title with a time of 15:28. However, Norland\'s time was 20 seconds faster than his 2005 winning time. Norland was the final All-State finisher in AAA last November in 15th place at Great Meadows. Thomas Jefferson senior teammate Richard Prevost also duplicated his 2005 district finish taking runner-up once again and 19 seconds faster at 15:31. Prevost has been the Ray Delgado for Thomas Jefferson this fall as both runners had been expected to be solid front runners for their teams but had not been running at the levels as expected. Prevost had told teammate Norland before the district race that the season starts now and the statement could not be more true and Prevost has started the championship season off strong.
Thomas Jefferson is still not a team at full strength. Top finisher Brian Landry has been out all season with injury and one of their top five runners in Aiden McHugh missed Glory Days and districts due to injury.
2005 district average - 2005 state average = Average time difference
15:59 - 16:29 = + :30 (W/ Landry)
15:59 - 16:55 = + :55 (W/O Landry)
Projected State Times
Paul Norland 15:28 + :30 = 15:58
Richard Prevost 15:31 + :30 = 16:01
James Komen 16:00 + :30 = 16:30
Aaron Bernstein 16:09 + :30 = 16:39
Taylor Bostick 16:18 + :30 = 16:48
Logan Gates 16:20 + :30 = 16:50
Alex Witko 16:37 + :30 = 17:07
6. Western Albemarle @ Jefferson District Meet - While missing one of their top runners in Will Massie for the second consecutive meet, Coach Lindy Bain\'s Western Albemarle boys were 10 seconds on average faster than their 2005 performance at the Jefferson District Meet. Western is going to need Massie back healthy and running well for them to pose any challenge to Brentsville with Ray Delgado especially starting to run at top form for the defending AA state champs. Western has two runners that can definitely break into the top 15 at states to earn All-State honors and give them front running team representatives in sophomores Kyle Satterwhite and James Howard-Smith. Satterwhite won his first district title as he posted a fine time of 16:17 on the Panorama Farms 5K course. Meanwhile, Howard-Smith was third in the race in a time of 16:31 as Louisa County sophomore Thomas Baker (2nd, 16:26) broke up the two Warriors.
Western Albemarle averaged 16 seconds faster from districts to states last year. Based off projections, the Warriors look to have at least five runners capable of running under 17 minutes at the state meet as they had four at Panorama on Wednesday with Satterwhite, Howard-Smith, Post (5th, 16:57), and Carlos Gomez (6th, 16:58). Take into account if Massie returns and Tyler Stutzman runs closer to his 16:51 best from the Albemarle Invite versus his 17:11 at the Jefferson District Meet, Western Albemarle could potential have all seven runners under 17 minutes at the state meet. Western Albemarle had all 7 runners in the top 11 at the district meet, while the meet turned out to be a Western Albemarle and Louisa County dual meet as Louisa made up the five other non-Western Albemarle runners in the top 12 with Baker, Ehab Hoffman (4th, 16:45), Jesse Martin (7th, 17:10), Lawrence Minor (9th, 17:15), and Eric Stone (12th, 17:28).
2005 district average - 2005 state average = Average time difference
16:57 - 16:41 = - :16
Kyle Satterwhite 16:17 - :16 = 16:01
James Howard-Smith 16:31 - :16 = 16:15
Chris Post 16:57 - :16 = 16:41
Carlos Gomez 16:58 - :16 = 16:42
Tyler Stutzman 17:11 - :16 = 16:55
John Conroy 17:16 - :16 = 17:00
Henry Loehr 17:27 - :16 = 17:11
7. Jamestown @ Bay Rivers District Meet - Nike Team Nationals Southeast #6 ranked Jamestown rolled through their district meet on the 3.05 mile course found at Eastern State Hospital in Williamsburg, Virginia. The impressive stat of the meet for them was having three runners under 16 minutes with district champion Andrew Colley at 15:37, Andrew Mearns in fourth at 15:48, and John Holt in fifth at 15:57. A good measuring stick is seeing how they stack up to the past great Jamestown teams in 2000 and 2001, which finished as AA state runners-up in 2000 and AA state champions in 2001. The 2001 Jamestown team came out on top in the combined state meet scoring and ended the season ranked #6 in the Southeast region by Marc Bloom in The Harrier
national rankings.
The Eagles averaged 16 seconds faster than they did 2005 at the Bay Rivers District Meet at Eastern State Hospital, which a significant improvement was needed as the team scene in AA will be more competitive than ever as Brentsville and Western Albemarle looked impressive in district wins as well. With only one senior in their top seven, the Jamestown team is probably a year away from possibly becoming the best team in the state. However, Coach Howard Townsend\'s boys showed at the Maymont Festival in taking second to current SE #2 Chapel Hill of North Carolina and finishing ahead of almost all the top teams in the state that they do not have to wait till 2007 and this year could be their year.
2005 district average - 2005 state average = Average time difference
16:21 - 16:54 = + :33
Projected State Times
Andrew Colley 15:37 + :33 = 16:10
Andrew Mearns 15:48 + :33 = 16:21
John Holt 15:57 + :33 = 16:30
Colin Mearns 16:27 + :33 = 17:00
Raymond Hutchinson 16:38 + :33 = 17:11
Russel Hornsby 16:42 + :33 = 17:15
8. Hermitage @ Colonial District Meet - While most districts had their championship meets on Wednesday and Thursday on ideal racing days throughout the state, Hermitage raced in the Colonial District Meet on Saturday after heavy rainfall on Friday and encountered strong winds during the weekend race. The conditions to a degree as only two Hermitage harriers in race champion John Vial (16:15) and district runner-up Nathan Puckett (16:40) were able to dip under 17 minutes on a new Pole Green Park course, which some feel the course is running faster than the old. However, the bigger test of that question will be answered at Saturday\'s Central Region Meet. Vial was certainly stronger than his 2005 district race in which he finished eighth in 17:02 and his final time of 16:15 was eight seconds faster than Pole Green best from last year\'s Central Region Meet. Meanwhile, Puckett maintained his same district runner-up finish from last year, but was 20 seconds slower.
Slightly different courses and definitely different conditions, Hermitage averaged 16 seconds slower from the 2005 Colonial District Meet. However, Hermitage was one point better in their team score at 34 points, but the margin of victory was smaller with Freeman 20 points behind this year, while Maggie Walker was a distant 51 points behind in second last year. There is no doubt that Freeman is a solid team and stands an excellent chance at qualifying out of the Central Region this Saturday, but Hermitage definitely did not have their best day and could have had a more dominant showing at their district meet. The team that beat Brentsville at Disney was not all there on Saturday.
While Vial ran a great race to separate himself from not only the field but also increased the team time spread, the gap of 1:11 was the largest Coach Joe Pardue has seen out of his season all season. At Disney, the time gap for Hermitage was 54 seconds. Hermitage needs Vial as a legitimate front runner against the other top teams in the state, but also needs their back pack to move up as Vial moves up as Ben Hendrick (8th, 17:16), Walter Kidd (11th, 17:25), and Kieran Lee (12th, 17:26) have all had better races this season than districts.
Next week Hermitage faces Midlothian in a big clash for the Central Region title. Hermitage is the defending regional champions and Midlothian has a history of poor showings at Pole Green for the regional meet. Midlothian has only won the Central Region title on one occassion since the meet moved from Bandy Field to Pole Green in 2001 with their 2002 squad. On two occassions, Midlothian has finished second at the regional meet and then go onto to be the region\'s highest finisher representative at the state meet with a state championship in 2003 and third place finish last year. Another advantage for Hermitage will be the fact they have raced on the modified Pole Green course a few times this season, while it will be the first time for Midlothian on the new course. As unpredictable as the regular season was, the championship season expects to be even more so with teams flip flopping each week.
9. Mountain View @ Commonwealth District Meet - Watch out for this Mountain View team out of the Northwest Region. Only in its second year of existence, Coach Dave Davis has quickly built up a great program in Stafford. At the Commonwealth District Meet held at Willowmere Park this past Thursday, it was very apparent that Mountain View is in a class of its own within the Northwest Region and looks to be fairly competitive with other top teams in the state. Also on the Southeast regional scene, Mountain View had beaten a Walt Whitman team out of Maryland decisively at the Oatlands Invitational and Whitman recently gave Quince Orchard a scare at their county championships. Quince Orchard this past month as scored several key wins over some of Virginia\'s better teams in West Springfield, Oakton, and Thomas Jefferson.
Mountain View had one of the biggest improvements from their 2005 district meet as they averaged 51 seconds in 2006 (16:45) from 2005 (17:36) on the same Willowmere Park 5K course. Mountain View was led by sophomore Thomas Porter, who ran 19 seconds faster than his 2005 district win in a final time of 16:08 to make it two in a row. The greatest improvements for Mountain View though has been the runners behind Porter. Mountain View had seven of the top 12 finishers at the district meet with Max Desens (3rd, 16:27), Alex Brown (6th, 16:59), Chris Brown (7th, 17:02), Andrew Storey (10th, 17:07), Stephen Henry (11th, 17:10), and Ryan Yingling (12th, 17:12).
The team qualified for the state meet in the first try last year as they took 11th in the AAA race. Mountain View averaged 19 seconds faster from Willowmere Park to Great Meadows last fall and taking that stat into account, Mountain View could have all seven of their runners under 17 minutes at states. Desens ran solid as the team\'s number two at districts, but Mountain View may need one more runner to step up to close the gap on Porter and Desens for them to be able to knock off some of the higher ranked squads in the state.
2005 district average - 2005 state average = Average time difference
17:36 - 17:17 = - :19
Projected State Times
Thomas Porter 16:08 - :19 = 15:49
Max Desens 16:27 - :19 = 16:08
Alex Brown 16:59 - :19 = 16:40
Chris Brown 17:02 - :19 = 16:43
Andrew Storey 17:07 - :19 = 16:48
Stephen Henry 17:10 - :19 = 16:51
Ryan Yingling 17:12 - :19 = 16:53
10. Hickory @ Southeastern District Meet - It is a no brainer that Hickory is in a class of their own in the Eastern Region, which has historically been the weakest region in the state for cross country. The big question is are they for real on the state level. Last year, they finished 10th at the state meet and return everyone from that squad. The Southeastern District Meet was held at the same Bells Mill venue and course from last year in which Hickory won with a team average of 17:07. The team averaged 11 seconds slower from districts to the state meet last fall.
Hickory was even more dominate in this year\'s district meet as they tallied 24 points to win by 39 points over Great Bridge and averaged 16 seconds faster than last year in the meet. Andrew Earehart successfully defending his district title as he ran 12 seconds faster in 16:35. Hickory had five runners in the top ten with Earehart, Johnny Hume (2nd, 16:37), Andrew Zohorsky (3rd, 16:41), Thomas Galle (8th, 17:06), and Kody Oakes (10th, 17:17).
It appears it is going to be very tough for Hickory to crack into the top half at the state meet (top 7) as while Earehart is a solid runner, he is not going to be able to run close to some of these top team\'s front runners. The defending Eastern Region champs will need to rely on a very strong and tight pack, but that still may not be enough.
2005 district average - 2005 state average = Average time difference
17:07 - 17:18 = + :11
Projected State Times
Andrew Earehart 16:35 + :11 = 16:46
Johnny Hume 16:37 + :11 = 16:48
Andrew Zohorsky 16:41 + :11 = 16:52
Thomas Galle 17:06 + :11 = 17:17
Kody Oakes 17:17 + :11 = 17:28
Adam Curtis 17:37 + :11 = 17:48
Forrest Williams 17:43 + :11 = 17:54