The 7th annual MileStat.com XC Invitational will be held on Saturday, October 18th for the first time ever at Pole Green Park in Mechanicsville, Virginia. Partnering with the Lee-Davis high school cross country team, coaches, and parents, MileStat.com is excited to be bringing the one of the state's best final invitational meets to one of the Richmond area's best cross country courses and showcasing it to a greater audience with a total of 78 schools and over 2,300 runners expected to be competing over a total of 10 races starting at 9:00 AM and lasting through 2 PM this weekend.
The meet could be viewed as a meet of potential future state champions with many teams and individuals in the field expected to compete for state titles among the 6 classifications in VHSL as well as among private schools. Look no further than the teams in the Varsity A girls' race field with defending private school state champions Bishop O'Connell, 2A favorites and top ranked Maggie Walker, 3A favorites and top ranked Blacksburg, 4A contenders Midlothian and Woodgrove, 5A favorites and top ranked Mills Godwin, and finally 6A contenders Lake Braddock and Washington-Lee. The US #10 ranked Blacksburg girls lead the field and have dominated in-state competition this season including major invitational wins at Knights Crossing and Albemarle, but have not faced as strong as competition within state borders as they will face on Saturday at Pole Green Park with the 2012 Group AAA state champions from VA #2 ranked Lake Braddock as well as 6 other teams ranked among the top 10 in the state between VA #4 Washington-Lee, VA #6 Maggie Walker, VA #7 Chantilly, VA #8 James Robinson, and VA #9 Ocean Lakes. A whopping 17 of the top 25 ranked girls' teams in Virginia will toe the line at Pole Green when adding in Mills Godwin, James Madison, West Potomac, Patriot, Colonial Forge, Woodgrove, South Lakes, Atlee, Bishop O'Connell, and Stafford.
Only two of the top 9 ranked boys' squads in Virginia are not present at the MileStat.com XC Invitational as this loaded field is led by pre-season #1 and current #1 ranked James Robinson boys, who are coming off a big win last weekend at the Disney Classic in Florida. The Robinson boys have competed well out-of-state in their last two meets, but will get to really measure themselves prior to championship season against many of the state's top programs on Saturday between 6A North Region rivals Chantilly (VA #3), Patriot (VA #7), and Lake Braddock (VA #8) as well as the top ranked teams in 3A with VA #4 Blacksburg, 5A with VA #6 Stone Bridge, and 2A with VA #9 Maggie Walker. The depth of great teams will extend much further than those schools in the Varsity A race with Deep Run, Veritas School, Midlothian, Lafayette, Annandale, Ocean Lakes, W.T. Woodson, Stafford, and Washington-Lee all ranked among the top 25 in the last Cream of the Crop Rankings on October 8th and looking to leapfrog themselves into the top 10 with strong finishes at the MileStat.com XC Invite.
15 of the top 20 ranked girls individuals in Virginia will race at the MileStat.com XC Invitational with the pre-race favorites including Lake Braddock senior Hannah Christen, Blacksburg junior Bonnie Angermeier and Trinity Episcopal senior Molly Breidenbaugh. The 2013 Group AAA state 1600 meter indoor champ Christen has the fastest 5K time of the season with her 17:21 runner-up performance out in Arizona two weeks ago at the Desert Twilight Classic, while Trinity's Breidenbaugh has a head-to-head win over Christen from their race earlier this season at Maymont when Breidenbaugh move ahead of Christen for third place in the final mile. However, Breidenbaugh suffered a loss herself last weekend at the Albemarle Invitational to Blacksburg's Angermeier, who appears to be knocking on the door of breaking 18 minutes for 5K when she gets a chance to run on a fast course. The course record is 17:39, set by Cosby's Megan Moye in the 2011 Central Region Championships. Other runners coming into this weekend on a hot streak or coming off great races including James Madison's Amanda Swaak and Colonial Forge's Megan Rebholz. Swaak won the Octoberfest Invitational two weeks ago virtually leading from start to finish with an 18:43 5K PR on a hot and humid day, while Rebholz was able to find dry enough ground down in Williamsburg last weekend at the Big Cat Invitational to clock an 18:19 PR and win her 4th invitational of the season.
Looking to take out the boys' race individually and potentially challenge for the course record of 15:24 (Silas Frantz - Douglas Freeman - 2010) will be nationally ranked and VA's best in Louis Colson of Thomas Edison. Colson's last race was a 15:00 5K performance at Great American, while setting a new meet record on the hilly Oatlands Invitational course almost a month ago. Colson is looking like a likely qualifier for Foot Locker Nationals and potential All-American this season if he continues to progress and stay healthy, but he won't be able to win easy this weekend with a stacked field including 23 runners who have already broken 16 minutes for 5K this fall as a 4:16 miler in Matthew Novak of Deep Run sits with the 24th fastest season best performance at 16 minutes flat. Based on the 10/8 Cream of the Crop XC Individual Rankings, Colson is one of 15 runners entered in the MileStat.com XC Invite ranked among the top 20 in the state including James Madison's Matthew Calem, George C. Marshall's Mackenzie Haight, Atlee's Nathaniel Hall, Washington-Lee's Haileye Demsie, Deep Run's Matthew Novak, Chantilly's Ryan McGorty, Maggie Walker's Alex Fleckenstein, and Lake Braddock's Alex Corbett among a who's who list of star runners in the race. A time under 16 minutes may be required to earn a top 25 medal in the Varsity A boys' race.
