Moment #7 - Depth of AAA Teams, Midlothian's Bald Heads Shave Competition (2003)
In 2003, the Midlothian Trojans had the task of rebounding from quite possibly their most talented squad of all time, which had finished only runner-up in 2002 to a truly amazing Thomas Jefferson team. In the spring of 2003, Midlothian's 4x800 relay set a Virginia State Meet record running 7:42 in their classic battle with West Springfield. That team lost three of its four runners plus leading distance man Brandon Miles to graduation. The only two legitimate distance runners returning for the 2003 XC seasons for Midlothian were seniors Ryan Witt and Billy Berlin.
The coaches of Virginia showed their uncertainty in this team from preseason through September. Midlothian stayed ranked #3 Cream of the Crop with Thomas Jefferson, Maggie Walker, Westfield, Jamestown, and later Oakton and J.R. Tucker bouncing all around them. In October they dropped down to #4.
Midlothian went into each weekend undefeated as a team, somehow always finding a way to win. They opened with a win over Northern Region powerhouse Lake Braddock in possibly the worst conditions ever at Great Meadows at the Great Meadows Invitational. They continued to the William and Mary Invitational where Berlin's lost shoe and a dismal finish by Ryan Call (yours truly) was thought to be their certain downfall. Fortunately for the Trojans the Octoberfest Invitational that weekend had pulled most of the top competition to NOVA, and they still came out with the victory.
Midlothian then traveled to the Manhattan Invitational where this time they came away with a 1 point tie breaker win against Northeast powerhouse North Rockland despite poor races from usual #3 Pat Harding and #4-#5 Kurt Witt. The victory was overlooked in the rankings that weekend however due to Oakton's huge 1 point victory over top ranked Thomas Jefferson at the Glory Days Invitational. That weekend marked the return of Oakton senior Kris Cruz from a summer capture the flag injury. With the Cougars now a factor, AAA had 5 teams with what seemed like an equal shot at the title in Oakton, TJ, Tucker, Westfield, and Midlothian.
District performances started shifting all the favorites to the Northern Region, as they came out with fewer question marks and more solid performances. This year was all about duos- TJ's Landry and Mocko, Westfield's Groff and Scheiner, Tucker's Chapa and Wyss, and Midlo's Berlin and Witt. Oakton seemed to have the most solid team, however, were out done 65-77 to Thomas Jefferson at the Northern Region Meet. TJ looked poised to repeat as State Champions with their solid 15:37 average at Burke Lake. That was all until new powerhouse J.R. Tucker showed their potential at the Central Region Meet. The Chapa led Tigers blew out Maggie Walker and Midlothian with a 16:31 average as Thuom Mathiang stepped up as a strong #2 runner with Wyss and McElroy following close behind. Maggie Walker finished runner up while Midlothian hobbled in at third 24 points behind.
Going into the State Meet, Midlothian's ill-timed first loss of the season knocked them down to #7 Cream of the Crop and completely off the AAA rankings. At stake was the Trojan's streak of four years in a row making the podium and with the talent and depth of the teams ahead of them it seemed very unlikely that would continue.
With great conditions for that Saturday's race, there would be no skewed results or excuses due to mud, weather, or falls. Ability and desire would speak. Many Northern Region supporters predicted a sweep with TJ, Oakton, and Westfield taking 1-2-3. Central Region supporters thought Tucker could stamp their name in XC history and Maggie Walker, with their strong top three of Daniel Howard, Andrew Stegmaier, and Rohan Patel, could possibly sneak on to the podium. It really was a true team Battle Royal!
There was a definite buzz in the air right before the results came in. Everyone could tell it was close. Everyone could also tell that the Central Region's best, J.R. Tucker, had completely blown up (finishing 8th with 224 points). It looked like the Northern Region sweep was on. The announcer came on and informed the crowd there was a tie for 2nd place. Oakton was declared in 3rd with 124 points. Their 6th man ( the tiebreaker) finished five places behind the team they were tied with. Next, the announcer called Thomas Jefferson to the podium as 2003's runner up. There was slight confusion from a majority of the crowd and even premature cheers came from the Westfield section. Had Groff and Scheiner's impressive team point finish of 3rd and 5th been enough to make up for their lack of depth? Only the Midlothian camp knew the answer to that from results of the quick score. Westfield had finished 4th, only three points behind Oakton and TJ with 127.
In an almost unheard of turn around in one week, the Trojans jumped from 3rd in the Central Region to State Champions, winning convincingly by 19 points. They stepped up to the podium with their new Brian Dalpiaz style haircut, which was of course, cleanly shaved heads (legs too for the record).
Moment #6 - Lake Braddock Girls Pull Largest Turnaround/Upset in State Meet History (2000)
So what's better than going from a 3rd place finish in your Regional meet to State Champions like we just saw? How about 4th at your Regional meet to State Champions? That's what the Lake Braddock girls of 2000 did, and it hasn't come close to being duplicated on the boys or girls side since.
Without full results to work with, I can only give you what I know. I know that Kelly Swain was then a sophomore, leading the Lady Bruins consistently each week. Swain finished 3rd at the Northern Region meet while #2 Lady Bruin Cheryle Carr finished 9th. Lake Braddock tallied up 129 points, edging 4th place out to Langley by 13 points. Here were the team 5 team results:
Thomas Jefferson-82
J.W. Robinson-83
Chantilly-120
Lake Braddock-129
Langley-142
As one can see, the Lake Braddock girls were nowhere near the top two finishers, losing by 47.
The next week, Swain finished a solid 6th while Carr stepped up to make All-State finishing 12th. It was probably Heather McCarthy's 19th place finish as LB's #3 that really put the squad out in front. McCarthy was not even All-Region 7 days earlier, and there she was 10 seconds off making All-State.
The Lake Braddock girls won the 2000 State Meet with 91 points; 38 points lower than at their Regional meet! Take a look at these team results from States:
Lake Braddock-91
J.W. Robinson-125
Douglas Freeman-129
Thomas Jefferson GS (now Maggie Walker)-136
Brooke Point-142
Manchester-157
Thomas Jefferson-165
In one week, Lake Braddock turned a 46 points loss to J.W. Robinson into a 34 point victory. If my math is correct, that's an 80 point swing! Obviously the Thomas Jefferson girls had an off day, finishing way back in a swing of 121 points in comparing their finish from Regionals to States in relation to Lake Braddock.
So what is the significance of this #6 moment of 2000? It should serve as the prime example for all runners and teams in the state that anything, and I do mean anything, can occur during that final race in November. Nothing is in the bag. Top teams beware.
Moment #5 - Maggie Walker Wins Closest AAA Meet in History (2001)
Third. That is the ranking that Maggie Walker held throughout the majority of the season in 2001 behind top ranked Midlothian and a very strong Thomas Jefferson Sci Tech team. The Trojans looked poised to repeat as State Champions from their dominant victory the year before, as they only graduated one runner, Austin Smith to Princeton.
In their first year wearing Green Dragon uniforms, it seemed all that Maggie Walker needed was a new school and name change from Thomas Jefferson Governor's School to get them some titles. Actually, by branching away from Thomas Jefferson, Maggie Walker that year left behind varsity runner Arthur Vandenesse. That seemed to have no effect at the Central Region meet where nationally ranked Midlothian was caught off guard and the Green Dragon's handed the Trojans a humbling 51-69 defeat.
The battle was on for the State Meet. Both teams knew there would be no blowout. Coach Holdren was ready to capture a State Championship with his balanced squad led by the front running of John Piersol who would finish 3rd behind Alex Tatu and Matt Keally. Piersol was a huge talent and would continue on to run 9:05 for two miles at Southern Track Classic that spring. Middle distance runner Jarrett Ridgeway stepped up big time finishing 20th. However, the headlines of the meet were the finishes of Maggie Walker's #3 and #5 men.
Sophomore Daniel Howard was the hero of the day for Maggie Walker while junior Jonathan Charlesworth nearly cost the Green Dragons the title. Charlesworth was by far the worst finishing 5th man of any of the top teams by taking 73rd. It appears this would be the nail in the coffin for Maggie Walker, however, when the individuals were all taken out of the scoring, the Trojans fell two points short.
We've seen plenty of State Meets decided by single digit points, even two points or close to it. So what's so special about these two points? Look at the 2001 results and the finish between 22nd and 23rd place. Howard was able to out kick Midlothian junior Andrew Baker by .6 seconds. Pretend that result is reversed and Baker out kicks Howard. Now we have a tie. In a tie, the 6th men would be compared and on this day Midlothian's Joe Johnson finished a solid 46th while Maggie Walker's Andrew Guidarelli finished 81st.
In the meet summary that year (while Brandon was winning a State Championship at Jamestown so I want to hear nothing of a bias) it says that Anthony D'Amato the day before had gone to the doctor for stomach problems. He was advised not to run. Normal #3 runner Ryan Witt, who ran as #5 that day, was also fighting a fever. What does all this tell us? It has become VERY hard to repeat as State Champions. Everything must be exactly right on the right day, two years in a row. Midlothian from 2000-2001 was unable to do it. Maggie Walker was then unable to in 2002 as Thomas Jefferson took the title. Thomas Jefferson was then poised to repeat in 2003 but that plan was then foiled by Midlothian. In 2004, Midlothian finished a dismal 11th, a higher place than the previous 5 years put together (3,1,2,2,1). Thomas Jefferson regained the title that year and last year was again set to repeat when they were upset by regional foe Oakton 95-99. Oakton this year looks to be the top team in the state behind Midlothian, and if history repeats itself, will finish that way with still no repeat.
So when was the last time a AAA team went back to back? It was actually a three-peat in the Sharif Karie days of West Springfield. In 1993, 1994, and 1995 the Spartans dominated AAA beating Midlothian, South Lakes, and Hayfield for State Titles. The 1995 victory was particularly impressive, winning by 67 points. You can visit VHSL.com and view the record book to see results that date much further back. It appears that before 1996 it was not odd to repeat, as Woodbridge (on several different occasions), West Springfield, T.C. Williams, Monacan, Hermitage, J.R. Tucker, and Washington and Lee were able to do it.
Moment #4 - Tatu Runs Down Keally in Homestretch (2001)
Matt Keally was AAA's most dominant runner in 2001. As seen with #8 on this countdown, AA possessed many of the state's top runners with the exception of Keally throughout most of the season. The Ocean Lakes senior was supposed to be unchallenged for a state title on November 11, 2001, especially after what he had done to his main competition three weeks before.
Thomas Dale junior Alex Tatu, best known at that point for his great 1600 meter times as a sophomore, decided to challenge Keally at the Georgetown Prep Classic in Maryland in late October. Keally and Tatu raced through the first mile before Keally squeezed the hurt on Tatu. Tatu dropped back so far that he was too embarrassed to turn in his race card when he finished. Keally ended up with a blistering 15:33 and a new course record. He showed no sign of slowing down by his 15:13 performance at the Eastern Region meet. It seemed the Eastern Region would have bragging right with an individual champion. A week before the State Meet Tatu had said, "I'm not even going to worry about him or winning. I have to run my own race. Going out with him was stupid".
And as the saying goes, "It's why we play the games" or in this case it's why we run the races. This time it was Keally who pushed the pace early. Even late it looked like Keally would have the race in the bag. Tatu was climbing the final hill as Keally was coasting down it, seemingly in control. However, so many things have changed inside the gate with that long 400-meter plus stretch. Tatu's kick began to gobble up ground on the fading Keally. If you were one of the fans lined up along the fence when Tatu passed Keally, you may agree with me that you witnessed the most agonized face you've ever seen. Keally was hurting and hurting badly. Tatu finished four seconds in front with a time of 15:42.
Keally would finish the season on a more successful note. He ran 14:54 at Footlocker South to qualify for FLN where he finished 17th in 15:20. However, he will never go down as a Virginia XC Champion thanks to this #4 moment, Tatu's upset of 2001.