VHSL Group AA State XC Meet Preview

BOYS PREVIEW

THE PLAINS, VA -- Ranked #3 currently in the Southeast region for Nike Team Nationals, the Brentsville boys have their eyes not only set on winning their third consecutive Group AA state title, but hope to put together a strong closing team performance to impress the NTN committee enough to be considered for one of the two automatic bids from the region. Meanwhile, the defending state champion Brentsville girls have their work cut out for them to repeat as it should be a great battle between them and SE #10 ranked Blacksburg girls. Meanwhile, cross country fans will be treated to a special occassion for Northside senior Catherine White\'s final VHSL State Cross Country Championship as the two-time state cross country champions looks to better her 17:48 course record from a year ago. While not racing against top ranked Mike Spooner, you can beat Abingdon junior Griff Graves will be looking to put out a fast winning time in the AA race for Spooner to have a tough time following in the AAA race.

State championship not only thing on Brentsville boys mind

Coach Rob Dulin\'s Brentsville are probably sitting in better position than any team outside of the current top two ranked teams in AAA favorite Midlothian and Chapel Hill of North Carolina in claiming one of the two Nike Team Nationals spots. However, Brentsville\'s ticket to Oregon is definitely not punched nor is a Group AA state champion as two very strong teams look to challenge them in Jamestown and Western Albemarle.

Brentsville is led by senior Adam Henken, who has really emerged this fall as one of AA\'s best distance runners. Henken was a solid runner last year as a junior including a fourth place finish in the 2005 state cross country race in 16:09, but has stepped it up a notch this fall. Henken recently claimed his first regional individual title at the Region II Meet as he posted a time of 15:48 to win by 10 seconds. The Brentsville senior has been ranked #2 in Group AA all season and is probably the biggest, yet unlikely threat to defending state champion Griff Graves.

Brentsville\'s state championship and NTN hopes may rest on a portion of their lineup that was one considered their strength in their top three with #2 runner Henry Melius and #3 runner Ray Delgado. Melius was running exception earlier in the season as he took a top ten finish with Henken in the Nike Race of Champions at Great American and nearly beat top ranked Midlothian\'s top runner Jason Witt. However, Melius is coming off a subpar regional race in which he finished eighth overall and dropped to a #13 ranking in Group AA. Melius will hope to match or better his state meet performance from last year when he finished third overall with a time of 16:04. Delgado has stepped it up lately after early season struggles including a third place finish and season best time of 16:13 at the district meet behind teammates Henken and Melius. It could be argued that Group AA is stronger this year in terms of depth of individuals, so it is a bit more understandable if Brentsville does not have its top three completely up front.

When Brentsville last faced top ranked Midlothian at Great American, their top three matched up very well with them, but lost ground considerably at positions four and five. While Brentsville may still not be as tough as Midlothian in those spots, their back pack has moved up and closed the gap with juniors Luke Watts and Andrew Johnson. Watts was only 12 seconds behind Delgado at the district meet with a 16:25 5K best, while Johnson had his best race of the season at the Region II Meet with a time of 16:40 to finish in 21st place and right behind Watts (20th,16:40). While Henken is a great front runner for the Tigers, Watts and Johnson will need to keep the time spread for Brentsville under a minute after a 52 second spread at their regional meet.

Brentsville posted a team average of 16:23 on a Panorama Farms 5K course that ran seven seconds slower on average last year for the Northwest Region boys teams, who qualified for the state meet at Great Meadows. Taking Brentsville\'s average from this year\'s regional meet at Panorama Farms, a 16:16 average would be projected for the defending champs this Saturday at Great Meadows if the course and weather conditions end up being as ideal as last year. A wet and torn up Great Meadows course can definitely throw out any projections as it can run terribly slow under those conditions.

Jamestown would like to repeat success of 2001 state champion team

Using the same methodology, Jamestown\'s 17:02 team average on a tough Loriella Park 5K course in Fredricksburg for their Region I Championship would project them for a 16:40 team average this weekend as last year the Eagles dropped their team average by 22 seconds from Loriella to Great Meadows. No coincidence that 2005 Region I runner-up Lafayette found an identical drop of 22 seconds with their runners from regions to states last fall. Jamestown has been of the more overlooked teams this fall. Few were talking about the AA squad heading into a loaded Maymont Field with many teams Nike Team Nationals dreamin\', but they were the surprise of the meet in grabbing second place behind Chapel Hill.

The Southeast #8 ranked Jamestown boys come in as the underdog and under the radar once again this Saturday with plenty of focus on Brentsville. However, Jamestown still is living the stigma of last year\'s state meet when they were tabbed as a definite top three podium team and possible challenger to Brentsville, yet ended up finishing well out of the top three in fifth place. There are several key returnees from the 2005 state meet squad for Coach Howard Townsend\'s team, but there are also several new faces and freshmen making up the team\'s seven this Saturday. Region I champion Andrew Colley was part of last November\'s collapse at the state meet, but looks to lead the team to a strong finish after posting a strong time of 16:26 at the Region I Championships as only a sophomore.

Jamestown has history on their side to be a rare spoiler of stopping another state champion team from Region II. In 2001, Jamestown won the state cross country championship and came out on the top of the combined team scoring with AAA schools at the VHSL State Meet. While last year\'s course changes due to construction at Great Meadows made the state course significantly faster, the 2001 Jamestown\'s 16:41 state meet team average school record is in serious jeopardy of being bettered by this year\'s team. Coach Townsend was an assistant for Jamestown at the time in 2001 and certainly hopes this year\'s team can bridge the gap between two the great teams with another state title run. However, with only one senior in their top seven and Brentsville as such a strong favorite, Jamestown\'s day to shine at Great Meadows may be one November away.

One thing that has returned from 2001 is the return of AA\'s competitiveness on the state level to the larger schools in AAA. In 2001, AA was loaded with top individuals in the state with the likes of Bobby Lockhart, Fleet Hower, John Crews, Bryce Ruiz, and Danny Kane. While AA has never returned to the same level with individual studs since then, AA has never had the number of quality teams as they do this year with the likes of Brentsville, Jamestown, and Western Albemarle. Throw any one of these teams in the AAA race that follows this weekend and there is a good chance any one of them could end up on the state meet podium with a top three team finish.

Western Albemarle adds to banner year for quality AA teams

Western Albemarle raced Brentsville very competitively at the Region II Championships at Panorama Farms. Coach Lindy Bain\'s crew was 22 points shy of Brentsville and had a 16:38 team average on the 5K course. The Warriors did it without of their top runners in senior Will Massie, who had his season shut down before the Albemarle Invite in October. If Massie was healthy and fit to run, Western Albemarle could only think about what might have been for them this season. However, a good thing for Western Albemarle is no matter what the outcome of Saturday will be, they will be strong for a few more years as they are led by two talented sophomores in Kyle Satterwhite and James Howard-Smith. Both underclassmen have great potential to snag All-State individual honors this weekend as Satterwhite is coming off an All-Region fifth place performance of 16:17 with Howard-Smith only nine seconds back in 11th at 16:26.

If Brentsville does end up running away with the AA state title, there still should be a very close and exciting battle between Jamestown and Western Albemarle for state runner-up honors. Jamestown beat Western Albemarle in their lone head to head this fall at Maymont, but Western Albemarle has came on strong as of late as their regional performance against Brentsville was a testament of that. Western\'s top four finishers were actually all sophomores with Satterwhite, Howard-Smith, Tyler Stutzman (17th, 16:36), and Carlos Gomez (27th, 16:56).

Region II teams expected to dominate again

Region II last year had four of the top four finishing teams as they knocked Jamestown down to fifth place. This year, Jamestown looks to spoil another sweep of the four Region II representatives, but the quality of teams from last year as certainly not fallen off as Sherando and Louisa County as the third and fourth qualifiers from Group AA\'s toughest region look to both garner at least top five finishes. Sherando hopes to make it on the podium again after finishing third last year. The team struggled earlier in the season in invitational competition, but has came on strong as of late as they knocked out several early season favorites to get out of the region at the Region II Meet with a third place team showing. Sherando is led by defending 1600 meter outdoor state champion Ryan Witt, who was their lone All-Region performer last Friday in 13th place at 16:32. Witt is one of the top returnees from last year\'s AA state race with an eight place All-State run of 16:16 in 2005 at Great Meadows. Witt is the lone senior on their top seven, so they should be tough again next fall.

Hoffman has most improved award in the bag for Louisa

Louisa County has been a pleasant surprise this fall as they are making their first team appearance at the state meet in over a decade. With the most improved AA runner in Ehab Hoffman and a rising sophomore store in Thomas Baker, Coach Jerry Cutright\'s team looks to show they were not on a mission to just advance to the state meet, but fair well at the meet as well. Hoffman was a 18 minute 5K runner and failed to break the top 100 in last year\'s Region II Meet, but this year went from the bottom of the field to the top with a regional runner-up race of 15:58 to finish 10 seconds behind race champ Henken. While few could have called Hoffman\'s rise this fall, there were signs that Baker could be turning heads this fall after posting some solid times as a freshmen last year. Baker had one of the fastest 3200 meter freshmen times in AA last spring with a 10:07 clocking. At the Region II Meet, Baker had his best race of the season with a time of 16:14 to finish fourth overall. With Hoffman and Baker, Louisa has a strong chance at having two All-State individuals and possibly well in the top ten places.

Region III champs Jefferson Forest and runners-up Blacksburg stand an outside of breaking into the top five, but will be a tough task with the Region II teams and the Southeast ranked Jamestown squad. Jefferson Forest will be led by Matthew Kadak, who hopes to come through with another big state meet race as he surprised many by finishing fifth in 2005 with a personal best time of 16:13.

Will Graves run for time or for easy win?

Individually, the state championship is Griff Graves to lose. The biggest question is if Graves will make it a tactical race or try to blow it out for a fast time to match or beat whatever Mike Spooner puts up in the AAA race to follow the AA races. Both Graves and Spooner are strong contenders to qualify for Foot Locker Nationals later this month at Foot Locker South in Charlotte, North Carolina. Graves has already posted a time on the home of Foot Locker South at McAlpine Greenway Park in Charlotte with his 15:03 5K clocking at the Wendy\'s Invitational on October 7th, which most years would earn you a trip to Foot Locker Nationals.

Graves has kept it relatively low key since then racing in local races in Southwest Virginia and cruising through victories at his district and regional meets. However, his 16:33 three mile time at Tazewell\'s Harris Hart Farm should not be overlooked. Lets put it this way....its not as friendly as Burke Lake Park in Northern Virginia. Fleet Hower, a Foot Locker All-American, could only muster a 17:57 best on the challenging course when the Region IV Meet was held there. Graves won last year\'s Group AA state cross country championship as a sophomore in a time of 15:51 in what appeared to be a strategic race with Christiansburg\'s John Horst. While course modifications have made the course faster, Graves could threaten the All-Time Group AA race record of 15:10 held by Bobby Lockhart and set in 2001. The times posted by Graves this year and the course change make the record time appear to be within reach.

While Graves only loss to in-state competition came at the hands of Mike Spooner (15:35) at Maymont in a 15:46 runner-up run, he has yet to be defeated by any AA competitors this season. Graves has yet to face Henken, but was well ahead of AA #3 ranked Peter Dorrell of Blacksburg (16:23) at Maymont with a 37 second difference between them.

Dorrell leads next group of individuals after Graves & Henken

Dorrell has definitely ran well as of late as he is coming off a Regin III 15:55 win at Green Hill Park in Salem. Dorrell, who was overseas studying abroad in Japan last year, but has made his presence felt quickly in the AA ranks since coming back to the states. Dorrell has a 15:41 5K best to his credit this season, which only Graves has ran faster than this fall in AA. It will be very interesting to see if a tight race emerges for second between Dorrell and Region II champion Henken.

Other top individuals include Brentsville\'s Henken, Louisa County\'s Hoffman, Turner Ashby sophomore Alex Ott, Jamestown\'s Colley, and Cave Spring junior Tim Smith. Smith has been Dorrell\'s toughest competition in the Roanoke Valley area this fall and has one victory to his resume over the Blacksburg junior. Ott leads a great sophomore class of runners in AA this year as currently five runners ranked among AA\'s top 15 individuals are in the 2009 class with Ott, Colley, Baker, Satterwhite, and Jamestown\'s John Holt. Definitely do not miss the AA boys race as the gun will go off at 12:30 PM to start this race.

GIRLS PREVIEW

White looks to put the Great Meadows course record out of reach for others

Catherine White has given plenty of cross country fans a show the past few years with her dominating race performances. The show for all will all come to an end on Saturday at Great Meadows except for those that can see her race at Foot Locker South in Charlotte and anyone willing to make the trip across the country to see her compete in a likely return trip to Foot Locker Nationals next month. White posted the fastest time ever at Great Meadows last fall when she clocked a 17:48 5K to win her second consecutive Group AA state cross country championship by 44 seconds. If conditions are decent on Saturday, expect White to win by a greater margin and a faster time based off her performances so far this season.

White is coming off a season best 5K time of 17:51 to win the Region III title at Green Hill Park, but the time that really makes one believe the Northside senior is ready to post a big one is her 18:24 last month at Wolf Branch Farm\'s 5K course at the Runnin\' With the Wolves Invite. To put her time in perspective in relation to the state course, West Springfield\'s Mike Spooner won last year\'s Runnin\' With the Wolves race in a course record time of 16:25 and ended up posting a 15:25 5K at the state meet as the AAA runner-up. If White could make a minute drop like Spooner did in 2005 from Wolf Branch to Great Meadows, a sub 17:30 5K performance would be the outcome. White certainly will not be holding back on Saturday in her final VHSL State Cross Country Championship race.

White will be the huge favorite individually to three-peat as state champion, but there are plenty of outstanding individual runners in AA who will be fighting it out in a probable race of the state runner-up spot.

Stewart & Homer\'s potential battle for state runner-up just the start of the bigger team war with Brentsville & Blacksburg

Brentsville senior Becky Stewart was last year\'s state runner-up to White as posted a time of 18:32 to finish 11 seconds ahead of third place finisher Anna Chase of Martinsville, who now runs at the University of Colorado. Stewart\'s performances this fall indicate she is ready for another state runner-up finish. Stewart claimed her third straight Region II cross country title last Friday at Panorama Farms in a solid time of 18:42.

Blackburg sophomore Allison Homer also is looking good coming in as the potential next finisher to White. After all, Homer has finished second to White on a few occassions already this season including the Knights Crossing Invite and Region III Meet, which were both held at Green Hill Park. In their lone encounter this season at Great American, Stewart and Homer obviously were well aware of where the other was in the race as the ran together for much of the race in Hoover with Stewart (22nd, 19:56) able to pull slightly ahead of Homer (24th, 19:59) for a third second win. A looming individual battle between Stewart and Homer is only the start of a larger scale war that will be waged between the top two ranked teams in Brentsville and Blacksburg.

The defending Group AA team champions were dealt a major blow early at Great American in which Blacksburg was able to pull ahead of them in the team scoring by a slight margin of five points with the Virginia teams finishing eighth and ninth respectively in the Nike Race of Champions. Brentsville was struggling with injuries early on in the season as well as having runners just coming off injury and working their way into shape after missing critical summer training periods. Brentsville has gotten stronger and healthier as the season has progressed, but Blacksburg has only gotten better during the same period.

Stevens leads Blacksburg improved depth from #4-7 runners

Blacksburg was a team with a great front three in Homer, junior Lauren MacMillan, and senior Cate Berenato to start the season that was able to make up for a weaker fourth and fifth against other top ranked teams. At Great American, Blacksburg put all three runners ahead of Brentsville\'s second finisher Amelia Emerson. Then as championship season rolled around, Coach James Demarco was able to bring along and develop some of his younger runners into becoming solid fourth and fifth runners as their state championship battle against a deeper Brentsville squad loomed. Despite missing their #4 runner Hannah Barrow at the regional meet, Blacksburg had seven runners under 21 minutes for 5K including a big race from freshmen Kathleen Stevens finishing ninth in a personal best time of 19:53.

Gentry & Emerson coming on strong late to matchup well with Blacksburg trio

Brentsville suffered one major late season injury loss heading into their regional meet with one of their top runners in Lauren Bussian, who had been running #3 for the team all season long. However, sophomore Maggie Gentry finally came through after early season injury setbacks with a big run to fill the void left by Bussian in having her best race of the season at the Region II Meet. The Brentsville sophomore finished sixth at Panorama Farms in a season best time of 19:26. Gentry was Brentsville\'s second best performer last spring on the track behind Stewart and was expected to be one of Brentsville\'s girls this fall, but injuries over the summer stalled those plans. With Gentry now running well as Amelia Emerson running much better than she did at the time of Great American as shown with a 4th place 19:19 run at the Region II Meet, Brentsville looks to have a three that can match up with Blackburg\'s formidable trio.

Brentsville sophomore Sarah Earman (19:51 5K season best), senior Julia Mitchell (20:18 5K season best), and junior Stephanie Hutson (20:24 5K season best) will be counted on to pack it up ahead of Blacksburg\'s back pack and will need stronger races than first thought with Blacksburg\'s four through seven runners starting to step up.

Handley and Jefferson Forest girls to fight over 3rd place

While Blacksburg and Brentsville look to have the top two places on lockdown with few really knowing who will come out on top between the two teams have held the #1 ranking in AA this season, it will be interesting to see who grabs the last available space on the state meet podium with a third place finish. The John Handley girls looked very sharp in a regional runner-up finish to Brentsville, while Jefferson Forest girls taking down previous #3 AA ranked Pulaski for second place in Region III behind Blacksburg.

Handley is led by senior Anna Cote, who was the Lady Judges\' lone All-Region performer with a season best time of 19:20 to take sixth place honors at the Region II Meet. Handley averaged 20:32 as a team at Panorama Farms with nearly five runners under 21 minutes in Cote, Jeanette Mathieu (24th, 20:22), Claire Bridgeforth (33rd, 20:54), Angela Felicio (37th, 20:56), and Katelyn Mason (43rd, 21:05). Handley girls were 20 points away from making it onto the state meet podium in 2005 in fourth place in the AA state race and hope a probable All-State individual in Cote will help lead them there.

The team that finished 20 points ahead of them in third place at last year\'s state meet was Region III runner-up Jefferson Forest and they return a team this year that can very well duplicate the 2005 team performance this Saturday. It should be very close between Handley and Jefferson Forest for third with the possibility of Pulaski County sneaking in there also. Handley and Jefferson Forest had nearly identical regional performances. Handley had a 20:32 team average and finished 83 points behind Brentsville, while Jefferson Forest averaged 20:39 and finished 63 points behind Blacksburg.

Jefferson Forest is led by a pair of runners in Donna Bryant and Cameron DeWitt who finished in succession at the Region III Meet with Bryant in 13th at 20:09 and DeWitt in 14th 20:15. The Lady Cavaliers also almost had five under 21 with Bryant, DeWitt, Olivia Jackson (24th, 20:53), Nikki Jannah (25th, 20:53), and Caitlin Carlton (28th, 21:05). Running on a slighly faster course than Panorama Farms, Jefferson Forest is going to need a better team performance against Handley to take third again.

Pulaski County and Region I champs Riverbend also will have outside shots at podium positions. Pulaski is led by an All-State caliber individual and current AA #13 ranked Sabrina Hall, who ran 19:08 best to take sixth at the Region III meet. Pulaski has also already beaten Jefferson Forest in two early season encounters, while Riverbend posted a solid team average of 20:57 on a slow Loriella Park 5K course at their regional meet. Riverbend had three finishers in the top ten at the Region I Meet and all under 21 minutes with region runner-up Sarah Lasker (20:12), Lindsey Carty (6th, 20:47), and Lyndsay Wilshaw (10th, 20:56).

Rapp & Parkes lead other top individuals

The girls field is deep for the AA race with outstanding individuals. It is definitely not out of the realm of possibility for Heritage junior Laura Rapp or Millbrook sophomore Sullivan Parkes to beat Stewart and Homer for second. Homer (18:36) beat Rapp (18:50) by 14 seconds at the Region III Meet for second place, while Stewart (18:42) held off a late challenge from Parkes (18:48) for the Region II title.

Rapp has certainly had better races this fall including a 18:50 win in the bronze division at Maymont, which 2005 AAA state runner-up Sarrah Hadiji of W.T. woodson at 18:41 was the only Virginian on the day to run faster. Her best race performance by far though came in her Seminole District Championships with a 18:46 clocking on the Wolf Branch Farm 5K course, which was one second faster than Catherine White\'s junior year best time on the course. White went onto qualify for Foot Locker Nationals. It appears that both White and Rapp perform better on hilly courses and Green Hill Park did not necessarily serve them as well, so expect big thing from boths and other strength runners as well this weekend at Great Meadows. AA girls race starts at 11:45 AM before the boys.