The first test of the season for most teams came this week with all the districts in the region beginning their dual meets, as well as many teams travelling to invitationals. It was a great week for Steven Walters (Green Run, Beach District) as he nearly broke a course record and also set himself apart from the rest of the state's top runners. Here is a rundown of the most important of regular season action:
Beach District (Course:Sportsplex)
Steven Walters posted the fastest time (15:58.38) in the Region on Wednesday the 10th of November at the sportsplex as he came within a second of the course record (15:57.64 Steven Walters Green Run 10/24/02).
Southeastern District (Courses: Bells Mill, Sleepy Hole)
Long Tran of Oscar Smith ran away from the competition at Sleepy Hole to cruise to victory in 16:49 nearly two minutes ahead of the runner-up.
Despite sloppy course conditions, many Eastern Region teams fared well in invitationals this weekend.
CNU Invitational-(Non-Regional Course, Newport News Park)
Times were said to be :45-1:00 slower than average. TJST dominated every single race, but some impressive figures were put out by Eastern Region teams and individuals.
JV Race, Boys-F.W. Cox (Beach District) 9th grader Jon Lapke won the race in 18:50, 50 seconds ahead of the runner-up from TJST.
Silver Race, Boys-Gloucester (Peninsula District) ran a marvellous race to finish 3rd in the race. However, they tied for second with Lee-Davis (49 points), but took third when Lee-Davis had the better 6th place runner. Led this time by junior David Woodson (17:45, 3rd), Gloucester had a 71 second spread between their 1-5 runners, with their sixth runner coming in 12 second behind the fifth. Kory Moody of Salem (Beach District) came in 8th (18:10) to lead Salem to 5th place.
Blue Race, Boys-The TJST team annihalated their competition in this race scoring 22 points with a 72 second spread between their 1-5 runners. The highest Eastern Region runner was Kyle Guglielmo of F.W. Cox (17:43, 7th), who also ran the Eastern Region's fastest time of the day. He led Cox a third place finish in the team race as the Falcons fell to Thomas Dale by two points. Cox put 7 runners in the top 20 while Thomas Dale put two in front of Cox's lead runner and three in front of Cox's top two to edge by the Falcons. Kempsville (Beach District) put two runners, Luke Crownover and Gregory Hicks (14th and 19th), in the top 20 to take 4th place.
JV Race, Girls-8th Grader Samantha Drake running for Gloucester (Peninsula District) ran 23:06 to place 3rd.
Silver Race, Girls-Eastern Region girls took the first three spots (Gloucester, Salem, Woodside).Emily Webb of Gloucester (Peninsula District) led the Dukes to a 3rd place finish by winning the race in 20:10, 81 seconds ahead of the second place runner. Salem's (Beach District) had four in the top 20 and their top 3 took the 3rd, 5th, and 7th spots to place 2nd with 50 points, just 3 shy of first place.
Blue Race, Girls-Cox's 1-2 punch of junior Aspen Foster (21:41, 5th) and Jennifer Harr (21:57, 6th) led the Cox girls who placed 12th, 14th, and 19th , but with a 1:23 spread to a 2nd place finish. The Kempsville Girls also placed 5th in this race with a 1-2 punch of Claire Ratte (22:41, 11th) and Krystal Cook (22:47, 13th) who were unfortunately nearly 40 seconds ahead of Kempsville's third runner.
Fork Union Invite
Boys Varsity-Tona Amatu of Warwick ran the 4800m course in 16:30 to place 13th.
Girls Varsity-Jessica Giffon of Warwick completed the 4800m course in 19:41 to place 11th. Megan Lavoie, also of Warick ran 20:12 to place 21st.
Great Meadows Invitational
Times said to be 60-75 seconds slow
Boys Varsity B-Jason Myers and Mitch Cooper (4th, 18:12) of Kellam also made a claim to being the best 1-2 punch in the region by placing 2nd and 4th in the B race, but Kellam's third runner was more than a minute behind Cooper. Despite this (and the miscoring), Kellam was 7th in the B race. (The results were messed up, so Jason Myers doesn't appear on the results.) Bethel was the second place Eastern Region team and had a pack of three runners place 46th, 52nd, and 56th. Travis Carleton of Woodbridge ran 18:41 to place 7th.
Boys Varsity A- Steve Walters cemented his #1 ranking by posting a fabulous win here. He was the only male runner to go under 17 minutes. Derrick Robbins of Woodside (5th, 17:21) is still looking to upset Walters. However, after these two fast runners the next eastern region runner was Drew Midland of Ocean Lakes (Beach District) (18:18, 25th). Ocean Lakes was the first place Eastern Region team (23rd, 591 points).
Girls Varsity B-Charisse Bullock (21:50, 6th) led Bethel to a 7th place finish. However, the team had nearly 4 minutes between their #1 and #5 runner.
Girls Varsity A-Natalie Sherbak (20:31, 6th) fell to some of Virginia's finest, but still managed to stay 15 seconds ahead of the girl behind her, so she wasn't challenged at the end. Ocean Lakes' 1-2 punch of Kristin Llyod(22:00, 27th) and Heather Murdoch (21:55,26th). Katie Keally followed the two in just 21 seconds behind. This threesome may pose a challenge to Kellam at the Region meet, especially if Ocean Lakes can pull in their 4 and 5 runners. Kellam (9th, 268) beat out Ocean Lakes (13th, 363) in the team race, but who knows if the Dolphins can knock off the Knights, especially at a smaller race where a strong front runner is not as important as a strong mid pack? Kellams' pack was 3-4-5 pack was just 30 seconds apart from each other and looks to be very tight and impervious to any Ocean Lakes girls.
Virginia Pilot's South Hampton Roads Area Top 10 runners (A, AA, AAA, Private)
Boys
1 Steven Walters, Green Run
2 Adam Hutton, Western Branch
3 Evan Moore, Norfolk Academy
4 Long Tran, Oscar Smith
5 Jon Bunker, Landstown
6 Chris Ward, Hickory
7 Jason Myers, Kellam
8 Mitch Cooper, Kellam
9 Chris Gringa, Norfolk Academy
10 Kyle Guglielmo, Cox
Girls
1 Natalie Sherbak, Kellam
2 Ashley Hay, Princess Anne
3 Ginna Ellis, Norfolk Academy
4 Aspen Foster, Cox
5 Anica Billisoly, Norfolk Academy
6 Demarea Colson, Deep Creek
7 Katy Winsper, Princess Anne
8 Audrey Hand, Kellam
9 Chelsea Schweers, Hickory
10 Heather Murdoch, Ocean Lakes