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William & Mary Invitational Report
Saturday, September 4th, 2003by Brandon Miles
WILLIAMSBURG, VA -- Due to the destruction of Hurricane Isabel, the typical 3.05 mile William & Mary Invitational course had to be altered to an even shorter race distance of 2.88 miles. Some of the best races with the best competition thus far this season were covered over that 2.88 mile distance this Saturday at William & Mary. In the boys "A" race, #1 state ranked Steven Walters of Green Run ran a conservative race and did not really take the lead until the final stages where he won in a time of 14:19. In the girls "A" race, the top two ranked runners in the state, AA #1 Kirsten Hagen of Christiansburg and AAA #1 Amanda Patterson of Midlothian went to battle. Hagen led Patterson from the start and built a commanding lead by the 1K mark. At two miles, Patterson was running off Hagen's shoulder and they had separated themselves from the rest of the pack, with the exception of Warren County's Emily Harrison, who was trying to maintain contact. There were two more loose packs which had formed at two-miles, and then there was everyone else. Patterson took the lead, like Walters, in the final stages and left everyone else behind. Patterson crossed the line in 16:41 for the win, while Hagen finished second at 16:52. The Midlothian boys did not have any top finishers (Ryan Witt, 7th, 14:53), but they were all strong and ran consistently throughout the race to come away with the team title (161 pts) over out-of-state competition Cumberland Valley (184 pts). Western Albemarle girls (94 pts) maintained their state supremacy with a 45 point win over AAA #3 ranked Midlothian (139 pts), who defeated AAA #1 ranked Herndon (4th, 174 pts).