As I learned of the news on Monday as we all did on the shootings at Virginia Tech, my first concern was if any past Virginian high school cross country and track athletes were one of the growing list of victims. With such a large school that draws many of our former track athletes and friends, the fearful chance was there. As the names of the victims have been released in the past days, my worst fears have been realized as two of the victims were past high school cross country and track athletes in the state in Leslie Sherman (West Springfield HS '05) and Jarrett Lane (Narrows HS '03). It is such a tragedy to see bright and wonderful people die so young and especially participants of our great sport. MileStat.com and the rest of the Virginia high school community would like to give out their deepest condolences to the Sherman and Lane families. If you'd like to share your sympathies with the families, please comment on this page.
Evan Vucci/Associated Press
Sherman was a four year member of the cross country and track team at West Springfield High School. She was a sophomore at Tech and continued to run on her own in college and competed in the Marine Corps Marathon last fall. Former teammate at West Springfield, Kelly Osborn was there to cheer her on and talked about Sherman's uplifting and positive spirit even in the 26.2 mile race. "I was cheering for her at mile 15 she still had a smile on her face. She was one of the nicest people you could ever meet, someone you want to aspire to be like," said Osborn.
Family photo
Articles on Leslie Sherman:
http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/s/leslie_sherman_/index.html
http://www.washingtontimes.com/metro/20070419-122639-3692r.htm
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/metro/vatechshootings/victims/leslie_sherman.html
Articles on Jarrett Lane: