Spikes were meant to get dirty
The West Springfield girls and Hanover girls (pictured above) represented Virginia well at the Disney Classic in Orlando, Florida as Christiansburg, Covenant, and North Stafford also sent runners down to the meet which draws plenty of out-of-state teams to one of the more popular vacation destinations at Disneyland. The course was drenched by rain to slow the runners down, but not enough to slow the Virginians down venturing to the flatlands of Florida. Both teams averaged 20:25 on the 5K course with Hanover taking the 3A race title, while the West Springfield girls finished just 11 points behind New Jersey's Toms River North. Hanover had nearly four girls in the top 15 as they were led by race champion Lauren Hopper, who clocked in at with the day's fastest in 18:46. West Springfield had four in the top 13 in the 4A varsity race with Rosemary Barber as the Lady Spartans' top finisher at 19:55 for fourth place.
Christiansburg senior Caleb Hughes was the top Virginian among the four varsity boys' races with a fourth place effort of 16:29 in the 3A division, which included the meet's fastest runner in Footlocker finalist Luke Lovelace from South Carolina (15:30).