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Both course records were taken down at Wednesday's Millbrook Invitational in Winchester as Potomac Falls sophomore Christina Lee destroyed the old time of 19:10 set by current UVA star Emily Harrison with a 18:39 win. Meanwhile, fresh off his fantastic fourth place finish at the Albemarle Invitational ahead of some of AA's top ranked runners, James Wood senior Josh Wilson (pictured left by John Herzog at the Albemarle Invitational) continued his great running as of late heading into championship season with a 16:05 victory. The top two teams alternated between the Millbrook and Potomac Falls squads with the Millbrook girls as 15 point winner over Potomac Falls, while the Potomac Falls boys were six points better than Millbrook. Coaches from both schools are hopeful to have their boys and girls teams qualify for state competition in a few weeks with top four showings at a competitive Region II Meet.
Wilson looks to be finishing out his senior year strong as James Wood's top runners is shooting for his first AA state honor. A personal best 5K run of 16:02 at last Saturday's Albemarle Invitational to defeat some of the state's top AA stars in Kyle Satterwhite of Western Albemarle and Thomas Baker of Louisa has to give Wilson loads of confidence with the district championships beginning next week. His win at Millbrook only validated his recent performances are for real to break the old course record in a time of 16:05. He had company up front though as the other top three finishers were not far behind him in Northwest District rival and last year's Millbrook Invite champ Stephen Lassiter of Millbrook taking second only five seconds back at 16:11 and Josh Hardin leading his Potomac Falls boys to the win with a third place individual finish of 16:17.
Potomac Falls boys had four runners in the top ten places with Hardin, Ryan Hagen (5th, 16:59), Andrew Mott (7th, 17:00), and Brian Robinson (10th, 17:11). Host school Millbrook hung tough with a team they will be looking to knock off among others in order to sneak into the top four at the Region II Meet as behind Lassiter, Millbrook had three others in the top 18.
The Millbrook girls were riding high coming into their home invitational after winning the Albemarle Invitational over many quality AAA and AA teams including a possible AAA state podium team in Maggie Walker. They were able to withstand a challenge from Potomac Falls to come away with a victory on Thursday at their home course. Christina Lee was not the only runner under Emily Harrison's old course record as Millbrook freshmen Presley Parkes continued her amazing fall with runner-up time of 19:05. Junior sister Sullivan Parkes came in as the next finisher in third at 19:44 and Tammy Cheung made it three under 20 for Millbrook with a fifth place effort of 19:53.
Photo by Ted Plunkett
The performance of the meet had to go to Potomac Falls sophomore Christina Lee. AA's top freshmen last year in cross country and track including a state runner-up finish in the 1600 meter run outdoors to Catherine White, Lee has taken her running to another level as of late as shown by this past Saturday's sub 18 5K performance at Glory Days. Four days after Glory Days, Lee followed up with another outstanding run at the Millbrook Invitational to break a course record set by one of AA's better female distance runners in the past decade in former Warren County star Emily Harrison by a whopping 31 seconds.
Harrison won the 2003 Group AA state cross country title in a loaded field which included the likes of the Fanning sisters, Jennifer Beury, Jennifer Beury, Kirsten Hagen, Anna Chase, and a rising freshmen star in Catherine White. Harrison was also a state champion at 3200 meters with a 10:44 best in the event.
For Christina Lee to break a record held by such an accomplished runner as Harrison bodes only greater things for the Potomac Falls sophomore in the future.
Millbrook Invitational Results