Virginia is having unprecedented success in all three seasons this year. Not only is it a few athletes but it is a whole lot of elite athletes and of course programs as well that are just too good. Our state is only so big and everyone wants the title as the best so of course that leads to some back and forth for who is the best and that is why we are ranking the biggest rivalries in the state this year.
To see their head-to-head stats click the match-up title!
#5 Waleed Suliman (Douglas Freeman) vs Bashir Mosavel-Lo (Deep Run)
This is a rivalry based on an empty thrown and someone basically stealing it from them... but with a whole lot of time for someone to steal it back.
Flash back to 2014 and it looked like Deep Run was going to stay just as dominant between the 800 and 3200 as Matt Novak continued to dominate but now had freshman Bashir Mosavel-Lo at his side. (Watch his interview as a soph) It seemed as if he was just going to pass the torch to Bashir and he was going to run away with it. I mean he did run 4:40 as a frosh and then went 4:25 as a sophomore in the 1600!
It was was essentially a forgone conclusion but as we found out when Weini moved stateside, one transfer in and the whole landscape changes.
This is exactly what happened when Douglas Freeman received a foreign transfer by the name of Waleed Suliman. Waleed knew little if any about running and certainly knew no english. His teammates helped him at least learn english but it took him a while to learn how to really harness his speed and potential with a natural racing acumen.
Once his feet the ground running and really ever since then we have had quite the rivalry between these two juniors. They go back and forth and know each other's strengths more than they probably know their own.
Not only are they separated by just fractions of a second in nearly every major championship race but they are also in the same conference, region, and state making for heated competition even at Wednesday meets.
Waleed has the edge up on Bashir right now but with states around the corner the battle could flip soon enough.