The Lead-up
Being the biggest meet in VA last weekend and second largest all-year means one thing, everyone knows it is going to be a big weekend when Oatlands rolls around. This year was no different as 87 teams signed up to race the hilly and hard 3.1 Oatlands course.
It must be said that coming into the meet it seemed like we couldn't get quite a race like we did last year with superstar Drew Hunter. He blasted the competition away halfway into the race and crossed the line in a meet and facility record of 15:12.
The preamble to this year's meet did not quite reach that level but we knew it was going to be talent packed. Entering the competition you had multiple state champions, national champions, and a great Team MD vs. Team VA storyline as well.
Leading the way in our virtual meet was Rohann Asfaw of Richard Montgomery. He entered as the favorite based on time with a 15:21 personal best and was Maryland XC State 4A runner-up last year. He also was the double state champion outdoors winning both the mile and two mile.
Though he brought all those accolades to the table, we selected the 10th seed, Peter Morris (Loudoun Valley) as our pre-race favorite. The Loudoun Valley junior was runner-up at PTXC and co-champion at Great Meadow already this season. Though he has raced on nothing but hard courses, it is obvious he is the real deal and that's why we selected him to be the favorite.