Photo by Mark Howard
The Draper Mile was held on Friday, August 1st in Blacksburg, VA with a decent turnout of area high school runners for the fast downhill mile race. The Blacksburg girls particulary had a very strong showing with their probable top five for this upcoming season clocking in at times of 5:02, 5:05, 5:11, 5:12, and 5:24.
Top finishers in the women's race included the Stevens twins of Blacksburg both placing in the top 3. Joanna Stevens clocked in at 5:02.2 (8 second improvement from 2007 Draper Mile) as a runner-up behind Mina Thorstenson, a 24 year old female from Blacksburg, VA. Joanna's sister Kathleen was only a couple of seconds behind her in third place with a time of 5:05.1 (11 second improvement from 2007 Draper Mile).
The Blacksburg girls look very fit as they head into the 2008 cross country season as they had four returnees at the Draper Mile break 5:15 in the mile with Allison Homer at 5:11.9 and Trinity Foreman at 5:12.5. Sarah Dorrell was the fifth fastest from the team at Draper with a time of 5:24.9.
Photo by Mark Howard
Matt Howard was the top high school finisher in the men's race as the Blacksburg rising junior placed third with a time of 4:24.8. Howard's teammate George Carter, who just completed his freshmen year, ran an exceptional time for a 15 year old in 4:26.1 as he finished just a second off Howard.
Recent Grayson County High School graduate Michael Davis split the two Blacksburg runners up as the fourth overall finisher at 4:25.9. Davis ran a 1600 PR of 4:35 at the VHSL Group A State Outdoor Championships this past June to earn All-State honors with his fourth place showing.
Runners from Spotswood and Christiansburg also competed in the Draper Mile with a solid run by Matt Horner of Spotswood at 4:30.