Photo by Ted Plunkett
The boys' individual title figures to be wide open this fall with a handful of returning runners having realistic shots at making a run for first at Pole Green in late October. Nathan Puckett of Hermitage pulled a mild upset off last year over a group of favorites, so the door is always open in the district for another surprise. Roger Cooke would like to follow in the footsteps of not only teammate Puckett, but the past three Colonial District champions reigning from Hermitage with John Vial as the district champion in 2006 and Alex Bowman also as the race winner in 2005.
However, despite returning with the fastest 5K time in the district, Cooke is no clear cut favorite with the likes of Deep Run's Booth Hornsby and Douglas Freeman's Will McPherson running exceptional times on the track this past spring for 3200 meters with Hornsby at 9:37 and McPherson at 9:40 from the Central Region Meet. Meanwhile, Peter Askin of Maggie Walker looked extremely fit heading i...