Well with his transfer to Jefferson Forest, Josh Morris (pictured right by Scott Rigler) has changed the complexion and pecking order in the private school and Region III rankings. Unaware of his move to becoming a Cavalier at Jefferson Forest High School in Forest, Virginia, Morris had been given the #1 pre-season ranking among private school individuals after a sensational track season which included personal best runs over the summer in the 2000 meter steeplechase, 1500 meter run, and 5000 meter run.
Morris ran for Jefferson Forest in a pre-season jamboree in Danville last month, but it could have been considered a typo and maybe he was still running for Liberty Christian Academy. However, his victory this weekend at the Blue Demon Invitational made it clear who he was running for now as he streaked across the finish line in first place with a time of 16:18 and 37 seconds ahead of second place in a Jefferson Forest uniform. Looking historically at the fastest times ever at the Blue Demon Invite, Morris is the second fastest performer all-time to only Griff Graves as his performance beats the times ran by the likes of some high school greats such as Fleet Hower, Justin Hatch, John Horst, and Tim Smith.
His addition has made Jefferson Forest an even stronger team than projected in Region III and Group AA, but Blacksburg was the better team on the day as the Region IV favorites won by a sizeable margin with a team score of 48 points. The Blacksburg boys put nearly six runners ahead of runner-up Jefferson Forest's #3 runner as they had a top five under 18 minutes on a difficult Christiansburg High School 5K course with race runner-up Matt Howard (2nd, 16:55), George Carter (5th, 17:20), Caman Skelton (8th, 17:38), Frank Locasio (16th, 17:51), and Brian Hencke (17th, 17:52).
The Blue Demon Invite was the first of many matchups this season between the top two teams in the Roanoke Valley area and two of the better teams in the entire state in Blacksburg and Hidden Valley. In their first race of the season, the Blacksburg girls scored a dominant opening win over their Region IV rival with nearly six runners ahead of Hidden Valley's third finisher and putting up a low team score of 24 points. Hidden Valley had five girls in the top 20 to finish with a solid score of 52 points and well ahead of the third place team from Cave Spring with 129 points, but the Blacksburg girls simply had too much firepower up front to seriously contend with including race winner Allison Homer.
Photo by Janis Lewis
Homer, who missed much of her junior season of cross country and track due to injury, has returned back to racing action looking fitter than ever as shown with her 19:34 victory at the Blue Demon Invite. Ranked #7 in Group AA, the Blacksburg senior's stock will certainly rise as she defeated a field which included Group A #1 ranked Annie LeHardy. LeHardy finished 5th (20:15) in the race and just ahead of teammate Mary Catherine Sowder (16th, 20:16) as it was the second race in a row that only a second or two separated LeHardy and Sowder.
The Blacksburg girls ended up putting a total of three runners ahead of Hidden Valley's top runner as the Stevens twins, Joanna (3rd, 20:08) and Kathleen (4th, 20:11), showed All-State caliber form in their solid showings at Christiansburg. Leah Fitchett and Trinity Foreman finished 7th and 10th respectively to give Blacksburg coach James DeMarco a total of five runners among the top 10 individual finishers.
Marion's Melanie Rice was the only runner to keep Homer in sight during the race as she was only 12 seconds behind in second place with a final time of 19:46. Rice is currently ranked #9 in Group AA and should move up a few spots along with Homer in the next rankings. Pulaski County's Grace England joined Rice as the only other athlete not from Blacksburg or Hidden Valley finishing in the top ten as she followed up a high finish at last weekend's Run fer da Hills with a 9th place effort of 20:59.
Blue Demon Invitational Results: Varsity Boys - Varsity Girls - JV Boys - JV Girls
Blue Demon Invitational Photo Gallery by Janis Lewis
Blue Demon Invitational Photo Gallery by Scott Rigler
Well with his transfer to Jefferson Forest, Josh Morris (pictured right by Scott Rigler) has changed the complexion and pecking order in the private school and Region III rankings. Unaware of his move to becoming a Cavalier at Jefferson Forest High School in Forest, Virginia, Morris had been given the #1 pre-season ranking among private school individuals after a sensational track season which included personal best runs over the summer in the 2000 meter steeplechase, 1500 meter run, and 5000 meter run.
Morris ran for Jefferson Forest in a pre-season jamboree in Danville last month, but it could have been considered a typo and maybe he was still running for Liberty Christian Academy. However, his victory this weekend at the Blue Demon Invitational made it clear who he was running for now as he streaked across the finish line in first place with a time of 16:18 and 37 seconds ahead of second place in a Jefferson Forest uniform. Looking historically at the fastest times ever at the Blue Demon Invite, Morris is the second fastest performer all-time to only Griff Graves as his performance beats the times ran by the likes of some high school greats such as Fleet Hower, Justin Hatch, John Horst, and Tim Smith.
His addition has made Jefferson Forest an even stronger team than projected in Region III and Group AA, but Blacksburg was the better team on the day as the Region IV favorites won by a sizeable margin with a team score of 48 points. The Blacksburg boys put nearly six runners ahead of runner-up Jefferson Forest's #3 runner as they had a top five under 18 minutes on a difficult Christiansburg High School 5K course with race runner-up Matt Howard (2nd, 16:55), George Carter (5th, 17:20), Caman Skelton (8th, 17:38), Frank Locasio (16th, 17:51), and Brian Hencke (17th, 17:52).
