The Jamestown boys (Williamsburg, VA) have been racing at the Maymont Festival for years and this year's meet could be the most important as the top ranked team in Virginia and #2 ranked team in the Southeast region will be the squad which everyone else in the invitational division will be attempting to measure themselves up against and try to knock off the top ranked school from Williamsburg. Racing experience at the Maymont course should be a big advantage for Jamestown against some of the other top ranked teams who will be competing at the meet for the first time.
Jamestown made quite an impression on coaches, peers, spectators, and those who decide the rankings after their victory at the William & Mary Invite last week with three runners under 15:20 on the 3.05 mile course and two others placing in the top 15 and under 16:20 to simply dominate the field on their home course at Eastern State Hospital. The Eagles did not fair well at Maymont one year ago with a ninth place finish, but did race well at Maymont in 2007 with a second place finish to eventual NTN qualifier Chapel Hill of North Carolina.
Pictured left by John Herzog: Andrew Colley of Jamestown is the top individual returnee from the 2007 Maymont Festival as Colley placed 3rd in the invite field behind Peter Dorrell and Jason Witt in a time of 15:39.
Three other teams in the invitational division at Maymont are ranked currently in the Southeast region along with Jamestown in SE #4 Green Hope (NC), SE #5 Broughton (NC), and SE #6 James Robinson (VA). Green Hope and Broughton both ran well two weeks ago on the home course for this year's Nike Cross Nationals course for the Southeast region with Green Hope squeaking out the five point win over Broughton. Green Hope put five runners under 17 minutes on the moderate course with Bryan Spreitzer (16:07), Zak Roshdy (16:08), Douglas Black (16:17), Scott Hefner (16:31), and Ryan Walling (16:54). Another 16:39 team average would certainly make Green Hope competitive at Maymont and worthy challenger to Jamestown. Broughton is not far behind their fellow North Carolina squad and could very well leapfrog them at Maymont.
James Robinson made their first appearance in the Southeast regional rankings this past week after a strong runner-up finish at the Oatlands Invitational to previous SE #1 and VA #1 Oakton with 38 points separating James Robinson from first place. Robinson has a strong front runner in Jared Berman, who finished in the top 10 at Oatlands in a time of 16:07, but will likely need to close their time spread for their top five to keep up with Jamestown and the North Carolina squads with a 1:25 spread at Oatlands.
VA #1 Jamestown and VA #4 Robinson are two of seven top 10 ranked teams in Virginia who will be racing at the loaded invitational division as VA #5 Atlee, VA #6 Potomac Falls, #8 Albemarle, #9 Clarke County, and #10 Blacksburg.
Pictured right by John Herzog: Western Albemarle's Tyler Stutzman will be looking to assert himself as the top contender to win the Group AA state title this fall against current #1 ranked runner Andrew Colley of Jamestown.
Atlee was a surprise winner at the Brentsville Relays two weekends ago and faired respectably at Oatlands one week ago without their top runner Ben Dejarnette who was on a college recruiting trip at Iona. Atlee placed 6th in the varsity A division and likely would have challenged Potomac Falls for third place with Dejarnette in the lineup. Atlee appears to have three solid runners behind Dejarnette in sophomores Andrew Catanese and Andy Hesse as well as junior Wes Steenburgh, but will likely need a better performance from Oatlands by their fifth runner in order for the Raiders to have a shot to shake it up with the top teams in the field.
Potomac Falls will look to continue their streak of high invitational finishes after taking second at Brentsville Relays and placing third at Oatlands. Potomac Falls has two Group AA All-State caliber runners in Josh Hardin and Ryan Hagen. Hagen led Potomac Falls at Oatlands with a 16th place effort of 16:35. The squad will be anxious to mix it up this weekend with the other top ranked Group AA squads in the field including Jamestown, Blacksburg, and Western Albemarle.
Albemarle boys are a sleeper team in the field, which firmly believes it can be a state meet top 3 podium team in Group AAA. Albemarle had a spirited race against Western Albemarle at the start of the season in the Ragged Mountain Cup's 4x2 mile relay format. The Patriots then raced virtually uncontested at the Outer Banks Invitational while being led by a swift 15:52 first place run by top runner Luke Noble. Neither Oakton or Thomas Jefferson will be at Maymont, but Albemarle will be a lot more confident about their chances at the state meet if they can defeat Robinson and other ranked AAA squads racing at Maymont.
Clarke County will representing the "little guys" as the lone Group A school in the field and showed last weekend that this team can fair very well against the top ranked larger schools. Competing without their likely #1 runner Ben Veillieux, Clarke County finished 4th in the varsity A division and defeating many of the same ranked teams which they will be racing against at Maymont.
Two teams who cannot be forgotten in the field are two returning Nike Team National schools in Ohio's Medina and Tennessee's Oak Ridge. Medina had several key graduations from last year's team which scored a major win at Maymont to help improve their odds at making their way to Portland, Oregon for nationals, but will still have a formidable squad led by one of the top individuals in the race in Donny Roys (pictured left by John Herzog), a 10th place finisher in 2007 at Maymont.
The Collins Hill boys of Georgia will be overshadowed by their nationally ranked girls squad coming into Maymont, but this team can also hold its own against the loaded field with a group of seven runners who have broken 17 minutes for 5K already this season.
The race for first among the top individuals should be even more exciting and wide open with five of the top six ranked runners in Virginia in the field as well as 12 of the top 15. Andrew Colley of Jamestown and Tyler Stutzman of Western Albemarle have both been ranked #1 in Virginia at some point this season. Colley ran the 3rd fastest time ever at Eastern State Hospital in his 14:47 victory at the 50th annual William & Mary Invite. Meanwhile, Stutzman finished second in another stacked field of individuals found at last weekend's Oatlands Invite as only the #1 ranked runner in the entire Northeast region finished ahead of Stutzman in Solomon Haile from Maryland. Atlee's Ben Dejarnette will run in his first major 5K race of the season at Maymont and look to establish himself as a favorite to win the AAA state crown against a pack of outstanding Group AA runners in Colley, Stutzman, Turner Ashby's Alex Ott, and Western Albemarle's Kyle Satterwhite.
Dejarnette finished 11th in the 2007 Maymont Festival. Colley is the top returnee from last year's race as the 2007 Group AA state cross country runner-up placed 3rd with a time of 15:39. Alex Ott is the next returnee from last year with his 7th place run of 15:51, while Kyle Satterwhite (9th, 15:55), Donny Roys (10th, 15:55), Dejarnette, and Tyler Stutzman (13th, 15:59) all are returning top 15 finishers from the 2007 McDonald's X-Country Festival.
Roys from Ohio is not the only out-of-state runner who should be pushing the pace with the top packs. Matt Sonnenfeldt from Tennessee is a Footlocker hopeful and has been ranked among the top 12 individuals in the South region this fall by MileSplit. More than a handful of runners in this field will have realistic shots to qualify for individual national championships at either Foot Locker or Nike Cross regionals.
The 2008 McDonald's X-Country Festival at Maymont will not only help sort out who will be the favorites for state cross country titles this fall, but also who will be the runners and team seeing themselves racing into December in either Portland or San Diego this season.
