There was no timing malfunction, the Run High timing group did an excellent job with the meet results and their chip timing system, Jamestown senior Andrew Colley and Glenvar junior Megan Marsico are the now fastest ever at Great Meadow for the VHSL State Championships. The course had been modified in recent years, but nothing can be taken away from the individual performances by the Group AA state champion Colley and Group A state champion Marsico.
Colley had plenty of company in his race for nearly 2 1/2 miles, but put the hammer down for an impressive last 1000 meters of the race to nip Alan Webb's 15:03 performance at the 2001 state meet (on the old Great Meadows course) in a 15:02 victory.
Marsico had to run solo from the gun as she rolled through the first mile in 5:17 and second mile in 11:07 en route to bettering the old course record time of 2008 SEC champion Catherine White from the 2005 state meet by 10 seconds with a 17:38 personal best performance in one of the later races of the day.
Porter's desire for first state championship fuels his final kick over Dejarnette
Group AAA Boys: Thomas Porter (Mountain View) 15:13, Oakton - 70 pts (16:19 team average)
The monkey is now off his back. Thomas Porter now can call himself a state champion. Porter, a promising star as a freshmen including a national title in the freshmen mile, had several near misses of a state championship prior to this fall to make his victory in the AAA boys state race all more bittersweet. Another senior looking for his first cross country state title made Porter dig deep for the win in Atlee's Ben Dejarnette. Dejarnette and Porter had made up a lead pack of four regional champions with Eastern Region champ Bobby Peavey and Northern Region champ Leoule Degfae for over 2 miles. Dejarnette made a move with 1000 meters to go on a long downhill stretch to try to gap Porter, but the Northwest Region champ countered one back in the gate to surge past Dejarnette for a 15:13 victory. The defending indoor 3200 state champion Dejarnette took runner-up with a time of 15:18. Porter will now turn his attention to November 29th in Charlotte for the Foot Locker South Regional as he attempts to join rare company as a three-time national qualifier.
Photo by Andy Paisley
The Oakton boys shed the disappointment of the 2007 season by bringing home a state championship in the 2008 season. Much like in 2007, Oakton had been the top ranked team in Group AAA for virtually the entire season. However, different from 2007, the Oakton boys did not falter down the final stretch and finished off the season strong to win their four state title in school history. Their biggest competition heading into the meet was district and regional rival James Robinson, who had an aggressive race plan with many of their runners in the top 1/3 of the field in the first mile, but the plan backfired and Robinson ended up finishing at a distant 10th place. With the Robinson squad not having a great day, Coach Phil Tiller's Oakton boys won the AAA title quite easily with a 46 margin of victory. The Cougars averaged 16:19 on the Great Meadow course with a team score of 71 points.
Oakton junior Andrew McCullen was the lone All-State finisher on the squad in 9th place at 15:55, but only 45 seconds separated McCullen from the rest of his top five with Neal Hendricks (16:13), Patrick Fulghum (16:17), Chris Weil (16:29), and Karlan Cruz (16:39). In the combined state meet scoring, Oakton actually matched up very well with top ranked Jamestown from the Group AA race as only one point separated the two teams thanks to the performances of Oakton's #4 and #5 runners, despite Jamestown's stellar front three.
The Albemarle boys finished third in their district meet and were ranked 8th in Group AAA heading into the state meet. Long shots to finish on the podium, the Patriots still believed they had a shot and certainly ran with a lot of faith as Coach Buz Male's squad pulled off one of the biggest surprises in the meet in snag a state runner-up team trophy. Albemarle with 117 points had room to spare as well as 32 points separated them from third place and 34 points from Northwest Region champions Mountain View, who had beaten Albemarle convincingly at both the district and regional meets.
Photo by Andy Paisley
Albemarle's strength prior to the meet had been their front two in Anthony Kostelac and Luke Noble, who had finished second and third behind Thomas Porter at the Northwest Region Meet. The pair continued to run well at the state level and break into the top 10 with a 7th place finish by Kostelac (15:53) and 8th place finish by Noble (15:55). However, the personal best performances by senior Nathan Rouse (16:38) and junior Evan Karweik (17:02) were the difference makers to help Albemarle go from 8th in the rankings to 2nd in the state meet. Although not one of the team scorers in 101st place, Zach Vrhovac's presence alone appeared to motivate and inspire his teammates. Vrhovac, one of the state's top returning half milers, also plays football for Albemarle and played both ways on the gridiron on Friday only to race the next day in the state cross country championships.
Douglas Freeman did not send an individual on the podium to accept All-Region honors, but sent a team of 7 runners as well as coaches and alternates onto the podium at Great Meadow to accept their third place team trophy. Several teams were in close attention for the podium spot including Northwest Region champs Mountain View, who were 2 points behind Freeman in fourth place as a team depleted by graduation from last year almost duplicated their third place state meet finish from 2007. Freeman's top finisher was Alec Ward (16:15) in 19th place, but it was the races from their second and third runners, Kyle Ward (35th, 16:35) and Silas Frantz (38th, 16:39), who made the difference in allowing the Rebels to slip ahead of Mountain View.
Nobles upsets defending champ Lautzenheiser for win, but no one close to keeping Midlo girls from 4th straight title
Group AAA Girls: Stacey Nobles (Ocean Lakes) 18:15, Midlothian - 72 pts (19:00 team average)
Stacey Nobles raced against history, while the Midlothian girls joined history. The Ocean Lakes senior Nobles became on the third South Hampton area female athlete to win a state cross country title, while the Midlothian girls became only the second team to win four consecutive AAA state cross country titles.
Photo by Ted Plunkett
Nobles had to defeat a Midlothian runner in order to win her first state championship and join Kendall Tata of Kempsville and Jennifer Boyd of Hickory as winners from the Eastern Region. Down the final stretch, it was race between two in Nobles and 2007 defending champion Kathleen Lautzenheiser of Midlothian. Nobles was able to find another gear to pull away from the Foot Locker finalist for a three second victory at 18:15. Only Megan Marsico ran a faster time on the day. Nobles now turns her attention to Foot Locker South in her attempt to become the first national qualifier from Virginia Beach since Adrienne Parker of Kempsville qualified in 1995. Her victory over a returning Foot Locker finalist should build her confidence in pursuit of that goal.
Photo by Ted Plunkett
If the Midlothian girls had not already established themselves as one of the most dominant dynasties in high school country with their teams over the past few years, it became official on Saturday. Midlothian joined another great dynasty in the Lake Braddock girls from 1985 to 1988 as the second school to win four consecutive Group AAA girls cross country team titles. A much like their state titles in 2005, 2006, and 2007, the Midlothian girls won by a mile as their team score of 72 points put them well ahead of the next teams in the field.
Midlothian had three All-State finishers with Lautzenheiser (2nd, 18:18), Amy Witt (8th, 18:52), and Paige Johnston (12th, 18:56). Johnston, a senior, has experienced an amazing four years of high school cross country as a member of four state champion squads. Johnston has played a key role in those four titles as a three-time All-State cross country runner as a freshmen, sophomore, and this year as a senior.
Photo by Linda D'Amato
It was a big day for the Central Region with the top two finishing teams from the region as the Maggie Walker girls slipped past Northern Region champions Thomas Jefferson by two points to take the state runner-up trophy with 126 points. Coach Jim Holdren's team benefited from only a 46 second spread between their top five runners as the Green Dragons were the only team in the field to have a spread under 1 minute. Susannah Piersol was the team's top finisher, only a few spots off All-State in 17th place at 19:02 and Anna Spiers was the team's fifth finisher in 53rd place at 19:48.
Thomas Jefferson girls ran admirably without their top #3 runner Lisa Junta to still make it onto the podium as freshmen Sarah Stites had a strong individual race to lead Coach Matt Ryan's team with a personal best time of 18:30 to finish fourth in her first high school state meet. Thomas Jefferson will certainly be a team to be reckoned with the next few years with four freshmen and one sophomore in their state meet lineup not including sophomore Junta.
The same could be said though for Midlothian and Maggie Walker as well with only Johnston for Midlothian and Piersol for Maggie Walker graduating.
Ocean Lakes girls behind individual state champion nearly made it a trend of Eastern Region teams making it onto the podium after Western Branch's third place finish in 2007. The Lady Dolphins took fourth with 146 points and had one of the better top four's in the field, but lost ground in the fifth and final scoring spot.
There were several individual runners from the Northern Region who stepped up on the state championship stage to earn All-State honors unexpectedly. Few predicted W.T. Woodson junior Erica Howes to finish third in the AAA race as she did with a personal best 18:29 time. Also surprising with their top 15 finishers were Herndon's Carolyn Hennessey (9th, 18:52) and West Potomac's Julianne Bigler (10th, 18:53).
Group AA Boys: Andrew Colley (Jamestown) 15:02 Course Record, Jamestown - 61 pts (15:51 team average)
He may not be better than Alan Webb was as a high school senior, but Andrew Colley's course record performance on Saturday at Great Meadow certainly has some mentioning the Jamestown senior among the all-time cross country greats immediately following Webb. Webb ran a 15:03 on the old course at Great Meadow, which has been modified in recent years and has clearly shown to run much faster as much as 30 seconds faster.
Photo by Tom Hoerner
Colley at least bested Webb with the fastest time ever at a state meet held at Great Meadow, which has been the home of the VHSL State Cross Country Championships since 1994. The top ranked runner in Virginia had a talented field of runners to push him along with a pack of five at a 4:39 mile split with teammate Colin Mearns, Turner Ashby's Alex Ott, and the Western Albemarle duo of Kyle Satterwhite and Tyler Stutzman. Through 2 miles at 9:39, three runners were still in it with Colley as Ott, Satterwhite, and Mearns were able to handle the hard early pace.
With roughly 1000 meters to go, Colley dropped the competition as he took advantage of the downhill prior to entering the gates and final stretch to open up a lead. As he came in sight of the finish line and clock, Colley realized he had to sprint hard in order to dip under Webb's 15:03 effort. He was just able to do so with a final time of 15:02.
Photo by Ted Plunkett
It was not only a big day for Colley, but his Jamestown team as well. Posting the fastest team average ever at Great Meadow (15:58), the Eagles won their second state title in school history by a wide margin of 43 points with their team score of 61 points. In a loaded AA field of stars, Jamestown had three of the top six finishers in Colley, Colin Mearns (4th, 15:28), and John Holt (6th, 15:48). Rounding out the top five for the US #10 squad was Graham Schlickenmeyer (27th, 16:38) and Russell Hornsby (40th, 16:54). Jamestown ended Region II's streak of state team champions, which had extended to the last time that the Eagles had won back in 2001.
Now the team looks ahead to the Nike Cross Nationals Southeast Regional to be held on Saturday, November 29th in Cary, North Carolina. Jamestown is the top ranked team in the Southeast Region, but might have to be wary of AAA state champion Oakton, who was only one point behind them in the combined state meet scoring.
Photo by Ted Plunkett
Not as much of a surprise considering they defeated all of the top AA teams except Jamestown at Maymont in a mid-season showing, but the Blacksburg boys did surprise some by finishing as a state runner-ups on Saturday with 104 points. A fairly young squad with one junior and three sophomores among their top four runners, the Region IV champions saw an All-State performance from Region IV individual champion Matt Howard (9th, 16:03), but their three sophomores made the biggest impact on their team outcome. Blacksburg nearly had four runners among the top 25 with Howard and sophomores George Carter (22nd, 16:29), Caman Skelton (25th, 16:33), and Frank Locasio (26th, 16:34). Senior Brian Hencke was the team's final scorer in 50th place (17:05).
Region II almost did not have a single team on the podium as Region III champions Spotswood (114 pts) were only three points behind Region II champions Potomac Falls (111 pts) for third place. However, the Potomac Falls boys have come along way from a year ago in which bus failures en route to traveling to their regional meet then coming up just short of qualifying for state competition as a fifth place team in the Region II Meet was used as motivation for this year's team to go on to win the regional title and make it onto the state meet podium. Seniors Josh Hardin (6th, 16:00) and Ryan Hagen (14th, 16:11) led the Panthers with All-State top 15 finishes.
Spotswood did not have an All-State individual, but had an impressive and tight pack as only 37 seconds separated their top 5 runners to almost get the job done and move them into the top 3 in the team standings.
Photo by Ted Plunkett
Colley will not be competing at the Foot Locker South Regional in Charlotte as the AA state champion will be racing alongside his teammates for a potential Nike Cross Nationals berth at the Southeast regional in Cary, North Carolina. Colley's absence might leave an opening for a few of the other top runners in Group AA to potentially qualify for Foot Locker Nationals. Alex Ott's chances look a lot brighter as a runner-up to Colley by 10 seconds at 15:12 as well as running a faster time than AAA state champion and 2-time Foot Locker finalist Thomas Porter of Mountain View. Western Albemarle seniors Kyle Satterwhite and Tyler Stutzman also have their eyes set on making it onto to San Diego for nationals with Satterwhite as a third place finisher (15:16) at the state meet, while Stutzman will be looking to rebound from a poor state race.
LeHardy and Hidden Valley girls have to settle for painfully close runner-up to Brookville's Reeves & Blacksburg girls
Photo by Tom Hoerner
Group AA Girls: Janel Reeves (Brookville) 18:26, Blacksburg - 47 pts (19:04 team average)
Veilleux returns Clarke County to state champion glory in swift solo run
Group A Boys: Ben Veilleux (Clarke County) 15:37, Clarke County - 34 pts (16:34 team average)
Group A Girls: Megan Marsico (Glenvar) 17:38 Course Record, George Mason - 51 pts (20:19 team average)
VHSL State Championships Photo Galleries (3,896 photos uploaded so far!):
D'Amato Gallery - 510 total photos from Group AAA
Hoerner Galleries: Group AA Girls (378 photos) - Group AA Boys (352 photos)
Miles Gallery - To be added on Sunday (will include all races).
Plunkett Gallery - 1367 total photos from all races.
Paisley Gallery - 621 total photos from Group AAA & AA races, AAA awards.
Rigler Gallery - 511 total photos from all races.
Saunders Gallery - 157 total photos from Group AAA boys & girls races.
VHSL State Championships Race Videos: Group AAA Boys - Group AAA Girls - Group AA Boys - Group AA Girls - Group A Boys - Group A Girls
VHSL State Championship Interviews:
Podcast Interviews: Thomas Porter - Stacey Nobles - Andrew Colley - Janel Reeves - Ben Veilleux - Megan Marsico - Paige Johnston - Ben Dejarnette
Video Interviews: Coach Tiller (Oakton) - Coach DeMarco (Blacksburg)
Plenty more coverage to come from Great Meadow including photos, video, interviews, stories, and the always interesting combined state meet results!