Brentsville Relays
September 19, 2009 @ Brentsville HS in Nokesville, VA
Hosted by Brentsville District
The Osbourn Park girls and Mountain View boys were the relay team winners at Saturday night's Brentsville Relays in Nokesville making it a sweep for the Northwest Region. The Osbourn Park girls, ranked #7 currently in Group AAA, have to be encouraged by their win despite not being in the traditional 5K race format in finishing ahead and defeating several higher ranked squads including four-time AAA state champions Midlothian.
Many of the top ranked teams in the state gathered for a late night excursion and departure in the middle of Prince William County. While the finish order at Brentsville's 5x2500 meter relay under the lights does always translate to the same order in a traditional 5K race, the better teams usually find their way to the top in the meet. If that holds true from this year's Brentsville Relays, the Midlothian girls may have to be seriously concerned about the Osbourn Park girls as a threat to their attempt at winning a fifth straight Group AAA state title. The Osbourn Park girls are the defending Northwest Region champions, but were not given much respect heading into the meet with a #7 ranking in Group AAA.
With Ariel Karabinus running the fastest split and also lowering the course record by 11 seconds at 8:32, Osbourn Park was able to pull into first ahead of Midlothian and win by 10 seconds in 45:27. Group AAA #1 ranked Midlothian had to settle for second place at 45:37 and rounding out the top five places were AAA #3 Lake Braddock (3rd, 45:52), AAA #5 West Potomac (4th, 46:08), and AAA #4 Deep Run (5th, 46:12).
Despite a smoking 7:16 course record leg by the Nike Indoor Nationals 800 champion Billy Ledder, the Mountain View boys were able to hold off Gonzaga College of DC for a one second team victory. Mountain View at 38:51 and Gonzaga at 38:52 both ran under the old meet record of 38:56. After Grassfield knocked off previous AAA #1 ranked Western Branch last weekend, Mountain View boys made a strong arguement for them to draw serious consideration as the #1 ranked team with their course record win on Saturday night.
Mills Godwin and Midlothian showed the Central Region boys is not going to be completely down this fall with third and fourth place finishes at the Brentsville Relays and also a preview of a pending battle for the regional title between the two later this fall. Mills Godwin has impressed in the first three invitationals to earn a #1 ranking in the Central Region, while the Midlothian boys have ran much better as of late than their season debut at Great Meadow.