Eastern Region Meet Summary

Photos by Andy Paisley

The Grassfield and Western Branch boys have been trading regional bragging rights all season long as both teams also have higher aspirations for the state meet and potentially in the post-season at the Nike Cross Southeast Regionals. The Grassfield boys rebounded from a district meet defeat to Western Branch (ran without their #4 runner and finished 3rd at districts) to claim their first region title in a 56 to 76 score against Western Branch. Grassfield averaged 16:24 as a team on the Bells Mill Park 5K course with a solid top five to overcome Western Branch's firepower up front with three of the top five finishers in Kyle Jacobs (2nd, 15:51), Blake Theroux (3rd, 15:51), and George Matais (5th, 16:04). Grassfield, previously ranked #1 in Virginia this season, had a top five spread of 56 seconds with all five scorers among the top 20 ranging from times 15:52 to 16:49.

Western Branch has three runners capable of earning All-State honors next week, but it may not be enough to get the Bruins on the podium with their fourth and fifth runners still running back in the field. Meanwhile, Grassfield having stronger fourth and fifth runners will keep them closer to the favored and tightly packed Northwest Region champions Mountain View who they finished 10 points behind earlier this season at the Octoberfest Invite.

Drew Paisley of Ocean Lakes scored a mild upset against Western Branch's Theroux to pull away in the last mile for a 15:37 clocking to claim his first regional cross country title. Paisley also helped lead the Ocean Lakes boys back to the state meet once again as his team was a surprisingly close third place to runners-up Western Branch with a team score of 87 points.

Despite graduating three of their top five from a year ago, the Ocean Lakes girls were able to easily defend their regional title with a team score of 54 points and team average of 19:45 behind three runners in the top 10 in Peri Bowman (3rd, 19:04), Audrey Baztel (8th, 19:23), and Samantha Park (10th, 19:31).

Landstown senior Stephanie Frenchik maintained her regional dominance with a personal best 18:22 win with 33 seconds to spare on race runner-up Lizzie Cornell (2nd, 18:55) of Princess Anne, an AAU Junior Olympic national champion at 1500 meters last summer. Frenchik figures to be the Eastern Region's lone All-State top 15 hope next and could finish among the top 5 finishers in the Group AAA state race. She has only been defeated once this fall with a fourth place finish in a competitive Albemarle Invitational which featured many of the state's top ranked runners.

Cornell helped Princess Anne girls to their first state meet berth in years with her best race of the season as she had not previously ran up to her pre-season expectations following a great track season which included an AAU age group national track title. It was Cornell's first sub 19 minute 5K performance ever.

Three schools will be sending a two full squads of boys and girls teams to Great Meadow as Grassfield, Hickory, and Ocean Lakes proved themselves to be three of the top combined programs in the area.

Results:

• Boys Results
• Girls Results

Race Videos: Boys Race - Girls Race

Featured Article on Landstown's Stephanie Frenchik in The Virginian-Pilot

State Meet Qualifiers

Boys Team Qualifiers

1. Grassfield 56 pts (16:24 average)

2. Western Branch 76 pts (16:29 average)

3. Ocean Lakes 84 pts (16:38 average)

4. Hickory 107 pts (16:51 average)

Girls Team Qualifiers

1. Ocean Lakes 54 pts (19:45 average)

2. Princess Anne 90 pts (20:08 average)

3. Hickory 90 pts (20:15 average)

4. Grassfield 108 pts (20:31 average)

Boys Individual Qualifiers

1. Drew Paisley (Ocean Lakes) 15:37.54

2. Kyle Jacobs (Western Branch) 15:51.09

3. Blake Theroux (Western Branch) 15:51.11

4. Jeremy Greenwald (Grassfield) 15:52.78

5. George Matais (Western Branch) 16:04.11

6. William Brown (Bethel) 16:06.44

7. Aaron Harrison (Grassfield) 16:10.45

8. Jordan White (Great Bridge) 16:16.03

9. David Gerlach (Menchville) 16:17.30

10. Brian Davenport (Maury) 16:18.51

11. Graham Wilson (Menchville) 16:19.17

12. Joseph Daversa (Grassfield) 16:19.50

13. Kyle Corwin (Hickory) 16:22.57

14. Lawrence Thomas (Landstown) 16:27.97

15. Brent Coulter (Landstown) 16:28.00

Girls Individual Qualifiers

1. Stephanie Frenchik (Landstown) 18:22.78

2. Lizzie Cornell (Princess Anne) 18:55.38

3. Peri Bowman (Ocean Lakes) 19:04.46

4. Michelle Grey (Cox) 19:07.39

5. Kristina Woodard (Hampton) 19:10.84

6. Morgan Anderson (First Colonial) 19:14.12

7. Marissa Kunsch (Princess Anne) 19:20.01

8. Audrey Baztel (Ocean Lakes) 19:23.75

9. Kathlyn Taylor (Kellam) 19:28.87

10. Samantha Park (Ocean Lakes) 19:31.70

11. Katie Butt (Hickory) 19:36.02

12. Mary Katherine Sanders (Western Branch) 19:37.10

13. Emily Smith (Great Bridge) 19:38.72

14. McKenna Ledbetter (Tallwood) 19:42.78

15. Elisabeth Drake (Gloucester) 19:43.74

Below are the performances entered for the meet that met the national silver standard.

30 National Elites.