KUALOA RANCH, HI -- The Lake Braddock and Midlothian High School cross country squads did not come to Hawaii just to kick back on beautiful beaches with their feet in the sand and a cold drink in their hand. They also came to kick some butt at the Iolani Cross Country Invitational.
Midlothian senior Amanda Patterson nearly came away with the individual race title as the race winner was decided in a dramatic finish. Patterson battled out with Hawaii local Lauren Ho stride for stride the entire race. Ho led Patterson for the final last mile until about 100 meters to go, Patterson pulled ahead and appeared to have the win in rich. However, Ho rallied back to take the victory at the end in a time of 20:00. Patterson covered the challenging Kualoa Ranch 5K course in 20:02.
The Lake Braddock girls looked quite impressive in their team\'s second place showing at the Iolani meet. The Lady Bruins were led by senior Kelsey Snowden, who finished sixth individually in a 20:49 clocking. Rounding out a tightly bunched top five for Lake Braddock were Erin Klein (9th, 21:12), Kelly Sherrard (13th, 21:35), Becca Hoogland (19th, 21:47), and Michelle Presley (20th, 21:50). The Lady Bruins finished just off a team title themselves with a team score of 62 points, four points shy of race champion Snomomish, a team from the state of Washington ranked #4 in the NTN rankings for the Northwest region. Lake Braddock\'s team performance will certainly help their ranking status in the state as well as in the Southeast region.
The Amanda Patterson led Midlothian girls finished third in the team standings with a team total of 110 points. The 2004 version of the Lady Trojans have a young and promising squad based off their opening invitational with senior Heather Mella (16th, 21:39), freshmen Christine Selander (32nd, 22:49), sophomore Christi Blackburn (34th, 22:53), sophomore Mary Miller (37th, 22:55), and junior Jessica Oakley (39th, 22:59) backing up their star runner in Patterson.
The Lake Braddock boys, ranked fifth in the state currently, had a solid showing in the boys\' 5K race as they took third place honors with 127 points. Brad Clark led the Bruins to the line with a third place finish in a time of 17:25.
The Midlothian boys finished sixth overall with 166 points. The Midlothian boys were tightly packed through five runners (46 second spread), but the road back to the state meet podium for a sixth consecutive year will be a tough one with this young and inexperienced squad.