Calvert Hall, Blacksburg Headline MileStat XC Boys Team Race

A quick preview of the top boys teams coming into the 2023 MileStat.com XC Invitational elite race. 

It should be setup for a great clash between one of the best teams in the entire Southeast in Calvert Hall College of Maryland versus the best team currently in the state of Virginia in the Blacksburg boys for the elite boys team title on Saturday at Pole Green Park.

The Calvert Hall boys earlier this season won the adidas XC Challenge with a team score of 122 points, while Blacksburg finished fifth in the same race with a score of 249 points. Has Blacksburg closed the gap at all between them since then?

Calvert Hall finished third at the Paul Short Run in Pennsylvania and is coming off a somewhat disappointing 10th place finish in the Race of Champions at Great American when matching up against other programs also vying to qualify for Nike Cross Nationals out of the Southeast Regional next month.

At their best this season, Calvert Hall has a team average of 15:52 for their top 5 runners led by sub 15 performer Cameron Davis who will be one of the top individuals in the race on Saturday as well as two more sub 16 performers in Cort Schroeder (15:34) and Ryan Warner (15:56) to provide one of the best trios of any team in the race. 

The Blacksburg boys have two major wins on their resumé this season between the Knights Crossing Invitational and Oatlands Invitational in September. While they lack the front runner that they had a year ago in sub 15 minute performer and NXN Southeast Regional champion Connor Rutherford graduating, the Blacksburg boys have a well packed squad with only 17 seconds separating the season best of their top runners with Henry Strahm, Harrison Whitfield, Ryan Bagchi, Miles Wilson, and  Asher Roach ranging from 16 minutes flat to 16:17.

If the Blacksburg pack can move up together in the 15 minute range, could see a much closer team race between Calvert Hall College making their MileStat.com XC Invitational race debut and Blacksburg, who has attended this event annually over the past decade. 

The team trophies for the elite race has expanded from the top 3 to the top 5 for this year's meet and there are more out of state teams attempting to gobble up the hardware in their longer return trips home including Cardinal Gibbons of North Carolina,  D.C. schools St. Albans School, St. John's College and Gonzaga as well as Cambridge Christian from Florida.

St. Albans School has already raced well in Virginia as the runner-up team to Blacksburg at Oatlands and also won the Judges Classic in Winchester two weekends ago.

Cardinal Gibbons would like to join their girls team bringing some hardware on the bus ride back to Raleigh, North Carolina and with a top 7 all capable of breaking 17 minutes is in a good position to do just that. Cardinal Gibbons was the runner-up squad to Blacksburg at Knights Crossing. 

Cambridge Christian boys similarly would like to earn a top 5 finish with their girls squad coming all the way from Tampa, Florida and have two sub 16 minute performers leading their lineup. Cambridge is currently ranked #2 in the 1A classification for the state of Florida. 

Beyond Blacksburg, there are many home state squads in the field who really have a great opportunity to build some momentum into championship season at the MileStat.com XC Invitational in pursuit of being a state meet podium team at season's end. 

Riverbend and Woodbridge were both top 3 finishers last week at Octoberfest Invitational, who ran on an altered 3 mile course. Each team will get a chance to roll out to fast new legit 5K PR's this weekend at Pole Green Park and prove themselves as among state's best teams. Woodbridge also raced very well two weeks ago at Panorama Farms to win the VTCA Fall Classic. 

Clover Hill has already notched a team win earlier this season at Pole Green Park in the Pole Green Classic and also won another major race in the Fork Union Invitational this September. 

Clover Hill is not the only Richmond Metro school that should be competitive for a top 10 or possible top 5 trophy finish as Hanover, Atlee, Maggie Walker, James River, and Glen Allen all have top 5 lineups capable of producing team averages well into the 16 minute range on the fast Pole Green Park course. Hanover finished third at Knights Crossing behind Blacksburg and Cardinal Gibbons. 

Charlottesville was a close runner-up to Clover Hill at Fork Union as well as another narrow second place finish to St. Albans at the Judges Classic.