Competition is good but fast competition is even better. That is what you can expect this weekend at Pole Green Park with the 2024 VA XC Showcase. In total there are over 5,300 athletes from 15 different states and 250 teams all chasing a fast time. These athletes and teams have combined for over 100 state titles just last year!
In total there will be 14 races across 10 hours of racing but primetime races will be the "Girls Showcase" and "Boys Showcase" races going off at 8:30 and 9:00 am EST.
Up first is the Girls Showcase race. This race will feature 35 of the best teams and at-large individuals who have run sub 19 for 5K.
Team wise there are six teams who we think are the ones to beat. First of those is the Virginia state leader, James W. Robinson who boasts an 18:16 average as a team with three sophomores, one freshman, and one junior. They are joined by Langley, Blacksburg, and Spotswood as the other heavy hitters from VA.
Joining the big VA teams are eight out-of-state teams who made the cutoff for the Showcase race. Of those teams, two jump out as pre-race contenders. First up is Georgetown Visitation from Washington, DC. They come into the meet with a 19:17 first-five average. They are then joined by Father Tolton Regional Catholic from Missouri!
Father Tolton boasts a 19:27 team average so far this season but should go significantly faster. They were the Missouri state champions a year ago and returned their entire top five. They are led by Elyse Wilmes who was your 2024 New Balance National Champion for 800m. She ran 2:04 last year and also ran 17:36 for the 5K too.
On the individuals front there are 18 girls who have already run sub 18. Of those, we think there are three who could go quite a bit faster.
First up is home-state star Elaina Pierce (Charlottesville). She has been victorious five-times this season taking down all the ranked girls in the state. Her biggest win was certainly Oatlands which serves as Virginia's state meet preview meet. She enters the weekend with a 17:27 season best run last weekend on the rolling hills course at Panorama Farms (where the 2023 NCAA Nationals were).
Joining Pierce are two ladies from Tennessee who together have won 20 state titles. You have Claire Stegall (Nolensville) and Abby Faith Cheeseman (The Webb School). Stegall enters with 16:51 best from last year and Cheeseman enters with a 16:19 best from indoors last year. Cheeseman's XC best is 16:27.
Between these three we could see a course and meet record go down. The current record sits at 16:54 run back in 2022.
In the boys competition things are just as exciting. Team wise seven teams seem to be in the title hunt. You have VA teams like Woodbridge, Hanover, and Blacksburg being joined by NC's R.J. Reynolds, SC's Greer Middle College, MD's Calvert Hall, and likely pre-race favorite, DC's St. Alban's School.
These teams have all been battle tested this season and are primed for a big set of PR's. With 35 teams and roughly 300 individuals in this Showcase race it should be ideal for some great racing. Be sure to watch the live splits and team scores as they cross different parts of the race as strategy could play big into the final team standings.
Last year this race provided a preview of the Foot Locker finals and it could do just that again with many stars headed to this fast course for one last fast time ahead of the post-season. The time to beat is Drew Griffith's 14:21 run last year.
Purely based on current stats, the athlete with the best change to take down this time is Soheib Dissa out of Connecticut. He ran 14:50 last week at Great American and is primed to go even faster here. He will be joined by four other boys who have already broken 15. Those boys include Jack Anstrom (NC), Mason Haynes (SC), Caleb Tenney (MD), and Nathan Lee (CT).
Unlike the girls race though, the boys race seems to be more wide-open. By our count, there are nearly 20 boys with the potential to break 15. That means it should be a very close race for the first 1900m before things thing out a little bit.
There truly are too many names and teams to highlight everyone headed to VAXC and the above are just previews of two of the 14 races!
This meet is earning its name this year as truly being a showcase of VA's top talent. Individually, 13 of the top 15 boys and 12 of the top 15 girls are racing. On the team front, 8 of the top 10 boys team and 8 of the top 10 girls team are toeing the line Saturday.
