The gun sounded, the girls were off and the coaches and a few spectators hurried over to position themselves at the first mile vantage point. And to know one's surprise, it was the pre-race favorites coming through in a time of 5:50, in four abreast. Close behind were Chancellor senior Beth Mahalak and following Mahalak were another pair of underclassmen, Brooke Point freshman Brittany Wilhelm and Riverbend sophomore Kendall Carty. On to the second mile, and then into the woods. This is the mile that is like the Ever Ready Bunny – it just never ends. It has to be the "longest" second mile in the state, and it is the one that often separates the wheat from the chaff. Coming out of the woods and down the hill to the 2nd milepost, the lead four pack was still intact, but they had opened a considerable gap on the rest of the field.
Retracing their footsteps back around the course, then up cemetery hill to begin the final long half-mile plus run for the finish, who would emerge around the ballfield in the lead? There were several surprised looks, when it was the North Stafford freshman, Kelly Reinwald. It was Kelly's day and she finished strong, coming through the finish in a time of 19:45, the best time in the 5 year Milestat data base for Loriella Park, eclipsing by a little over a second the former best time of another North Stafford runner, Kristyn Shiring a current member of the William and Mary varsity. Maybe it was Kristyn's legacy which spurred Kelly on today.
In team scoring on Saturday at Panorama Farms, Brooke Point had squeezed by Colonial Forge, but today Colonial Forge took the edge with a 43 to 51 win. North Stafford was a distant 3rd with 112 points and Culpeper County 4th with 156 points in a Commonwealth District preview. In AA competion, Riverbend led with 172 points followed by Courtland with 187 points, King George with 190 points and Chancellor with 207 points.
Pre-race favorites in todays' Free Lance Star preview article and coming off strong 2nd and 3rd place finish also at Panorama Farms were Culpeper County junior Devin Cornwall and Massaponax senior Brandon Dick. Both of these runners came out of the soccer program and, in fact, had attended the Soccer Olympic Development Program together in the fall of 2001 at Richmond. So when the gun sounded, and the race was off, it was no surprise to look over by the cemetery to see them vying for the lead at the 2/3's milepoint. As they came through the first mile at 4:57, Cornwall had a step or so advantage over Dick, Colonial Forge senior Tony Nowotarski and James Monroe senior Tim Young. Into the woods they went, and when they came out, Cornwall had opened about a 10 second lead on Dick and Nowotarski. And when they turned the corner and came down the final stretch, Cornwall held his lead with a time of 16:38, second best ever in the Loriella Milestat database, with Dick finishing as runner-up with a strong 16:48 showing, followed by Nowotarski and who outkicked his Colonial Forge teammate Nick Oltman. James Monroe put two runners in the top ten with #5 Tim Young and #7 Will Jacobs. And with three more Colonial Forge runners finishing 6th, 8th and 12th, Colonial Forge ran away with team competition with 33 points. But even more noticeable was their finishing times. With these kind of times at Loriella, it is not inconceivable that Forge could put its top five all in under 16:30 at Great Meadows.
Finishing 2nd with 79 team points was North Stafford which got strong contributions once again from its lead junior tandem of Alec Meyer and Patrick Quinn who finished 9th and 11th. Massaponax finished 3rd with 100 points, and Brooke Point was #4 in Commmonwealth competion with 181 points. In AA competition, King George was first with 187 points with Courtland and Caroline hot on their heals as they tied at 195 points, followed by Riverbend with 266 points making the Battlefield District race too close to call at this point. James Monroe finished 4th overall with 127 points.