MileStat.com visited one of the deepest programs in the state currently on Thursday with the Colonial Forge boys and girls conducting their first time trial of the year to test their fitness after a solid summer of training and 2 1/2 weeks of official practice. With music blaring and unique but actually true to form time trial with a "Tour de France" style as each runner started individually in 30 second intervals on the 2 mile loop at H.H. Poole Middle School in Stafford, the Colonial Forge squad looked very strong and fit. Despite having staggered starts, Colonial Forge boys and girls had their fastest four times each within a slim margin of separation.
The Colonial Forge boys had four just over 11 minutes in the time trial with junior Brian O'Loughlin (11:02), senior David Klimek (11:09), junior David Penesi (11:09), and senior Donnie Lozier (11:11) as the team clearly has four runners capable of not only being All-Region in the Northwest Region, but capable of finishing within the top 25 at the state meet. The Colonial Forge boys have put together a lineup for this fall to seriously challenge for the school's first state cross country title.
The Colonial Forge girls had five girls within 18 seconds of one another in junior Shaina Manuel (13:06), junior Makenzie McDonald (13:14), senior Colleen Wade (13:16), sophomore Jenna Walker (13:18), and senior Hannah Dickinson (13:24). While an impressive overall effort in their time trial, the Colonial Forge girls are not close to full strength with two likely top seven runners in Hannah Somers and Alyssa DeVane still coming back from injury who did not run in Thursday morning's time trial. Senior Wade, who was a member of a regional champion cross country team as an underclassmen, looks to lead a somewhat inexperienced but certainly talented Colonial Forge girls squad into big invitationals and championship season this fall.
Despite being only eight years removed from their last cross country season as runners themsevles for the Eagles, Colonial Forge coaches Michael Porter and Sean Leyh both have not only used their personal training and racing experiences but learned a great deal from some of the top older coaches in the state including in their annual summer trip to the Blue Ridge Running Camp to apply the knowledge gained to their team with their own successful philosophy which has both boys and girls for the Colonial Forge cross country team ready for a potentially big season. See time trial video and interviews below!
Photo Gallery - 460 total photos from Colonial Forge visit.
Pre-Time Trial Interview w/ Coach Leyh
Pre-Time Trial Interview w/ Coach Porter
Interview w/ Colonial Forge Boys Top 4
Interview w/ Colonial Forge Girls Top 4
Post-Time Trial Interview w/ Coach Leyh
Post-Time Trial Interview w/ Coach Porter