Athlete Spotlight: Annie LeHardy

Two years ago at the state cross country meet, Hidden Valley senior Annie LeHardy (pictured right by Frank Locascio) got the short end of the stick in a photo finish between herself and Brookville's Janel Reeves for the Group AA state title. As a senior in her last high school state cross country meet this past Saturday at Great Meadow, LeHardy made sure she would not be stuck in the same position again as she broke away from top ranked Mattie Webb of Western Albemarle and teammate Haley Cutright before the two mile mark. A state champion as a freshmen in track at 1600 meters, LeHardy continued to build her lead en route to matching the course record time of 17:34 set one year ago by Kathleen Stevens of Blacksburg with her second individual state title overall and first in cross country. Her performance also led Hidden Valley to a second straight Group AA state title, which builds momentum for the squad into the Nike Cross Southeast Regional as a returning NXN at-large qualifier from 2...