All-MileStat.com Girls Cross Country Team

MileSplit Staff
Very grueling analyzing and researching was put into selecting this year's All-MileStat.com girls cross country team as there were so many qualified athletes and coaches that deserved recognition. Well after lots of second guessing, debate, and contemplation, here is your 2002 All-MileStat.com girls cross country team...

Coach of the Year...Matt Ryan (Thomas Jefferson)
While his boys' team had the most talent out of any team in the state and was the unquestionable favorite to be the top team in the state prior to even the start of the season, Coach Matt Ryan's girls' team at Thomas Jefferson was not expected to finish runner-up at the state meet. In fact, many had thought that team would have a tough time just getting out of the region with the likes of Hayfield, Herndon, Lake Braddock, James Robinson, and West Springfield in their region. However, after getting out of the Northern Region with a third place finish there, it was now the Thomas Jefferson girls turn to shine at the state meet and they took full advantage of the opportunity. Seniors Shauneen Garrahan (14th) and Sarah Levine (20th) led the team to a state runner-up finish behind James River and ahead of regional foes such as Lake Braddock and Herndon. A much improved team performance from a year ago for Coach Ryan's girls, who finished seventh the year before at states. Other than Coach Rob Dulin at Brentsville in single A, Coach Ryan is the only other coach who had both boys and girls teams on the podium this fall. Many coaches set that as one of their career goals to someday accomplish having two teams on the podium, however, Coach Ryan has already done that and fairly early into what looks to become a very bright and successful future in his coaching career.

Kiernan Runner of the Year...Cara Kiernan (The Potomac School)
 What a remarkable story Cara Kiernan is. As a junior last spring, she began running for the first time as she did track. She found quick success as she became the Independent School state champion at 1600 meters. However, entering her first year of cross country she really did not know what to expect and merely thought of it as a way to stay in shape for track. If what she did was staying in shape this fall, you could say she was doing it at just a tiny bit of a quick pace. Kiernan made a sudden splash on the state scene by dominating the Independent School State Cross Country Meet by winning in a large margin with her time of 19:20 on the difficult Woodberry Forest course. Then she crushed some stiff competition at the MileStat.com Invitational, where she broke the meet and course record of 17:55 with her 17:52 clocking on the Fork Union three mile course. Yet still after those two performances, many of those especially in the public school ranks had not taken notice of her until after her incredible Foot Locker South race. Kiernan got out early in the race with the top pack of runners in contention for those eight national qualifying spots and stayed there through the entire race, until she kicked it in the last 100 meters to take a shocking third place finish. You could say easily that she is most improved runner in the state because of the fact this was her first year of cross country and look what she has done, but then again heading into this season she had no times of which to improve upon. Nonetheless, she obviously proved in Charlotte that she was Virginia's top cross country runner this past fall. 

Date         Meet                          Event  Time/Place 
11/30/2002 @ Foot Locker South (Seeded)    5000m  18:05.22/3rd 
11/23/2002 @ MileStat.com Invitational     3Mile  17:52.10/1st
11/01/2002 @ VA Independent State Meet     5000m  19:20.60/1st