FREDRICKSBURG, VA -- Culpeper senior Devin Cornwall kicked off his season in a big way as he
broke the 10 year old Loriella Park 5K course record as he won the Chancellor Invitational in a
time of 16:02.70. Cornwall demolished the old record by 20 seconds as he posted the fastest time on
a course that is considered by some more than 30 seconds slower than the Great Meadows state
course. While Cornwall finished 16th in last fall\'s Group AAA cross country state race, busting out
such a tremendous performance at Loriella has to make him a sudden early favorite for the state
crown along with other top state meet returnees such as Patterson Wilhelm (E.C. Glass), Brad
Siragusa (Chantilly), and Mike Spooner (West Springfield).
Finishing a distance second was Battlefield\'s Jason Driscoll in a solid time of 16:44.30. Driscoll
was the first state meet qualifier a year ago for the now two year old school.
The North Stafford boys were able to put three runners in the top eight places as Alec Meyer (3rd,
16:50.80) and Patrick Quinn (4th, 16:55.80) were able to dip under 17 minutes on the tough Loriella
Park course, while teammate Lucas Hatcher (17:15.10) was not too far behind the top two North
Stafford finishers in eighth place.
However, North Stafford\'s strong front three was not enough to secure the team title as Group AA
Jamestown (84 pts) caught the whole meet by surprise with a 20 point margin of victory over Group
AAA counterpart North Stafford (104 pts). The Eagles put their entire top seven ahead of North
Stafford\'s fifth runner as Tom Horley paced the victorious Jamestown squad with a seventh place
finish (17:15.10). Since winning the Group AA state team title in 2001, Jamestown has not came
anywhere close to that level of team success in the past three seasons. However, this year\'s squad
may make some noise at the state level as they recently got an extra boost in the off-season with
the transferring of junior Andrew Mearns from Walsingham Academy. Mearns was a national age group
runner-up in the AAU Junior Olympics this past summer in the 2000 meter steeple chase (6:30.74).
Mearns ran number five for the squad at the Chancellor Invite to round out a top five that finished
in the top 25 with Horley, Kirk Aldring (15th, 17:31.80), Raymond Hutchinson (19th, 17:45.50), John
Holt (22nd, 17:59.20), and Mearns (25th, 18:07.30).
Last year\'s third place finisher in the Group A state race, Buffalo Gap junior Mariah Hagadone,
crossed the line first in the girls\' race at Loriella in a winning time of 19:58.80. Hagadone will
be in the mix for this year\'s Group A state crown which should be very competitive on the girls\'
side with two state champions returning in 2004 champion Danielle Moyer of Clarke County and 2003
champion Kelly Clark of Glenvar.
Not too far behind Hagadone in second place was Jillian Pollack as the Millbrook junior
finished in a time of 20:02.60.
The Brooke Point girls\' simply punished all the other squads at the Chancellor Invite with a 43 point margin of victory over runner-up James Wood (152 pts) with their 79 point team total. The Lady Black Hawks were led by a fourth place finish from Brittany Copeland (20:35.80). Brittany Wilhelm (15th, 21:18.50), Robin Vanneman (16th, 21:24.00), and Claudia Vincenti (17th, 21:25.70) finished in succession for the Brooke Point girls and Jarryd Mushatt-Valrie (34th, 22:20.50) crossed the finish well ahead of any other team\'s fifth runner to secure the team title.
FREDRICKSBURG, VA -- Culpeper senior Devin Cornwall kicked off his season in a big way as he
broke the 10 year old Loriella Park 5K course record as he won the Chancellor Invitational in a
time of 16:02.70. Cornwall demolished the old record by 20 seconds as he posted the fastest time on
a course that is considered by some more than 30 seconds slower than the Great Meadows state
course. While Cornwall finished 16th in last fall\'s Group AAA cross country state race, busting out
such a tremendous performance at Loriella has to make him a sudden early favorite for the state
crown along with other top state meet returnees such as Patterson Wilhelm (E.C. Glass), Brad
Siragusa (Chantilly), and Mike Spooner (West Springfield).
Finishing a distance second was Battlefield\'s Jason Driscoll in a solid time of 16:44.30. Driscoll
was the first state meet qualifier a year ago for the now two year old school.
The North Stafford boys were able to put three runners in the top eight places as Alec Meyer (3rd,
16:50.80) and Patrick Quinn (4th, 16:55.80) were able to dip under 17 minutes on the tough Loriella
Park course, while teammate Lucas Hatcher (17:15.10) was not too far behind the top two North
Stafford finishers in eighth place.
However, North Stafford\'s strong front three was not enough to secure the team title as Group AA
Jamestown (84 pts) caught the whole meet by surprise with a 20 point margin of victory over Group
AAA counterpart North Stafford (104 pts). The Eagles put their entire top seven ahead of North
Stafford\'s fifth runner as Tom Horley paced the victorious Jamestown squad with a seventh place
finish (17:15.10). Since winning the Group AA state team title in 2001, Jamestown has not came
anywhere close to that level of team success in the past three seasons. However, this year\'s squad
may make some noise at the state level as they recently got an extra boost in the off-season with
the transferring of junior Andrew Mearns from Walsingham Academy. Mearns was a national age group
runner-up in the AAU Junior Olympics this past summer in the 2000 meter steeple chase (6:30.74).
Mearns ran number five for the squad at the Chancellor Invite to round out a top five that finished
in the top 25 with Horley, Kirk Aldring (15th, 17:31.80), Raymond Hutchinson (19th, 17:45.50), John
Holt (22nd, 17:59.20), and Mearns (25th, 18:07.30).