MANASSAS, VA -- Pushed back due to heavy rains that flooded the course for the original race date on Saturday, the Glory Days Grill Invitational went ahead with races on Monday with high schoolers out of school for Columbus Day.
The top ranked team in the state, Thomas Jefferson boys, won the team title, but not exactly in dominating fashion as they won by 13 points over #8 state ranked Herndon. #4 West Springfield (3rd, 115 pts) and #3 Oakton (4th, 149 pts) fell back on a course still feeling the effects of the wet weather in previous days. Oakton ran without top runner James Phillips.
West Springfield junior Mike Spooner, after posting two convincing victories at Great American and the Salesianum Invitational, proved his legitimacy in his neck of the woods as he defeated Northern region rivals Abreham Daganchew of Herndon (2nd, 16:19) and Brad Siragusa of Chantilly (3rd, 16:20) in a time of 16:15 on the 5 kilometer course at Bull Run Regional Park.
While no surprise given her performances in past years, Michael Nelson of The Potomac School has been under the radar this fall due to a lack of racing and was a surprise winner given that in the girls\' race with a 19:19 clocking.
The Oakton girls (67 pts) ran away with the team title by a 46 point margin over #6 state ranked Fairfax (113 pts). The Lady Cougars, ranked #2 in the state currently and current favorite for the AAA state crown, placed four runners in the top 15 with senior Kayley Byrne (4th, 19:44), senior Rebekah Berlin (10th, 20:13), junior Meredith Tighe (11th, 20:15), and sophomore Nora Meehan (13th, 20:34).
The Fairfax girls were led by Jessica Trapeni who finished eighth in a time of 20:04. The Fairfax girls finished ahead of #5 state ranked Westfield, who finished fourth with 158 points, but the Lady Wildcats did run without one of their top runners in Tasia Potasinski. Alexis Deegan had a strong individual run for Westfield though as she took runner-up honors to Potomac School\'s Nelson with a time of 19:36.
The James Robinson girls (3rd, 120 pts) also took advantage of Potasinski\'s absence to finish ahead of the higher ranked Westfield squad. The Lady Rams\' top finisher was freshmen Anne Hovland (9th, 20:12) who is following a line of great runners in the Hovland family with older sisters, senior Jennifer Hovland (27th, 20:57) and 2003 graduate Lauren Hovland.