THE PLAINS, VA -- Unfortunately I will not be at this year\'s state meet at Great Meadows as I promised my stepfather I\'d help pace him in his first ever marathon in Richmond this weekend, but I can still give my two cents of what to look for and expect this Saturday at Great Meadows. Not only will state titles be on the line, but for many teams Saturday will be a make or break situation for Nike Team National berths. Group AA kicks off things on Saturday morning with the AA girls as the first race at 10:30 am and AA boys following at 11:15. The Brenstville boys and girls are expected to sweep the state titles and set the bar high for NTN aspiring teams in the Group AAA races, which make up the middle portion of the meet. AAA girls go off at 11:45 am and AAA boys start at 12:30 pm. Oakton and Midlothian girls will butt heads, while there are a handful of teams that have to be considered in contention for the boys\' team title in AAA with the Oakton boys leading the way. The meet could possibly a see a clean sweep of teams with the Clarke County boys and girls heavily favored in the Group A division, which are the last races of the day with the girls at 1:00 pm and boys at 1:45 pm.
The Western Albemarle girls streak of three consecutive state titles seems to be coming to an end on Saturday as the top ranked team in the state of Virginia, Brentsville aims to make a statement in the opening race of the day to the top girls\' teams in Group AA as well as the Nike Team Nationals committee. If the Lady Tigers can maul the Group AA field well enough and show a stronger team performance than the likes of Oakton and Midlothian in Group AAA race, a case could be made for #5 NTN Southeast ranked Brentsville team to be considered for one of those two teams for the region. At the Region II Meet, the Lady Tigers put six runners in the top 20 places in one of the state\'s most competitive regions. With a team average of 19:11, Brentsville easily won by a 53 point margin over the defending state champs Western Albemarle. The squad will be led on Saturday by Region II individual champion in junior Becky Stewart. Stewart clocked a 18:25 on the Great Meadows hill course to win the regional title and figures to probably be defending state champion Catherine White\'s biggest threat. A pair of underclassmen follow Stewart on the team in sophomore Amelia Emerson and freshmen Lauren Bussian. At the Region II Meet, Emerson (5th, 19:02) and Bussian (7th, 19:06) nearly dipped under 19 minutes with Stewart with All-Region performances. Junior Julia Mitchell (13th, 19:37) made it four All-Region runners from Brentsville, while freshmen Maggie Gentry (16th, 19:43) and junior Samantha Woodward (19th, 19:54) showed the great depth Coach Dulin\'s team possesses. The team\'s Region II performance was by far their best team run this season and showed scary implications of what this team might do at the state meet this Saturday.
A team that looked to possibly be an outside threat to the heavily favored Brentsville squad, the Blacksburg girls, are coming off a subpar regional performance and hoping to bounce back into top form to give the top ranked Lady Tigers a scare. The Blacksburg girls had been riding high coming in the Region III meet as shown with their victory at the Octoberfest Invitational over severaly highly ranked Group AAA teams such as Westfield, Fairfax, and defending AAA state champs Lake Braddock (who failed to qualify out of the Northern Region Meet). The Blacksburg girls still find themselves ranked #5 in the entire state and #2 in Group AA behind Brentsville coming into Saturday\'s race, but have to run a lot stronger than they did at their regional meet if they hope to just hold that position. At the Region III Meet, the Lady Bruins still won the regional crown, but a closer than expected challenge from Jefferson Forest 11 points behind them. However, if Blacksburg can run like they did at Great Meadows in October, Brentsville could find themselves in trouble if they have an off day as Blacksburg had a strong top four that day of Ariel Burbey (18:56), Allison Homer (19:36), Laurel MacMillan (19:41), and Cate Berenato (19:42). Nothing will be given to the favored Brentsville squad with Blacksburg and the three-time defending state champs Western Albemarle lurking.
Northside junior Catherine White is clear-cut favorite to win the individual title for Group AA girls as she is the defending state champion and her lone defeat this season was at the hands of Foot Locker finalist Aurora Scott, who competes with a loose affiliation at a private school in Chesapeake. White won last year\'s race by a 13 second margin. If she wants to push the pace, she could win this year\'s race at least by 30 seconds with the way she has been running this fall. At the Region III Meet, on a fairly challenging 5K course at Greenfield Recreation Park, White blew away the field as she won by a whole minute over race runner-up Stephanie Spickard of Lord Botetourt in an uncontested time of 18:37. Based off of performances from fellow regional runners on both the boys and girls\' side, the regional course looks to be significantly slower than the state course, which could mean that White might push for a time closer to 18 minutes on Saturday. If she is able to clock a time that swift, it is hard to imagine any other runner in Group AA would be able to keep up with such a torrential pace. In the past five years, only Melissa Dewey of Hayfield in 2004 (18:10.7) and and Kiera Carlstrom of Oakton in 2001 (18:18.6) have been able to dip under 18:30 on the Great Meadows state course. White would be in some elite company then as Dewey was a Foot Locker All-American last fall and Carlstrom has went onto to compete at American University where she has earned All-American honors in cross country.
While White is not guaranteed the victory, it looks like their should be an exciting race for second between three great runners in Brentsville\'s Stewart, Region IV champion Anna Chase of Martinsville, and Region II runner-up Samantha Stafford of Western Albemarle. Stewart has definitely been on a hot streak this fall as it started with a great sub 19 run at Great American in September and only continued to get stronger as shown with her 18:25 5K win at the Region II Meet. However, it took a last minute kick to the finish for Stewart to overtake Western Albemarle\'s Stafford (18:28), so there is no reason why Stafford cannot even up the score this Saturday with Stewart. Martinsville senior Anna Chase seems to be too easily forgotten in talks of the state\'s top runners. Much of that has to do with the fact that she has spent the last few years in Germany and many have forgotten how Chase as a freshmen and sophomore was quickly becoming one of the state\'s elite runners. In 2002, Chase had the fastest time among freshmen regardless of classification. In her last state cross country race in 2003, Chase finished sixth in the Group AA race and beat current defending state champ White (8th) as well as Stewart (7th) and Stafford (14th). While Chase may have not had any jaw dropping performances like White this fall, White must clearly be weary of Chase given her proven track record.
The Brentsville boys dominated last year\'s AA state race with a team score of 33 points in their first year at the Group AA level. This year\'s score could be even lower with four of their runners having excellent shots of snabbing All-State honors individually. Region II champion Nick Gehlsen leads the charge for the Tigers, who find themselves ranked fifth currently in the NTN southeast region. Gehlsen won the Region II Meet in a personal best time of 15:49 and has to be considered as an outside threat to win the state title individually. His former teammate and current VMI freshmen Pat Eggleston won the state title last fall. Teammates Adam Henken, Ray Delgado, and Henry Melius are also expected to finish in the All-State top 15 as all have hovered around 16 minutes for the 5K in recent races. Henken dipped under 16 minutes to finish third at the Region II Meet in 15:58. Delgado clocked a swift 16:05 at their district meet, but then sat out the regional race to rest a sore achilles, but Coach Dulin has indicated he will be ready to race on Saturday. There should not be much time separation between top runner Gehlsen and the remaining top four with Henry Melius just coming off a 16:06 5K performance at the regional meet. To add further insult to injury in how ugly it might get on Saturday with the Tigers simply running over the Group AA field, the team\'s fifth runner Eric Ekholm clocked a 16:33 at Great Meadows at regionals and Eric Truschel (16:51) also was under 17 minutes as well in the race.
The toughest competition for the Brentsville Tigers they have already seen at the Region II Meet, which annually seems to have most of Group AA\'s top teams. And the Region II results indicated that Brentsville has to be overwhelming favored to win with their 53 point margin of victory over Group AA #2 ranked Western Albemarle. Qualifying for the state meet was special for the Warriors considering they had not been to the meet as a team since 2000. Ironically, the Warriors won the state title that year as well. Coach Lindy Bain has a very up and coming squad that looks to return to that same dominance in Group AA. The team had a surprising front runner at the regional race in senior Matt Satterwhite (7th, 16:08) as overtook usual top runner Will Massie (8th, 16:09). Satterwhite and Massie should work together on Saturday to earn All-State honors as well as lead their team to a strong finish. Freshmen brother Kyle Satterwhite is not too bad himself for a solid front three for Western Albemarle as the younger Satterwhite ran a 16:38 at regions. While the Warriors have a solid group of five with fellow underclassmen in freshmen James Howard-Smith (16:58) and sophomore Andy Stafford (17:02), they simply lack the up front firepower to compete with a team like Brentsville that could very well put four runners ahead of their top runner.
One team that matches up with Brentsville well with the up front guys is Fort Defiance, but the problem is for the Indians as it has been all season, they only have four solid guys. Fort Defiance has four guys that can run with any four any team has in the state, but after that a flood of runners wearing other team\'s jerseys usually comes in before the next Fort Defiance runner. The Fort Defiance upperclassmen will certainly come ready to run though as they were members of the 2003 state championship squad that upset James Wood and last year\'s 2004 state runner-up squad. Senior Matt Bailey, junior Daniel Alonso, and senior Derek Hizer all have All-State potentional individualy. Fort Defiance also has had one of the best new faces on the cross country scene this fall in freshmen Alex Ott, who posted a 16:22 5K at the regional race. A freshmen by the name of Michael Clifton ran a huge race in the 2003 state championship. Could history repeat itself with Ott? Unfortunately, it will take a lot more than a great race from Ott or the other top four runners. They will need to either unveil their secret weapon in the form a solid fifth man on Saturday or their current fifth runner must finally step up on Saturday as their fifth at the regional race was a distance 81st place at the Region II Meet. The eighth place finishing team in the meet, Spotswood had a better fifth man than Fort Defiance.
Like Western Albemarle, Region I champions Jamestown are looking to return back to the state meet podium after a going on a similar hiatus from a top three finish. After three consecutive years of top three state finishes in 1999 (3rd), 2000 (2nd), and state championship in 2001, the Eagles have came nowhere close to finishing that well at the state level. A year ago, Jamestown finished 12th at the state meet. However, this is not the same team as shown by their team performances throughout this past fall. One of the highlights of the Eagles\' season was winning the Runnin\' With The Wolves Invitational over Group AAA ranked West Springfield. While Coach Townsend has no star runner like Bryce Ruiz on those past great Jamestown team, he has a much stronger and tighter pack than those squads as shown at the Region I Meet. On the Loriella Park 5K course in Fredricksburg, the Eagles top five only had a 24 second difference between them with senior Thomas Horley (5th, 17:04), junior Andrew Mearns (7th, 17:12), freshmen John Holt (8th, 17:13), sophomore Raymond Hutchinson (15th, 17:23), and junior Kirk Aldridge (18th, 17:28). While the pack might not do them any good against this year\'s stacked Brentsville squad, having a tight pack like that on Saturday could see them very well on the podium and second behind Brentsville. With Horley being the lone senior on this squad and Brentsville taking some heavier losses to graduation, Jamestown could be setting themselves up for a state crown in 2006 much like the 2000 team did with a state runner-up finish leading into their 2001 state title.
Sherando should also be in the fray of things as any team that qualifies out of the fiercely competitive Region II Meet definitely deserves consideration. Only three points behind Western Albemarle and five points ahead of the great four member team at Fort Defiance, Sherando has an excellent front runner in senior Levi Watson (15:56 5K, Region II Meet) who finished runner-up to Brentsville\'s Gehlsen at the regional race and another solid individual in All-Region junior Ryan Witt (16:16 regions), who is not to be confused with the 2004 Midlothian graduate and current BYU sophomore Ryan Witt. Behind Watson and Witt is a modest back pack with senior Stephen Gregory (16:46 regions), freshmen Scott Guichard (16:59 regions), and junior Edgar Arellano (17:06 regions). They could very well earn a spot on the podium as they matchup well with regional rival Western Albemarle and well-packed Jamestown, while they can exploit Fort Defiance lacking a fifth runner.
Will Saturday be the start of the Griff Graves dynasty in Virginia? Graves transferred to Abingdon High School from Alabama this summer where Graves had established himself as one of the state\'s up and coming stars. The Region IV champion received plenty of hype heading into this season as he had posted a 9:30 3200 and 15:39 5K as a freshmen in Alabama. This fall Graves has proven himself clearly as the state\'s future distance hope as he has won five major invitationals while having a very heavy racing schedule. In one of his more recent races, Graves won the Highlands District title at Sugar Hollow Park in a time of 14:59, which happened to be only 14 seconds slower than what Marion\'s Fleet Hower ran in 2001 as Hower went onto to become a Foot Locker All-American that fall. Graves had several encounters with probably his biggest obstacle in winning his first Virginia state title in his first try out in Christiansburg senior John Horst. In three head-to-head matchups, Graves has two wins over Horst, while Horst won the last one at Bristol Cross. Horst finds himself in a familar role as the favorite and possessing the top ranking. In last year\'s race, Horst was considered by many to be the favorite as well, but ended up finishing a disappointing 14th place. However, Horst could duplicate what his former teammate Justin Hatch did in 2003 in bouncing back from a poor state race in the year previously to win it in the following year.
Outside threats to either Graves or Horst taking the title include three others in Northside senior Zac Edwards, Brentsville\'s Gehlsen, and Marion sophomore Jason Yontz. Edwards has not raced Graves this season, but holds one defeat over Horst this season at the Metro Invitational. However, Horst has beaten Edwards on three other occassions including a decisive 26 second victory at the Region III Meet. Gehlsen has not really battle tested against the top title contenders, so it is anyone\'s guess who he shall stack up against the Southwest Virginia stars. Jason Yontz has quickly jumped back on everyone\'s radar screen after being starting off the season fairly slowly. However, Yontz is making another strong late season push and should not be taken for granted as shown in last year\'s state race where he took state runner-up honors and was only two seconds away from winning the race. Yontz finished 20 seconds behind Graves at the regional meet in runner-up honors.
The Group AAA girls\' race will pit together two very talented and deep squads against one another that could have huge NTN implications in #4 NTN southeast ranked Oakton and #3 state ranked Midlothian. The Oakton girls are hoping they learned from last year when they came into the state meet as the overwhelming favorites and seeming to be destined to make a trip to Portland, Oregon for the Nike Team Nationals. At last year\'s state meet, the Oakton girls had an utter collapse as they did not even make it onto the state meet podium with a fourth place finish. It would definitely take another complete collapse for a repeat performance at the state meet with the team that Oakton brings to The Plains. At the Northern Region Meet, regularly the state\'s toughest region, the Oakton girls were able to walk out with the regional crown and with breathing room to spare as they won by 27 points over runner-up Fairfax. The Lady Cougars had a 18:27 average on the 2.98 mile course and a time spread of one minute and eight seconds between their top five. However, it is easy for the spread to be over a minute with a front runner like senior Kayley Byrne as she won the regional individual title in a narrow victory over Lake Braddock senior Erin Klein as both runners finished in 17:46. Three fellow Oakton runners snagged All-Region honors with Byrne as senior Rebekah Berlin (10th, 18:31), sophomor Nora Meehan (11th, 18:31), and junior Meredith Tighe (15th, 18:37) all finished within six seconds of each other. Sophomore Hallie Eilerts (24th, 18:54) crossed the line as the team\'s final scorer, while senior Sara Hiller (29th, 19:00) almost gave the team six runners under 19 minutes.
While the Midlothian girls have probably not been getting the respect they deserve in the NTN rankings as they seem to be based off the team\'s mid-season performances at national caliber meets like Great American and Manhattan Invitational, they have definitely gained respect among their peers within the state from their performances at their district and regional meets. After winning the Great Meadows Invitational to kick off the season and beat currently Nike Team Nationals ranked Oakton and Brentsville. However, in their return encounter at Great American, the Lady Trojans raced without key top four member Paige Johnston due to her soccer committments and as a result to her absence and a few subpar races from other team members, Midlothian finished behind both Brentsville and Oakton. However, when the Midlothian girls were able to finally race full strength at the district and regional meets with Johnston back in the lineup, Coach Morgan\'s squad showed just why they deserve to be ranked among the likes of Brentsville and Oakton. At the Central Region Meet, the Lady Trojans put all the spectators on hand in awe as they took four of the top five places with sophomore Samantha Dow (2nd, 19:08), junior M.C. Miller (3rd, 19:22), sophomore Erin Stehle (4th, 19:24), and freshmen Paige Johnston (5th, 19:27). The impressive pack of 19 seconds that existed between the four runners is even more noteworthy considering the Pole Green course is considered only slightly faster than the Great Meadows state course. With that in mind, all four runners would have to be considered as having their own individual shots at All-State honors, but all four have a larger team goal in mind. Midlothian\'s fifth runner at the regional meet was Mariah Landry with a 20:01 clocking for All-Region honors. Sophomore Tierney Willard could also run as a solid fifth runner for Midlothian at states as she had a subpar regional race (20:31) after having a breakthrough district race (20:06).
Your only as good as your fifth runner seems to definitely hold true in who is going to come out on top between Oakton and Midlothian. Both teams clearly have a front four that is solid, but then have slight gaps between their fourth and fifth. That gap presents plenty of opportunity for points to be gained or lost. Coaches for both teams realize this and will make it clear to each runner that every point counts on Saturday.
While a lot of the focus will be on the Oakton and Midlothian girls, last year\'s surprise win by the Lake Braddock girls showed anything can happen on state meet Saturday. Northern Region runner-up Fairfax could pull the same upset as last year\'s regional runner-up Lake Braddock did. The Fairfax girls have ran impressive all fall. Jessica Trapeni (6th, 18:06) led the squad at the regional meet. In the team\'s last race on a full 5K course at the Lee-Davis Invite, Trapeni (19:50) led an impressively tight spread of runners on the Pole Green Park course with Liz Kakouris (20:05), Anne-Marie Duncan (20:09), and Frances Dowd (20:11). Fairfax\'s times at Pole Green though put in perspective how impresive the Midlothian girls\' times were on the same course (slightly altered for the regional meet) just three weeks later.
Another Northern Region squad that could definitely fit themselves on the state meet podium is the Westfield girls after finishing third at the regional meet. With All-Region performers Alexis Deegan and Tasia Potasinski leading the way, the Westfield girls actually topped Fairfax the week earlier at their district meet for second place honors behind district champion Oakton. If the Midlothian girls blow up, it is very realistic for the Concorde District to sweep the podium with Oakton, Fairfax, and Westfield.
Few could have seen the rise of Albemarle junior Rachel Rose as one of the state\'s top runners coming into this fall\'s cross country season. While many forget she did earn All-State honors last fall as sophomore with a 12th place finish at states, skipping outdoors to play soccer made her easy to slip many minds when thinking of the state\'s top returnees. However, after an amazing fall of racing, Rose enters as the favorite to win the Group AAA state title. Rose clocked one of the state\'s fastest 5K times this season winning the Octoberfest Invitational over a loaded field in October in a time of 17:58. Last week, Rose won her first Northwest Region title in a time of 18:14 on the Panorama Farms 5K course, which some consider very comparable to Great Meadows. Rose has responded well to her new role as the top runner everyone is going after, but it will be interesting to see how she performs under the extra pressure that comes at the state meet.
Fellow regional champions Kristin Wolfe of James River and Kristy Tobin of Great Bridge. Wolfe had an exceptional run at the Central Region Meet to win in a time of 18:43. Only Aurora Scott (18:13) has ran faster on a Pole Green Park course. Tobin\'s performance at the Eastern Region Meet ranked just as high as posted a time of 18:13 on the Newport News Park course. Her time was faster than both 2003 state champion Natalie Sherak of Kellam (18:22) and 2002 state champion Jennifer Boyd of Hickory (18:15) ran in their regional title races at Newport News Park. Tobin is hoping she can bring back another state title to the Virginia Beach and Chesapeake area. Wolfe and Tobin raced against one another earlier in the season at the William & Mary Invitational with the sophomore Wolfe (18:19, 3.05mi) getting the better of the junior Tobin (18:24, 3.05mi). In that same race five seconds behind was eventual Northwest Region runner-up Kaylan Comer of Colonial Forge. At the regional meet, Comer clocked an impressive time of 18:34 to finish second to Albemarle\'s Rose in the race. A duplicate performance at states should put Comer in the thick of things if Rose has an off day. Senior Stefanie Slekis also has to be considered in the fray even after subpar regional race.
While Oakton senior Kayley Byrne will be running more for her team than herself as a team state title and possibly NTN berth is on the line for her squad, she has to consider herself in the individual running as well after winning the Northern Region title in 17:46 over Lake Braddock\'s Erin Klein in an identical time. However, a more conservative race approach might be more beneficial for her team\'s cause. However, with defending state champions Lake Braddock failing to make it out of the region by finishing fifth at the regional meet, Klein has more freedom to race more aggressively for her own individual glory.
The Clarke County girls return as the defending Group A state champions and look stronger than last year\'s squad that won by a 3 point margin over Central High School. While top runner Danielle Moyer has not been in her same dominating form from a year ago when she won the individual state title as a freshmen, she still is a strong front runner for the Lady Eagles as she finished third at the Region B Meet in 19:48. Not far behind Moyer in the regional race were freshmen Erin Broy (4th, 19:54) and senior Elizabeth Mumaw (5th, 19:58). Mumaw finished eighth in last year\'s state race and will be looking to earn All-State honors once again, while Broy is going for her first All-State award. Clarke County could possibly have four individuals in the top 15 or at least in the top 20 as freshmen Sophia Holmes had a strong regional race to finish eighth in 20:32. The Lady Eagles nearly saw five of their runners under 21 minutes at Panorama Farms for their regional race as Tori Neuber ran fifth for the squad in 14th place with a 21:08 clocking.
Region C champions Patrick Henry from Glade Spring may be the team that has the best shot at challenging the defending champions as Clarke County won their regional meet by 40 points from their nearest competitor in George Mason. At the Region C Meet, the Patrick Henry girls won by a nine point margin over Radford. Senior Maggie Lester leads the Patrick Henry girls as she finished third at the regional race, but also finished fourth in the state race last year. Jessie Morgan could potentially join Lester on the All-State team as she is ranked 14th in Group A currently and has ran 20:07 for 5K this season.
After winning the state title as a sophomore in 2003 only to be defeated in 2004 by Clarke County\'s Moyer, Glenvar senior Kelly Clark seems poised to win back the title as she heads into Saturday\'s race as the favorite. Clark is coming off an impressive regional race where she set a course record in her winning time of 17:37 on the Giles County High School three mile course. After winning her regional title by 21 seconds over Craig County\'s Lori Crotts, her greatest competition lies in Region B with regional champion Mariah Hagadone of Buffalo Gap (19:14) and runner-up Susanna Sullivan of George Mason (19:23). Both Clark and Hagadone had ran exceptionally well when they have gotten the opportunity to race against Group AA and AAA competition. At the Metro Invitational in Salem last month, Clark took runner-up honors in the race behind Group AA defending state champion and favorite Catherine White (18:06) in a personal best time of 18:22 for 5K. Hagadone had a solid run at Great American with a time of 19:25 and finished with second place honors (19:37) at the Albemarle Invitational behind Western Albemarle\'s Stafford.
In the final race of the day, the Clarke County boys will be looking to take care of some business. Coming in as the overwhelming favorites as they currently have all of their top seven runners ranked in the top 15 in Group A and knocking on the door of a NTN southeast regional ranking as the fourth ranked team in the state overall, their first objective is to defend their state title, but they have bigger plans as well. The Eagles will get a chance to see what the Brentsville boys run in the Group AA race and what the Oakton and Thomas Jefferson boys can muster in the Group AAA race to follow. While those teams, especially the Group AAA schools, may have to run strategic races with closer team scores expected, the Clarke County boys have the luxury to really test themselves as they have such amazing depth in comparision to other Group A teams. Simon Biddle-Snead leads the charge for the Eagles as the defending Group A state champion and heavy race favorite for Saturday. Biddle-Snead is currently ranked sixth in the entire state as he has defeated some of the state\'s top Group AA and AAA runners this fall including Zac Edwards of Northside and Patterson Wilhelm of E.C. Glass. One of Biddle-Snead\'s biggest threats may come from his talented freshmen teammate Ben Vellieux (16:24) who finished 10 seconds behind the junior Biddle-Snead (16:14) at their regional meet at Panorama Farms. The Eagles nearly perfect scored their regional meet with a team score of 17 points as they took the first four places with Biddl-Snead, Veilleux, Michael Leonard (16:37), and Daniel Callan (16:57) all dipping under 17 minutes. The rest of the Clarke County top seven was not too far behind Callan with Bryan Broy (8th, 17:13), Chris York (9th, 17:20), and Joe Racer (10th, 17:21). Panorama Farms is a course very comparable to Great Meadows and having a top five, much less a top seven like Clarke County had at their regional meet usually has teams in the hunt to win the Group AAA state title.
Patrick Henry may have to settle with runner-up finishes on both the boys and girls\' sides as the boys team looks to be the second best team in Group A behind Clarke County heading into Saturday. The Region C champions by 18 points over Radford, the Patrick Henry boys are led by Charlie Counts, who finished third (16:26) in the regional race. Three other teammates finished in the top eight with Counts with Benji Hayton (4th, 16:56), Jack Morgan (5th, 16:57), and Dexter Minton (8th, 17:05) on a three mile course.
Biddle-Snead certainly will have his work cut out for him to win his second consecutive state title as Radford sophomore Nathan Brame would like to cross the line first just as much as him. Brame has a string of great runs this season including a course record breaking win at the regional meet in 15:51 for the three mile course. Brame also set a course record at the Galax Invitational with a 15:53 clocking on the Southwest Virginia Training Center 5K course.
All of the observations and predictions go without mentioning that anything can happen at the state meet and you can throw all the rankings and hype leading into Saturday out the window when the gun goes off. Who wants it more will be the theme of the day. Good luck to all competitors.
THE PLAINS, VA -- Unfortunately I will not be at this year\'s state meet at Great Meadows as I promised my stepfather I\'d help pace him in his first ever marathon in Richmond this weekend, but I can still give my two cents of what to look for and expect this Saturday at Great Meadows. Not only will state titles be on the line, but for many teams Saturday will be a make or break situation for Nike Team National berths. Group AA kicks off things on Saturday morning with the AA girls as the first race at 10:30 am and AA boys following at 11:15. The Brenstville boys and girls are expected to sweep the state titles and set the bar high for NTN aspiring teams in the Group AAA races, which make up the middle portion of the meet. AAA girls go off at 11:45 am and AAA boys start at 12:30 pm. Oakton and Midlothian girls will butt heads, while there are a handful of teams that have to be considered in contention for the boys\' team title in AAA with the Oakton boys leading the way. The meet could possibly a see a clean sweep of teams with the Clarke County boys and girls heavily favored in the Group A division, which are the last races of the day with the girls at 1:00 pm and boys at 1:45 pm.
The Western Albemarle girls streak of three consecutive state titles seems to be coming to an end on Saturday as the top ranked team in the state of Virginia, Brentsville aims to make a statement in the opening race of the day to the top girls\' teams in Group AA as well as the Nike Team Nationals committee. If the Lady Tigers can maul the Group AA field well enough and show a stronger team performance than the likes of Oakton and Midlothian in Group AAA race, a case could be made for #5 NTN Southeast ranked Brentsville team to be considered for one of those two teams for the region. At the Region II Meet, the Lady Tigers put six runners in the top 20 places in one of the state\'s most competitive regions. With a team average of 19:11, Brentsville easily won by a 53 point margin over the defending state champs Western Albemarle. The squad will be led on Saturday by Region II individual champion in junior Becky Stewart. Stewart clocked a 18:25 on the Great Meadows hill course to win the regional title and figures to probably be defending state champion Catherine White\'s biggest threat. A pair of underclassmen follow Stewart on the team in sophomore Amelia Emerson and freshmen Lauren Bussian. At the Region II Meet, Emerson (5th, 19:02) and Bussian (7th, 19:06) nearly dipped under 19 minutes with Stewart with All-Region performances. Junior Julia Mitchell (13th, 19:37) made it four All-Region runners from Brentsville, while freshmen Maggie Gentry (16th, 19:43) and junior Samantha Woodward (19th, 19:54) showed the great depth Coach Dulin\'s team possesses. The team\'s Region II performance was by far their best team run this season and showed scary implications of what this team might do at the state meet this Saturday.
A team that looked to possibly be an outside threat to the heavily favored Brentsville squad, the Blacksburg girls, are coming off a subpar regional performance and hoping to bounce back into top form to give the top ranked Lady Tigers a scare. The Blacksburg girls had been riding high coming in the Region III meet as shown with their victory at the Octoberfest Invitational over severaly highly ranked Group AAA teams such as Westfield, Fairfax, and defending AAA state champs Lake Braddock (who failed to qualify out of the Northern Region Meet). The Blacksburg girls still find themselves ranked #5 in the entire state and #2 in Group AA behind Brentsville coming into Saturday\'s race, but have to run a lot stronger than they did at their regional meet if they hope to just hold that position. At the Region III Meet, the Lady Bruins still won the regional crown, but a closer than expected challenge from Jefferson Forest 11 points behind them. However, if Blacksburg can run like they did at Great Meadows in October, Brentsville could find themselves in trouble if they have an off day as Blacksburg had a strong top four that day of Ariel Burbey (18:56), Allison Homer (19:36), Laurel MacMillan (19:41), and Cate Berenato (19:42). Nothing will be given to the favored Brentsville squad with Blacksburg and the three-time defending state champs Western Albemarle lurking.