Girls Individual Winner - Hannah Lowery (Stafford) 19:13
Boys Individual Winner - Brian O'Loughlin (Colonial Forge) 16:28
The Colonial Forge girls were expected to win big at the Chancellor Invitational when sizing up the field heading into the meet, but the Colonial Forge boys who lost several key members from loaded 2010 squad due to graduation were a bit of a surprise in repeating as Chancellor Invite champs over their district rivals from Stafford. Despite Colonial Forge having a 1-2 finish from Brian O'Loughlin (16:28) and David Pennesi (16:33) who were able to break away from a pack of the Commonwealth District's best including Nic Wolfe of Mountain View, Shaquon Wilkins of Riverbend, and Greg Bohmke of Stafford, the Stafford boys had appeared to pack it in after Forge's talented front two. However, it was only a pack of four for Stafford with Bohmke (4th, 16:45), Joey Abbatiello (7th, 16:56), Chapin Baxter (9th, 17:17), and Ian McCleod (11th, 17:19) to allow Colonial Forge to find their next three runners coming in before Stafford's fifth to secure the 62-71 win. Stafford was missing their #4 from last year on Saturday in Brandon Hinton (16:17 5K best). Nonetheless, Colonial Forge definitely made it known that 2011 would not be a rebuilding year as they have developed some runners behind front runners O'Loughlin and Pennesi. For O'Loughlin, the individual win on Saturday was a big confidence boost for him and assurance after missing most of the track season due to injury.
Stafford's Hannah Lowery was not as fast as she was one year ago when she broke 19 minutes on the difficult 5K course layout at Loriella Park, but the returning Group AAA state champion looked at ease without much competition en route to her 19:13 victory. Lowery's next major race will include much more competition at the Oatlands Invitational, which she will see indoor and outdoor 1600 meter state champion Megan Moye of Cosby among others. Lowery should have much fresher legs this season compared to last fall when she was doubling time with field hockey. No more field hockey for Lowery as she is now a full-time runner. She was all ahead of another sub 5 minute miler in Mountain View senior Kimberley Ficenec (2nd, 20:07), who is looking to become more accomplished at the 5K distance this fall after winning the New Balance Outdoor Nationals title at 800 meters this past June. Ficenec, racing in training shoes, went out conservatively and moved up throughout the race.
The power of pack running was on display by the Colonial Forge girls as their green jerseys were well visible among the chase pack after Lowery. The state's #2 ranked squad placed five girls among the top ten places with Jenna Walker leading the way in fourth place at 20:26 then followed by Shaina Manuel (5th, 20:32), Megan Rebholz (7th, 20:43), Lilly Moore (8th, 20:47), and Sara Myers (10th, 21:03). Putting almost five girls under 21 minutes early in the season at a slower course like Loriella Park is a noteworthy performance from last year's Group AAA state third place finishing squad. While their 34 points had them well ahead of the remaining teams at Chancellor, Jamestown and Brentsville had a competitive race with one another for second place. Both teams could very well be racing for top 3 state meet podium finishes later in the season. Jamestown's runner-up finish at the Chancellor Invite with 90 points was the program's best finish ever in the meet. The Jamestown girls had four girls among the top 20 including the Mearns twins (Tia - 12th, Devon - 14th) as well as their promising new addition in freshmen Avory Gillem (15th).
The Brentsville program took home a pair of third place team trophies as their boys and girls' squads both have exceeded pre-season expectations in the first two weeks of the season and both appear capable of advancing out of an always competitive Region II and making their presence known at the state meet. Haley Ruiz led the Brentsville girls with a sixth place run of 20:35, while the Brentsville boys had one of the smallest time gap margins for their top five in the boys' race at 67 seconds.
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