9/10 Weekend Coverage

MileSplit Staff

 

After two small weekends of meets to start the cross country season, action really heats up this weekend with more than a handful of major invitationals across the state with the vast majority of top teams and individuals planning on making their season debuts by Saturday. MileStat.com plans to have coverage at several of these events as well as results and write-ups on Saturday evening into Sunday.

 

Note that the Monroe Parker Invitational originally scheduled for Saturday, September 10th at Burke Lake Park in Fairfax County has now been moved to Wednesday afternoon on September 14th due to course conditions following the heavy rainfall and flooding in the area this past week.

 

Updated Database Rankings

Individuals: Boys 5K - Girls 5K

Team: Boys - Girls

 

Eastern Mennonite Invitational

 


Photo by Andrew Kicinski

 

Meet Highlights: A big upset in the girls' race with Wilson Memorial junior Hannah Rose knocking off reigning two-time Group A state cross country champion Katlyn Ayers of Strasburg with a decisive victory in her winning time of 19:36. Ayers was a distant second place with her time of 20:41. Saturday was Rose's first cross country race for Wilson Memorial after running track and qualifying for the Group AA State Track Championships in both indoor and outdoor this past year. Rose and her Wilson Memorial squad have dropped down to Group A this fall from Group AA, which now appears that Wilson Memorial and Rose are favorites as state title contenders following the Eastern Mennonite Invitational. Wilson Memorial won the team title as well with 74 points, while Group AA's Fort Defiance was second with 86 points and Group A #2 pre-season ranked Strasburg placed third with 110 points.

 


Photo by John Herzog

 

Anthony Wallis, one of the top ranked runners in Group A after a strong sophomore outdoor track season, kicked off his cross country season with a win against one of the better runners from his region (A) in Central's Brandon Poff (2nd, 17:48) with a time of 17:43 on a slower and difficult Peaks View 5K course in Harrisonburg. Wallis, a 1600 meter state runner-up this past June with a time of 4:25, also finished ahead of returning Region III individual champion Daniel Richards of Broadway. Harrisonburg boys kept Wilson Memorial from sweeping the team titles on Saturday with four runners in the top 12. The top four for the Blue Streaks finished in a 15 second span from 18:12 to 18:27.

 

Fork Union Invitational

On-Site Coverage

 


Photo by Scott Reid

 

Meet Highlights: Despite missing one of their top five runners in Chris Springer and a few subpar races from other top five runners including defending Group AAA 3200 meter state champion Adam Visokay (7th, 15:55), the VA #2 ranked Albemarle boys survived a scare at the Fork Union Invitational and were able to onto first place against a very competitive meet with Douglas Freeman (2nd, 140 points) and Trinity (3rd, 141 pts) close on their heels. The Albemarle boys looked impressive last week at the Ragged Mountain Cup with their two mile splits, but not nearly as dominant this week against tougher competition (and albeit in training shoes following Wednesday and Thursday workouts) at the three mile distance placing only 3 runners among the top 25 with Visokay (7th, 15:55), Ryan Thomas (14th, 16:14), and Ben Deal (25th, 16:41).

 


Photo by John Herzog

 

A testament to how deep the field was at Fork Union with a returning Group AAA All-State cross country runner in Deal finishing 25th, an unexpected winner came out of the race in Princess Anne senior Matthew Schwartzer besting a field including likely many champions in this fall's championship season. Schwartzer, who broke 4:20 in the mile at the end of the outdoor season, clocked a time of 15:27 on Fork Union's 3 mile course, which put 11 seconds ahead of Central Region favorite Ronnie Calkins (2nd, 15:38) of Douglas Freeman. The Freeman boys may draw more consideration now as a potential state meet podium squad this season after their runner-up performance at FUMA between Albemarle and defending private school state champions and VA #3 ranked Trinity. Douglas Freeman was ranked #8 in Virginia in MileStat.com's pre-season rankings.

 


Photo by Scott Reid

 

Megan Moye was not as nearly as fast as one year ago at Fork Union, but the heavy rainfall on the course over the week and lack of competition for Virginia's #2 ranked runner could have been a factor for the Cosby senior still posting a swift time of 18:12. The closest finisher to Moye was Albemarle junior Allison Huschke at 18:59. Huschke led the Albemarle girls to the team title, who did not have to sweat out finding the outcome like their boys' teammates with a 50 point margin of victory and nearly averaging under 20 minutes as a team on a slower 3 mile course. The Central Region took the next four team spots with a group of squads expected to contend for the final two regional spots after top squads Midlothian and Maggie Walker. Those teams at Fork Union included Mills Godwin (2nd, 140 pts), Atlee (3rd, 147 pts), Cosby (4th, 150 pts), and Douglas Freeman (5th, 158 pts).

 

 

 

 

Meet Results

Girls Elite Performances

Judges Classic

On-Site Coverage


Seumas O'Reilly of Warren County won easily in a time of 16:23 on a slow running Kernston Battlefield course. (Photo by Scott Shepherd)

 

Millbrook senior Crystal Nelson built up a 40 second margin of victory at the Judges Classic with a 19:35 clocking and her second invitational win of the young season. (Photo by Scott Shepherd)

Girls Elite Performances

Boys Elite Performances

Knights Crossing XC Invitational

On-Site Coverage

 

 


Photo by Jon Fleming

 

Meet Highlights: The biggest invitational of the weekend in Virginia proved to also be the fastest as possibly the course at Green Hill Park was far enough west from the heaviest rains in the state earlier in the week to not slow down the course. Hanover sophomore Molly Breidenbaugh ran the fastest 5K time so far in Virginia this fall with a 18:25 clocking to win against another great sophomore distance runner in Katie Fortner (18:42) of Cave Spring. Hidden Valley's Carolyn Bethel ran a stellar race for third place at 18:44. Despite a long morning bus drive to Salem, the Colonial Forge girls were sharp in their race with a big win at a major invitational with 77 points and 19:45 average. Colonial Forge had no girls in the top 10 individually, but the rest of their team soon came after the 10th finisher with five girls among the top 25. The Jefferson Forest girls knocked off AA #1 ranked Blacksburg to place third overall, who continue to compete early in the season without their top runner Hannah Brown.

 


Photo by Brian O'Loughlin

 

Colonial Forge senior Brian O'Loughlin followed up his 16:28 opening win at the Chancellor Invitational last weekend by dropping 43 second on a much quicker Green Hill Park and besting a loaded field of top ranked runners in 15:45. Joining O'Loughlin under 16 minutes at Knights Crossing were a trio of Group AA runners in Blacksburg's Nick Link (15:53), Cave Spring's Cody Seymour (15:55) and Staunton River's Stuart Robertson (15:57). Mount Tabor boys from Winston-Salem, North Carolina topped all Virginia schools present for the team title in the "A" race with 73 points and 16:35 average, while Blacksburg (2nd, 130 pts) finished just ahead of Colonial Forge (137 pts) for runner-up honors. Colonial Forge had more front runner from O'Loughlin and David Pennesi (5th, 16:05), but Blacksburg had more depth with seven runners ahead of Colonial Forge's fifth runner.

 

Girls Elite Performances

Boys Elite Performances

Newport News Invitational

On-Site Coverage

 

 

Meet Highlights: Hickory freshmen Rachel Kling made an immediate splash on a muddy Newport News Park 5K course on Saturday in winning the "A" race with a sub 19 minute performance. Kling was able to pull away from a lead pack including Maggie Walker's Rachel Galton and Daisy Banta, Paul VI's Meghan Blackstone, and Ocean Lakes sophomore Olivia Bethune for an impressive high school debut in her 18:59 victory. The Maggie Walker girls, ranked #1 in the state in MileStat.com's pre-season rankings, were competing without two of their top five runners in Jessica Lull and Nemo Keller, but still were able to win against another top ranked program in Ocean Lakes, who were also racing shorthanded without #1 runner Audrey Batzel and another top five runner in Nikki Park. Maggie Walker tallied 33 points compared to the 80 points by Ocean Lakes with five girls among the top 12 finishers in Galton (4th, 19:30), Banta (5th, 19:38), Victoria Herrera (7th, 20:12), Kelsey Miller (10th, 20:33), and Caroline Rose (12th, 20:42). The freshmen Herrera is a big addition to the Maggie Walker squad, who was already expected to be one of the top state title contenders in Group AAA this fall.

 

Olivia Bethune (2nd, 18:59) stepped up as the front runner for Ocean Lakes in her teammate and returning Eastern Region champion Audrey Batzel's absence (missed meet due to ACT testing) and battled hard Hickory's Kling for the win.  Her older sister Nicole Bethune (9th, 20:31) also placed among the top 10. Meghan Blackstone of Paul VI raced well on the same course which she won the Virginia Catholic Schools state title last fall. She posted a faster time than a year ago by 46 seconds with a 5K PR run of 19:01.

 


Photos by Ryan Kelly

It became a two-man race very early between York's Jack Little and Kellam's Sean Helmke. The pair continued to separate further from the rest of the field and only until the final straightaway was Little able to create enough distance between himself and Helmke to claim an individual win to start the 2011 cross country season in a performance of 16:03. Helmke was just behind him in second place at 16:04. Both Helmke and Little were under 16 minutes last year at the Newport News Invitational while not competing for first to show how the course had been slowed this year by the muddy conditions. Little and Helmke could both be regional champions by season's end with Little in Group AA's Region I and Helmke in Group AAA's Eastern Region.

 

Maggie Walker and Ocean Lakes were also the top two finishing teams in the varsity A boys' race as the Maggie Walker boys won with 62 points putting four guys under 17 minutes and three runners ahead of Ocean Lakes #1 runner. The Green Dragons are clearly solid through four runners with Matthew Pickering (4th, 16:40), Andrew Anderson (6th, 16:43), John Ziegler (7th, 16:44), and Alex Fleckenstein (15th, 16:57), but nearly a full minute separated their #5 runner Scott Mallory (17:56) from their #4 runner Fleckenstein. Their front four allowed them to hold off Ocean Lakes who were well packed with an incredibly tight 17 second gap between their entire top five from 16:49 to 17:07. While Maggie Walker will need to improve their #5 runner position throughout the season, the Ocean Lakes squad will need to have their pack move up more for both teams to be competitive at the state meet. 

 

 

Videos

2011 Newport News Invite - Varsity A Boys 2011 Newport News Invite - Varsity A Girls 2011 Newport News Invite - Varsity B Boys 2011 Newport News Invite - Varsity B Girls
2011 Newport News Invite - Varsity C Boys 2011 Newport News Invite - Varsity C Girls

Girls Elite Performances

Boys Elite Performances

Pole Green XC Classic

 


Photo by John Herzog

 

Meet Highlights: Midlothian, last year's Group AAA state champions for both boys and girls, started their season off in a low profile approach at the Pole Green Classic racing in trainers. Pole Green Park course can run slow in ideal conditions, much less muddy conditions and a soaked running surface from this week's rains, but Midlothian looked good on both sides in team victories. The Midlothian girls showed some depth issues without running one of their projected top five runners in Meghan Mulroy as there was a big drop off after an impressive top four including a sweep of the top three places individually in race winner Marie Johnston (19:53), Kara Dickerson (2nd, 19:59), Skylar Evans (3rd, 20:00), and Kari Johnston (6th, 20:39). After the younger Johnston, Midlothian's next finisher came in nearly two minutes later for total time gap of 2:33 for their top five. The gap did not hurt them on Saturday though as they won easily with a team score of 25 points compared to host school Lee-Davis in second place with 66 points. Their top three was able to finish ahead of Mountain View's Kimberley Ficenec (4th, 20:16), who finished second last week at the Chancellor Invitational. Midlothian's current top five gap issues would likely be resolved with the return of Meghan Mulroy (19:21 5K) and Katie Brendli (20:27 5K) to racing action.

 


Photo by John Herzog

 

The Midlothian boys do not have any depth issues as they had a tight spread of 29 seconds for their top seven, but a front runner or two will need to emerge for team who had two great runners one year ago who have graduated in Darren Barlow and Brayden Burleigh. Midlothian junior Andrew Gorsuch was the top finisher for the Trojans in third place finish at 17:06 as he trailed just behind Kurtis Steck (17:05) of Lafayette for second. Mountain View senior Nicholas Wolfe was able to run away from a chase pack of Lafayette and Midlothian runners for the individual victory in a solid time of 16:46 on a slow course. Midlothian tallied 31 points and averaged 17:21 as a squad, which was comprised of Gorsuch, Sean Willard (5th, 17:18), Ryan Peterson (6th, 17:22), Tyler Timblin (7th, 17:25), and freshmen Collin Hahn (10th, 17:35). The Lafayette boys gave the defending Group AAA state champs an honest challenge in the smaller invitational meet and look the part as a team to consider as a Group AA state title contender with five runners in the top 16 at Pole Green and team score of 44 points for second place.