William & Mary Invitational Coverage

William & Mary HS Invitational
MileSplit Staff

 

Meet Summary: Deep Run's Grayson Reid (Group AAA #24 ranked) had a breakthrough performance to win his first major invitational against seven higher ranked runners including over Central Region rival and favorite Ronnie Calkins of Douglas Freeman at the William & Mary Invitational with a time of 15:59 to throw his name in the hat as a contender in the Central Region and All-State finisher as well. Reid had lurked back for much of the race behind a lead pack which included the Douglas Freeman duo of Calkins and Ian McDonald, Lafayette's Kurtis Steck, Herndon's Bradley Heuer, Mountain View's Ben Sorensen, and Forest Park's Andrew Gaiser. The pack was pretty much in tact at the second to last hill with less than mile to go, but when the first runner appeared after the final turn with less than 200 meters to go, it was Reid all alone and well ahead to bring on home a monumental victory with a fist pump at the finish. Freeman's McDonald and Calkins dropped back to 6th and 7th as Calkins is working himself back into shape after having a summer injury setback. Forest Park's Andrew Gaiser followed up a solid third place finish at the Chancellor Invitational with a runner-up finish of 16:06 for the current VA #19 ranked runner. Lafayette's Kurtis Steck was able to rebound nicely after a fourth place finish at the Newport News Invitational and losing to his teammate Jason Menzies with a third place effort of 16:12 on his hometown's course.

The Deep Run boys looked to have also won the team title behind Reid's individual win as well as sophomore teammate Matthew Novak finishing high up there in 10th place with a time of 16:21, but a Maryland squad in Albert Einstein High School (117 pts) took home the first place team trophy by 15 points over a Deep Run squad (132 pts), who is inspired to finish strong this season for the final season of the program's only head cross country coach in the school's existence in Lake Stockdreher who is getting out of coaching after the fall season. The Deep Run boys, ranked #12 in Virginia, were able to finish ahead of the other top 15 state ranked squads in the meet including VA #14 West Springfield (3rd, 151 pts), VA #10 Forest Park (4th, 191 pts), and VA #6 Lafayette (5th, 199 pts). The West Springfield boys have often ran in the shadows as team behind their female counterparts over recent years, but this year's group is looking to gain some spotlight and compete for a state meet berth out of the Northern Region. Their team lacks a front runner, but were well packed at William & Mary with only a 42 second separating their top five from 16:48 to 17:28.

Two of the state's best girls in Caroline Alcorta of West Springfield and Katie Fortner of Cave Spring dueled it out at Eastern State Hospital in Williamsburg, but the junior Alcorta was able to pull away in the final mile for a decisive 17 second win and time of 18:20 with Fortner back in second at 18:37.  Alcorta and teammate Maddie Wittich (3rd, 19:17) going 1-3 in finish order helped the West Springfield girls (92 pts) bounce back from a disappointing show at last weekend's Monroe Parker Invitational to upset the VA #7 ranked Maggie Walker girls (2nd, 104 pts) for the team title. Their front running is outstanding for the Lady Spartans, but Coach Pelligrini would certainly like to decrease the current minute plus gap which exists between the West Springfield's #2 runner Wittich and #3 runner Katie Kennedy (20:19) as well as the remainder of the team's top five to feel confident about their chances to break into the top four of an always difficult Northern Region Meet.

The Maggie Walker girls are still running without their #2 returning runner in Daisy Banta, so their team is remaining formidable until her return in the coming weeks with four freshmen among the top five finishers behind senior Rachel Galton (9th, 19:41) who fell earlier during the race and was unable to make her way to the front as expected coming off her 18:40 win at the Newport News Invite. Three runners who took advantage of an off race from one of the state's top returning cross country runners and to finish ahead of Galton with strong individual races included Grassfield's Carolyn Cunniffe (6th, 19:35), Forest Park's Teresa Gregory (7th, 19:37), and Manchester's Elizabeth Hutton (8th, 19:39).

 

Varsity A Boys Top 5 Teams

1. Albert Einstein (MD) 117 pts
2. Deep Run 132 pts
3. West Springfield 151 pts
4. Forest Park 191 pts
5. Lafayette 199 pts


Photo by Ryan Kelly

 

Varsity A Boys Top 15 Individuals

1. Grayson Reid (Deep Run) 15:59
2. Andrew Gaiser (Forest Park) 16:06
3. Kurtis Steck (Lafayette) 16:12
4. Bradley Heuer (Herndon) 16:17
5. Nick Simpson (Albert Einstein MD) 16:17
6. Ian McDonald (Douglas Freeman) 16:19
7. Ronnie Calkins (Douglas Freeman) 16:19
8. Ben Sorensen (Mountain View) 16:20
9. Anteneh Girma (T.C. Williams) 16:21
10. Matthew Novak (Deep Run) 16:21
11. Ben Withbroe (Albert Einstein MD) 16:33
12. Jason Menzies (Lafayette) 16:39
13. Alex Fleckenstein (Maggie Walker) 16:39
14. Christopher Heydrick (River Hill MD) 16:40
15. Thomas Rabago (Forest Park) 16:41

 

Varsity A Girls - Top 5 Teams

1. West Springfield 92 pts
2. Maggie Walker 104 pts
3. River Hill (MD) 142 pts
4. Grafton 188 pts
5. Forest Park 234 pts

Photo by Ryan Kelly

 

Varsity A Girls - Top 15 Individuals

1. Carolina Alcorta (West Springfield) 18:20
2. Katie Fortner (Cave Spring) 18:37
3. Maddie Wittich (West Springfield) 19:17
4. Emily Kaplan (Georgetown Visitation Prep DC) 19:25
5. Allison Krein (River Hill MD) 19:27
6. Carolyn Cunniffe (Grassfield) 19:35
7. Teresa Gregory (Forest Park) 19:37
8. Elizabeth Hutton (Manchester) 19:39
9. Rachel Galton (Maggie Walker) 19:41
10. Melissa Teeple (Franklin County) 19:44
11. Darby McPhail (William Byrd) 19:48
12. Jordan Angers (Mountain View) 19:50
13. Alina Woodford (Patrick Henry-Roanoke) 19:58
14. Bethany King (Matoaca) 20:02
15. Rachel Rabbitt (Grafton) 20:04

 

2012 William & Mary Invitational Results: