Octoberfest Invitational Coverage

Sean McGorty's 15:10 - 2nd fastest in meet history behind only Foot Locker runner-up Bobby Lockhart

Photo by Steven Pham

2012 Octoberfest Invitational - Top 10 Boys Teams

1. Chantilly - 58 pts (16:15 avg)
2. Blacksburg - 103 pts (16:30 avg)
3. Battlefield - 144 pts (16:47 avg)
4. Hereford (MD) - 153 pts (16:51 avg)
5. Walter Johnson (MD) - 161 pts (16:53 avg)
6. Stone Bridge - 237 pts (17:05 avg)
7. James W. Robinson - 266 pts (17:12 avg)
8. Stafford - 285 pts (17:08 avg)
9. North Point (MD) - 307 pts (17:17 avg)
10. Patriot - 355 pts (17:25 avg)

 

2012 Octoberfest Invitational - Top 15 Boys Individuals

1. Sean McGorty (Chantilly) 15:10
2. Nick Link (Blacksburg) 16:00
3. Noah Combs (Blacksburg) 16:00
4. Ian Macleod (Stafford) 16:00
5. Matthew Paiser (Blacksburg) 16:14
6. Ben Freed (Gov. Thomas Johnson-MD) 16:20
7. Matthew Novak (Deep Run) 16:22
8. Faris Sakallah (Chantilly) 16:22
9. Peter Malander (Chantilly) 16:23
10. Matthew Calem (James Madison) 16:23
11. Luke Mazzu (Battlefield) 16:24
12. Jon Luckin (Hereford-MD) 16:27
13. Joey Abbatiello (Stafford) 16:30
14. Haileye Demsie (Washington-Lee) 16:31
15. Robert Walker (Brooke Point) 16:31

 


Photo by Scott Reid

 

2012 Octoberfest Invite - Top 10 Girls Teams

1. Blacksburg - 116 pts (19:48 avg)
2. Battlefield - 183 pts (20:12 avg)
3. James W. Robinson - 197 pts (19:54 avg)
4. Ocean Lakes - 212 pts (20:27 avg)
5. Washington-Lee - 233 pts (20:30 avg)
6. Tuscarora - 247 pts (20:40 avg)
7. Hereford (MD) - 259 pts (20:45 avg)
8. Chantilly - 281 pts (20:50 avg)
9. James Madison - 305 pts (20:55 avg)
10. Cosby - 307 pts (20:53 avg)

 

2012 Octoberfest Invite - Top 15 Girls Individuals

1. Jennifer Flack (Thomas Edison) 18:22
2. Macey Schweikert (James W. Robinson) 18:27
3. Emily Mulhern (Urbana-MD) 18:37
4. Bonnie Angermeier (Blacksburg) 18:43
5. Lauren Berman (James W. Robinson) 18:48
6. Katharine Benfer (Mills Godwin) 18:53
7. Nicole Carter (Battlefield) 18:54
8. Emily Kaplan (Georgetown Visitation Prep-DC) 19:00
9. Bailey Kolonich (Robert E. Lee) 19:09
10. Amber Hawkins (James Wood) 19:12
11. Sarah Angell (Washington-Lee) 19:24
12. Sarah Freix (Westfield) 19:32
13. Nicole Park (Ocean Lakes) 19:35
14. Olivia Bethune (Ocean Lakes) 19:38
15. Georgia Matthews (Battlefield) 19:39

 

Meet Summary: Chantilly's Sean McGorty showed himself as a national class runner in his thrilling victory at the Great American Cross Country Festival last week. Returning back to Virginia to race this weekend at the Octoberfest Invitational, McGorty showed why he is currently in a class of his own from the rest of the runners in the state. Ten seconds ahead of the half mile mark ended up being 30 seconds by the two mile mark as McGorty ran away from the field to tie the course record held by a past Foot Locker Nationals champion in Solomon Haile with a 15:10 clocking at Great Meadow. Only four-time Group AA state cross country champion Bobby Lockhart of John Handley has a faster time in meet history at 14:42 on a different course used for the 2001 Octoberfest Invitational.

Saturday was also another matchup in two weeks between Virginia's top two ranked teams Chantilly and Blacksburg who will not see each other in championship season. Blacksburg looked to match up a lot better to Chantilly than the previous weekend at Great Americian, especially after their top three finished strong to take three of the top five places with Nick Link (2nd, 16:00), Noah Combs (3rd, 16:00), and Matthew Paiser (5th, 16:14). However, Blacksburg was missing one of their top five runners in Matthew Borny (Saturday was an SAT date) and a over 50 second gap existed between #3 finisher Paiser and their #4 finisher in Luke Phillips (47th, 17:06) to allow Chantilly to come back on them on the back end.  Chantilly nearly put six runners among the top 25 with McGorty, Faris Sakallah (8th, 16:22), Peter Malander (9th, 16:23), Logan Miller (19th, 16:37), Adam Huff (21st, 16:41), and Ryan McGorty (26th, 16:47). The final score did not indicate as close of a team battle as it appeared after the first five finishers with Chantilly tallying 58 points for first and Blacksburg back in second with 103 points. Meanwhile, the Battlefield boys were third with 144 points and had a 37 second spread for their top five runners from 16:24 to 17:01.

The VA #7 Blacksburg girls (116 pts) were able to defeat the VA #5 Battlefield girls (183 pts) by a significant margin of 67 points. Blacksburg sophomore Bonnie Angermeier continues to lead her squad this fall as she placed fourth at Great Meadow with a time of 18:43. Battlefield had two top 15 finishers between senior Nicole Carter (7th, 18:54) and freshmen Georgia Matthews (15th, 19:39), but without one of their top three runners in Becca Howe to hurt their chances of defeating Blacksburg.

After not finishing last weekend at Paul Short, James Robinson junior Macey Schweikert finished this weekend's race and finished strong with a time of 18:27 along with sophmore teammate Lauren Berman (5th, 18:48) for the Robinson girls to grab third place with 197 points.

Coming across the finish line five seconds earlier than Schweikert though was Thomas Edison senior Jennifer Flack who won her second major invitational of the season (after taking first at Oatlands in September) and ran her third consecutive 5K PR race in as many weekends. Flack was patient early in the race sitting behind the front lead pack, before making a move in the second loop of the course to take the lead for good onto a final time of 18:22.

 

Oatlands Invitational Results:

 

Photo Gallery by Steven Pham - 3,000 photos total

Photo Gallery by Scott Reid - 689 photos total

 

Race Videos: Varsity A Girls - Varsity A Boys

Video Interview w/ Sean McGorty