2003 Private Schools Cross Country Preview

With the graduation of Fork Union\'s Kippy Keino, a big gap is left as who will be the next star among the private school ranks as Keino provided plenty of press and accolades for the less covered classification of high school running in the state. A handful of runners come into this upcoming cross country season with the potential to emerge as the best.

The top returner from last year\'s Independent School State Meet is rising junior Bobby Lindemann of Peninsula Catholic. Lindeman clocked a personal best 5K time of 16:34 at the TCIS Championships last fall, and has already posted a 17:17 on the roads this summer. Lindemann finished fifth in last year\'s race with a respectable time of 17:22.11 on the challenging Woodberry Forest 5K course, but will have to go much faster this year in order to win the title with many other runners in title contention. Lindemann ran a personal best 3200 time of 10:17 at the Independent Schools Outdoor State Meet, but finished seventh with that time with a few returning runners finishing ahead of them.

Two runners who finished ahead of him in that race come from one school, St. Christopher\'s, as rising seniors Danny Ludeman and Matthew Downs have the potential to finish 1-2 at this year\'s state meet. Ludeman was seventh (17:23.64) in last year\'s race, while Downs was eighth (17:26.93). Both had strong outdoor track seasons as Ludeman posted personal bests of 4:33.64 in the 1600 meter run and 10:00.34 in the 3200 meter run and Downs went 10:05.24 in the deuce.

Denbigh Baptist\'s Jordan Price is hoping he can return to his previous top form. Price finished eleventh (17:38.76) at last year\'s state meet. The rising senior has a 5K personal best of 16:14.60, but that time was clocked in Price\'s sophomore year at Foot Locker South. If Price can come close to his Foot Locker performance from two years ago, he may very well be in contention to win the state title.

Another runner who had their breakthrough race at Foot Locker South is rising sophomore Matt Abatecola of Virginia Episcopal. As a freshmen last fall, Abatecola finished 17th (17:52) at the state meet, but then ran a full minute faster in Charlotte with a 16:51 clocking at Foot Locker South. Being only an underclassmen, Abatecola has a lot more upside and room for improvement than the other contenders.

Collegiate\'s Taylor Richardson, who will be a junior in the fall, improved drastically over his sophomore year from cross country to outdoor track. At cross country states, Richardson finished a meager 23rd place with a time of 17:57.68, but by the end of outdoors, Richardson had posted a 4:38.84 for 1600 meters and 10:12.64 for 3200 meters. With no certain favorite, it could be expected that this year\'s race for the individual independent school state crown will be much more exciting and closer than year\'s past. While an arguement could be made that the male side in the private school ranks lacks a true star runner that could compete amongst the best public schools have to offer, that is not the case on the female side with Norfolk Academy junior Ginna Ellis and St. Catherine\'s sophomore Katie Doswell returning as two of the best distance runners in the state.

Ellis had a strong fall last year as she was the state meet runner-up (19:41.72) to eventual Foot Locker All-American Cara Kiernan of The Potomac School and was consistently one of the best cross country runners in the state all season. She ended last fall on a high note by earning All-South honors at Foot Locker South with a personal best time of 18:35 to finish 23rd overall in the race. What was looking to be an amazing sophomore year for Ellis came to an abrupt end with a season ending stress fracture in outdoors. It still remains to be seen how she will bounce back from the serious injury.

If anyone can beat Ellis it is Doswell, because after all, she has done it before. Twice last fall, Doswell crossed the line before Ellis. While Ellis sat out the outdoor season, Doswell kept plugging away with sensational performances. At the Independent School State Meet, Doswell defeated All-American runner Kiernan in the 1600 meter run with a personal best of 5:07 and then took runner-up honors to Kiernan later on in the meet in the 3200 meter run.

Another runner who has the possibility to break up Ellis and Doswell and even move ahead of the two is Episcopal\'s Elizabeth Harrison. Harrison was a former teammate of Doswell at St. Catherine\'s prior to switching schools to Episcopal. Harrison finished fourth in last year\'s state meet race (20:19.48) behind Kiernan, Ellis, and Doswell.

As far as the team battles go, the titles may stay in Richmond with the St. Christopher\'s boys and St. Catherine\'s girls looking strong once again to repeat as champions.