Thomas Curtin

Check out the top rankings in the 5000 Meter Run for VA.

Here are the all-time rankings on the boys side for 5K

Check out the Virginia boys' all-time performances at McAlpine Park.

Here is quite the list of current and former Virginia greats. This list is the top performances ever at Great American.

Here are the top 1,000 boys times ever records at Oatlands.

Here are the top 1,000 times from Great Meadow's non-state course.

Over the next 11 days the eyes of the entire track & field world will be on the US Olympic Team Trials out in Eugene Oregon. Competing there will be 15 athletes from Virginia in 18 declared events. The Virginia contingent represents athletes who go all the way from the favorite to the final qualifier.

This Saturday has to go down in history as one of the greatest days in Virginia cross country history and it is all thanks to Loudoun County.

List of accepted athletes for the 2011 Southern Track Classic to be held Friday, May 13th at Sports Backers Stadium in Richmond.

MileStat.com proudly announces the first, second, and third team members of the 2010 All-MileStat.com Cross Country Team. 21 boys and 21 girls receive All-MileStat.com designation from the past cross country season. Runner of the Year, Coach of the Year, Freshmen of the Year, etc. award winners will be announced later this week.   All-MileStat.com XC Boys Selections: 1st Team - 2nd Team - 3rd Team     All-MileStat.com XC Girls Selections: 1st Team - 2nd Team - 3rd Team  

All photos by Tim Hagen   Outside of the Potomac Falls boys roll through the 32 team seeded varsity division with a team score of 118 points and time average of 16:26 on the newly designed full 5000 meter course at Bull Run Regional Park, the Glory Days Grill Invitational was full of thrilling finishes and nail biters in determining the team outcome. The VA #9 ranked Potomac Falls made easy work of the field putting their entire top five under 17 minutes including three among the top 20 in Juan Campos (9th, 16:09), Connor Wilson (14th, 16:18) and Nick Mogensen (18th, 16:20) to put 74 points between them and runners-up James Robinson (192 pts). The Robinson boys have been surging in the past two weeks with their solid team showing at Great American last week as they clipped VA #14 and Northern Region rival South Lakes (3rd, 209 pts) for second in the team standings and look to challenge for one of the four state meets at the regional meet at Burke Lake in a few weeks.   Northwest High School's (Germantown, MD) Chris Miller defeated some of the better runners from the Northern Region including Abraham Yacob (2nd, 15:42) of Robert E. Lee, Sean McGorty (5th, 15:53) of Chantilly, and Paul Gates of W.T. Woodson (8th, 16:01) as well as top Group AA runners from the Northwest corner of the state in Tommy Curtin (3rd, 15:42) of Loudoun County, Thomas Delaney (4th, 15:51) of John Handley, and Juan Campos (9th, 16:01) of Potomac Falls in his 15:35 victory. While Northwest's Miller was able to create a gap of 7 seconds by the finish line on his nearest competitors, there was no breathing room between Thomas Edison's Myah Hicks and Herndon's Carolyn Hennessey. Hicks was able to repeat as Glory Days Grill Invite champion after winning last year's race on a shorter course in 18:18, but not before having to sprint through the line for a second win due to a hard charging Hennessey as both runners posted matching final times of 18:28. The two led a total of eight others under 19 minutes at the new 5K course including Robert E. Lee freshmen Bailey Kolonich (3rd, 18:38) and Monacan junior Kaila Blackburn (4th, 18:46).   It was bragging rights for Fairfax County with two of the county's arguably best group of athletes pulled onto teams with the science & technology magnet school of Thomas Jefferson and private catholic school of Bishop O'Connell. The Thomas Jefferson girls were able to remain unbeaten in invitational competition, but their streak of wins only remained alive after a one point scare from the O'Connell girls. The O'Connell girls were coming off their big win at the Wendy's Invitational in Charlotte, NC with three girls well under 19 minutes and their top three did their job against Thomas Jefferson at Glory Days as well with Sarah McCarthy (6th, 18:50), Devin Nihill (7th, 18:51), and Emily Blagg (14th, 19:12) all finishing among a very tough top 15 to crack into. However, the TJ girls turned the tables on O'Connell with their depth in the fourth and fifth runner spots to make up the points difference lost on O'Connell's front three with a 1:08 top five pack and team score of 91 points to squeak by O'Connell's total of 92 points and 1:24 scoring five spread. The seeded varsity girls' race featured to two favorites to win state cross country team titles in private school O'Connnell and Group A George Mason (3rd, 150 pts), while team champions Thomas Jefferson figure to be one of Group AAA favorite Midlothian's top challengers.   Glory Days Grill Invite Results: Seeded Varsity Boys - Seeded Varsity Girls - Varsity B Boys - Varsity B Girls - JV #1 Boys - JV #2 Boys - JV Girls - Freshmen Boys - Freshmen Girls Photo Gallery by Tim Hagen Race Videos by Chris Medrano: Seeded Varsity Boys - Seeded Varsity Girls - Varsity B Boys - Varsity B Girls - JV Boys #1 - JV Boys #2 - JV Girls - Freshmen Girls

The first major invitational of the 2010 cross country season will be held at the same venue where state champions will be crowned in 12 weeks for Saturday's Great Meadow Invitational. Entries are bit down for this year's meet with the second year in a row being held early on the last week of August, while many school districts have started practices later than usual and enforced stricter mandatory practice requirements before the first competitions of the season. Nonetheless, the teams and individuals present on Saturday will be high quality as an early season measuring stick for many of the state's top ranked. Four top 15 state ranked boys teams, seven top 25 state ranked boys individuals, two top 10 state ranked girls teams, and five top 25 state ranked girls individuals will be racing at the Great Meadow Invite.   The Colonial boys and girls could make it a team sweep as they are the top ranked squads in both fields with the boys ranked #3 in Virginia and the girls sitting currently as the #9 ranked team in the state. Top challengers to the Colonial Forge boys are familar Commonwealth District rivals Riverbend and Mountain View as each school is ranked among the top 10 in the pre-season state rankings with Riverbend at #5 and the defending Group AAA state champions Mountain View at #8. It will be a good early season test for the Colonial Forge squad, which is a serious contender for their first state cross country title this fall. The Gonzaga boys from Washington, DC are a threat to beat all of the Virginia schools for the team title, while Group AA squads Brentsville, John Handley, and Fauquier will be competitive in the meet as well.   Individually for the boys, the Great Meadow Invite should be an exciting and loaded race with seven runners who have earned preseason top 25 rankings led by 2009 Group AA state runner-up Tommy Curtin (pictured left by Frank Locascio) of Loudoun County. VA #4 pre-season ranked Curtin posted times of 15:28 in the 5K and 9:23 in the 3200 as a junior. Last year's Great Meadow Invite was bit of a coming out party for Curtin, who placed fifth in a deep field.    As one of the top returnees from the 2009 race, Curtin will be pressed for the win this year against many of the Northwest Region's best with Colonial Forge, Riverbend, and Mountain View all having several runners each expected to race with the lead pack. Riverbend has 2009 Northwest Region runner-up Shaquon Wilkins along with Ryan Kuhns and Gabe Fisher, while team favorite Colonial Forge has two-time All-State 1600 meter runner David Pennesi and three other teammates who have ran under 9:50 for 3200 meters.   Warren County's Seumas O'Reilly seems to run his best races in the fall season and last year placed second at the Great Meadow Invite in 16:19 before eventually running a 5K personal best of 15:51 during the season. Thomas Delaney of John Handley closed well last cross country season to place third in the Group AA state race behind Curtin and figures to be trailing closely this year as a Region II challenger along with O'Reilly. Cody Snyder of Lee-Davis has produced some stellar times on the track in middle distance races (4:19 1600/2:29 1000), but often forget his All-State cross country performance from a year ago as he looks to have a more standout season this fall than previous years.   The Colonial Forge girls should have their hands full with the defending three-time private school state champion and VA #10 state ranked Bishop O'Connell girls as the private catholic school has faired well at the Great Meadow invitationals in the past against the best public schools. The O'Connell girls might be the slight favorites with their establshed track record of success in cross country, while the Colonial Forge girls are looking to open the season with several runners running PR's after virtually their entire top 7 of girls ran under 12 minutes for the 3200 meters in the spring. Central Region schools Mills Godwin and Lee-Davis are both vying for state meet berths this fall with the depth and pack on the side of the Godwin squad, while Lee-Davis will be front led by Bonny Turnage.   Turnage is one of five top 25 stated ranked individuals as the sophomore last year earned All-State honors in Group AAA and had a personal best 5K time of 18:17. Ranked ahead of her in Saturday's race will be another super sophomore in Hannah Lowery (pictured right by Ryan Kelly) of Stafford, who ran under 11 minutes for 3200 meters and right at 5 minutes flat in the 1600 meter during the track season. Lowery and Turnage are the top returning finishers from the 2009 Great Meadow Invitational, which were strong openers in their high school careers with Lowery finishing 6th place and Turnage placing 13th.   Group A 3200 state champion Natalie Young debuts with her team at Forest Park as the former George Mason High School runner looks to bring her new team along as their new front runner. Young, who ran a 18:15 5K on the track this spring, would have been a major contender for the state cross country title in Group A, but now will be in a more competitive setting in Group AAA and should be pushed more by the increased level of talent. Group AA All-State caliber runners Crystal Nelson of Millbrook and Emma Helsel of Fauquier also are featured this weekend as well as returning Great Meadow Invite top 15 finisher Kayla Gibbons of Warren County and Audrey Houghton, who leads the new Loudoun County school Woodgrove in their first meet in school history.

It was a dramatic finish to determine the Group AA state cross country champion in 2009 and expectations are for another exciting ending in 2010 with the top two finishers from that race back in defending champion Kyle King of Grafton and returning state runner-up Tommy Curtin of Loudoun County. King had a strong track season as a state runner-up three times in the 1000 indoors as well as the 1600 and 800 outdoors. Blacksburg's George Carter has been one of the best in his class since freshmen year, but no state title to show so far as he hopes to finish his high school cross country career with another team title for his top ranked Blacksburg boys by taking the individual title as well. Blacksburg has four individuals ranked among the top 20. Region II once again looks to be the unbalanced congregation of the majority of Group AA's top teams with 8 of the top 10 pre-season ranked teams with the Western Albemarle boys leading the bunch and crossing their fingers that their injuries and illness issues which kept them out of the state meet last year due not make another huge appearance this upcoming season. Potomac Falls boys still keep a solid core of runners including sub 4:20 1600 runner Juan Campos to make another podium run, while Brentsville looks to show it can still be a top notch program in the post-Coach Dulin era.

Some people don't care for cross country rankings because cross country courses vary and so going by the season best times, they feel, is irrelevant.  Counter-arguments have always been that a) they're just a guide and b) typically everyone gets to run a fast course at some point in the year.  Regardless, we were able to rig up the database to analyze the AVERAGE time from last season... perhaps this will flatten out some of the bumps and give a truer picture?  So here are the top returning individuals based on 2009 average time.  (Teams to come later this month)

The 2009 All-MileStat.com Cross Country Team has been announced with a total of 42 athletes being selected among the 7 member first, second, and third teams for both boys and girls. Awards winners also announced for Runner of the Year, Coach of the Year, Team of the Year, Freshmen of the Year, Most Improved Runner of the Year, and Comeback Runner of the Year. Congratulations to all selections for this fall's All-MileStat.com Team!

Jamestown's Colin Mearns will look to become Jamestown’s second individual state champion in a row and follow in the footsteps of last year’s Group AA champion Andrew Colley, who set a new course record. Mearns appears to be taking his running to another level at season’s end similar to last fall when he had a great stretch of races extending into December for the Nike Cross Nationals.  Mearns is the top returnee from last year’s state race with his 15:28 fourth place finish among a collection of stars in the outstanding class of 2009 runners.

The Brentsville girls came through in crunch time to overtake the favored Western Albemarle girls for the Region II team title behind the successful individual repeat by senior Allison Bartels who outran Loudoun County's Julie Strange for a five second 18:58 win. The order and list of boys team qualifiers could not have been predicted by any knowledgeable expert on the region as the Skyline boys qualified for their first state meet ever led by freshmen Thomas Madden and from the Jefferson District, it will be the Monticello boys and not Western Albemarle who will move onto state competition as team. Like the Brentsville girls, Potomac Falls boys are looking like a state meet podium squad in their repeat as Region II champions as a one second spread for their top three runners finishing among the top 15 sparked their charge. Thomas Curtin of Loudoun County continued his breakthrough junior cross country season in winning the individual regional crown with a 16:08 performance at Panorama Farms, which is 17 places better and over a minute faster than his sophomore year regional race. Complete results, race videos, and video interviews with Bartels & Curtins posted. Photo gallery to be posted soon.

Loudoun County and Western Albemarle could enjoy championships twice on Tuesday at the Region II Championships in Charlottesville. There is a serious individual contender from Loudoun County in both races as Thomas Curtin (pictured left by Frank Locascio) and Julie Strange have both established themselves as race favorites with strong season best performances last month on the regional course at the competitive Albemarle Invitational. Curtin has been a great story this fall from starting off as a virtual unknown to now be considered as a darkhorse to win the Group AA state title and at least set himself up in great position to become a state champion as a senior in 2010. The Western Albemarle boys and girls have the smallest time difference for their top five among the top contender teams, which could seal a sweep of regional team titles if both squads are able to close the door on their team scoring well ahead of the other challengers' fifth runners with their tight packs.