Frances Dowd

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

Here are the top 50 girls performances ever from Dogwood.

Here are the girls all-time rankings for 5K according to our database.

Check out the all-time performances by VA girls at McAlpine right here.

Here are the girls top 100 times from Dogwood's history.

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

Check out the all-time list from Dogwood Track Classic right here.

Despite losing several members from their 2007 VIS state champion cross country squad, the Bishop O'Connell girls opened their season looking even stronger for the 2008 campaign with a win at Saturday's Peter Geraghty Invitational over one of the top teams in Maryland in Northwest High School. On a sloppy course thanks the driving rainfall from Tropical Storm Hanna, Bishop O'Connell had six girls finish among the top 20 places and Megan Fitzpatrick (pictured left by Kevin Milsted of Mocorunning.com)led the squad with a third place showing in 19:58. Fitzpatrick, a returning state champion and ranked fifth in MileStat.com's pre-season All-Class rankings, battled it out with expected challenger Britt Eckerstrom of Northwest for the lead for much of the race, but it was Gaithersburg's Abby Spitler as the surprise winner at 19:42. Nicole Carty (8th, 21:11) and Claire Whitesell (9th, 21:12), newcomers to the O'Connell squad, made an immediate impact with top 10 finishes on the Mount St. Mary's College 5K cross country course. Fairfax's Frances Dowd finished 7th individually with a time of 20:50, while the Fairfax boys had two solid individual races from Frances' brother Kevin Dowd (5th, 17:45) and Ethan Paster (12th, 18:00) to help them to a sixth place team finish. Peter Geraghty Invitational Complete Results

Photo by Ted Plunkett Two of the top three finishers from the seeded varsity boys race at Glory Days will be back at it again this weekend at the Georgetown Prep Classic, which should be the last major invitational for Virginian teams before starting up district meets the following week. Atlee's Ben Dejarnette and Potomac School's John Ross should be battling for the individual title as Dejarnette finished 10 seconds ahead of Ross last Saturday at the Glory Days Grill Invitational in second place with a personal best time of 15:09. Ross also ran a personal best at 15:19 for third place as Dejarnette and Ross are currently ranked #4 and #6 in the state of Virginia. Top Virginian girls will be Bishop O'Connell's Megan Fitzpatrick, Fairfax's Frances Dowd, and Potomac School's Anneka Wilson. Fitzpatrick is the top ranked runner in the private school ranks, while also having a #10 ranking in the state. Meanwhile, the 2007 AAA 800 meter state runner-up Dowd recorded a personal best of 18:31 in a seventh place showing at Glory Days. Wilson has virtually came out of nowhere as of late as her 18:34 performance at Glory Days caught many off guard as the sophomore has ran impressive so far this season with a Varsity B victory at Octoberfest as well. 13 schools from Virginia will be in attendance of the 34th annual Georgetown Prep Classic, which will be held on the school grounds in Rockville, Maryland.

Fairfax junior Frances Dowd (pictured left by Kevin Milsted of mocorunning.com), the 2007 AAA state 800 meter runner-up, kicked off her cross country season at the Peter Geraghty Invite in Maryland against one of the best runners from our neighbors to the north of the Potomac in Walt Whitman's Morgane Gay. Gay well distanced herself from the field and Dowd with a 18:44 win, but Dowd closed well to secure second place in 20:04 as she continues to build the confidence she exhibited as a speedy half miler this past spring now in the fall as a cross country runner. Fairfax had a pair of individual runner-up performers as Dante Morales, a transfer from Poquoson High School, posted a personal best 5K time of 16:47 to garner a second place finish in the varsity boys race. Both Fairfax and Paul VI competed as the lone Virginian teams in the Mount St. Mary's University hosted event.

2007 All-MileStat.com Outdoor Track Team selections for the distance girls with athletes chosen to the first, second, and third teams. Top 100 state rankings per event are also included. No athletes will be selected in more than one event to make the team more inclusive. End of season performances carried the most weight in the selection process, but were not the only determining factor. Catherine White of Northside, who became the winningest athlete in Group AA history by raising her state title total in cross country and track to 15 after a second consecutive distance triple crown at the Group AA State Championships, was named the 2007 All-MileStat.com girls' distance runner of the year. White was also recently named the Gatorade Athlete of the Year state winner in track and field for Virginia. Also in looking back on White's amazing high school career...check out this great June 4th article in The Roanoke Times on White!