Brian Hendricks

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

Photo by Ted Plunkett The Oakton boys were already expected to run through the Concorde District again as they have done the past few years. Now with Dante Morales coming over to the defending district champions from Fairfax, Oakton has the top three fastest returning 5K runners in the district with Morales and the Hendricks twins, Neal and Brian. Two other All-District performers are also back in Chris Weil and Patrick Fulghum as Weil broke 4:30 in the 1600 and Fulghum went under 10 minutes in the 3200 this past spring. Chantilly has a potential individual champion contender and an athlete who could break up the Oakton guys up front in junior Christopher Foley. Foley ran a personal best of 9:31 this past spring in the 3200 meter run and earned All-State honors in the event with an 8th place showing at the AAA State Meet.

Oakton senior Joe LoRusso (pictured right by John Herzog) admitted to having doubts about his race strategy almost as soon as the gun went off Saturday at the McDonald's Cross-Country Festival at Maymont Park in Richmond. Before he could find his pace, a blur of bodies was already streaking past him. Did he start too slowly? After all, the meet is one of the most prestigious on the East Coast, with a fast field. Perhaps the pace was too quick for him? Two-thirds of the way through the race, LoRusso started to catch his second wind -- as well as the runners who had blown by him. A patient LoRusso picked them off one by one on his way to finishing in the top 15 and running a career-best time on the five-kilometer course. Read full story...   

  MileStat.com's Brandon Miles analyzes the top five teams in the state to look out for this cross country season as part of a series of preview articles leading into this fall. Midlothian is the front runner again after holding strong last fall as a pre-season #1 to the finish and onto a dominating AAA state title and Virginia's first NTN appearance. The Trojans will have the handle the pressure of the bull's eye on them once again in 2007. The Western Albemarle boys have a team that has the talent to match up with Midlo's front three with the trio under 16 minutes in the Footlocker South sophomore race back. Oakton has the power in depth and numbers as last fall with six runners back under 10 minutes in the 3200. Jamestown is the sleeper with a very youthful squad as all of their top five runners will be back in 2008 as well. Mountain View is only three years old, but the road to the state meet podium looks to be paved ahead of schedule.

SAT\'s and homecoming dates had plenty of runners at this year\'s Glory Days Grill Invitational held at Bull Run Regional Park attempting a juggling act and being crunched for time on a pleasant and Sunny Saturday. Thankfully, a fast 5K course layout allowed runners to finish their races quickly to head off to the next destination.