Patrick Hayes

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

 Yeah...she can definitely run with the boys. MileStat.com will be on-site with coverage on Tuesday evening at Panorama Farms for the Ragged Mountain Cup, which the 4 x 2 mile relay will be the first race of the season for all of the Central Virginia and Charlottesville area schools competing. Plenty of outstanding talent will be showcased at Panorma with some great cross country squads such as the VA #4 ranked Western Albemarle boys, VA #8 ranked Fork Union boys, and VA #10 ranked Louisa County boys. Top individuals will be battling each other possibly on different legs for the fastest split of the meet with the likes of VA #9 ranked Thomas Baker of Louisa, VA #11 ranked Kyle Satterwhite of Western Albemarle, private schools #1 ranked Austin Ellis of Covenant (pictured above, left), and private schools #3 ranked Jeremy Haney of Fork Union. Among the girls, the big name will be Liz Barclay (pictured above center in the 2006 Cup) as Albemarle's star runner begins her junior year as the #3 ranked runner in Virginia. The first race is at 5 PM.

   First of MileStat.com's VA Coaches Pre-season Cross Country Rankings to be released today (Wednesday, August 29th) with the top 10 teams and top 15 individuals among private school boys, which is voted on by coaches among the private school ranks. Two champions from last year are still ontop as pre-season #1's as the Fork Union boys are looking to make it a third straight Division I state title, while Covenant's Austin Ellis (pictured above leading the 2006 VIS Division II state race with #4 ranked Thomas McConnell and #2 ranked Johns Ross) is looking to make it a perfect sweep of state championships with a 4-peat in the smaller school Division II classification. Read on for the full rankings!

  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.

 A list of the top returnees among private school boys for the upcoming 2007 cross country season. List includes all sub 17:30 5K performers returning for this fall as well as teams bringing the most back. Collegiate boys are the only team with four back under 17:30 led by Graham Glass, while defending Division I state champions Fork Union lurks with the transfer of Darren Simpson from Fuqua School (9:54 3200) as well as two other sub ten minute 3200 meter runners in Jeremy Haney (9:33) and Patrick Hayes (9:43). 2006 Division II champion Austin Ellis (pictured above) returns with his defending state champion squad in the small school classification for Virginia private schools, while Johns Ross of Potomac School had a stellar 15:21 5K performance at Nike Outdoor Nationals and looks to stop Ellis from winning his fourth straight state title.  More in-depth preview as well as pre-season predictions from MileStat.com's own Brandon Miles to come in August.