Cody Snyder

Here are the top 1,00 boys from the VAXC Showcase, formerly MileStat.com Invitational, ranked.

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

Check out the all-time list for VA's oldest meet right here.

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

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

A list of the top 500 boys performances all-time in the MileStat.com XC Invitational meet history.

Check out the all-time list for MileStat XC Invite right here.

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.

A list of Virginia teams and relays competing at this week's Penn Relays. This year's Penn Relays certainly expects to produce some of the fastest times this spring from Virginia's best relays while big names will star in the individual events including Isaiah Simmons, Keilah Tyson, Cameron Overstreet, Cody Snyder, Desmonae Gray, Jeremy Greenwald, Kyle King, Chris Pillow, Krista DeCeault, Anthony Williams, Silas Frantz,  Anaquan Peterson, and Hannah Lowery. Relays to pay particular attention to are the Western Branch girls 4x100 and 4x400, Hidden Valley girls DMR, and potential for several boys relays to stake their mid-season claims as Virginia's best relays in the 4x100, 4x400, and 4x800.

  Photos by Andrew Kicinski   While they are from different parts of the state and separated by a roughly 4 hour drive, Cody Snyder and George Carter have certainly been competing with another since their freshmen year whether from rare head to head races or more often simply comparing times from different meets as they were the top two fastest freshmen milers in the state three years ago. In their first head to head match-up on the track as seniors, they put on a great show and race for spectators after a long day of competition on Friday at the Liberty Flames High School Invitational. Snyder opened up the first 400 meters leading the field through 65 seconds, but Carter made a move mid way through to surge through a slowing pace as the pair broke away from the field. Snyder ran off his shoulder until making a move into the first turn of the bell lap and Carter attempted to repel a pass from Snyder on the backstretch. However, Snyder proved to have too much finishing speed as he pulled away in the last 150 meters for a personal best and one of the nation's fastest flat track 1600 meter performances at 4:16.92. Snyder finished just off personal best by a few tenths of a second with his runner-up performance at 4:18.61.   Christiansburg's Travis Hudson tied with several others for the state leading height in the high jump at 6'6" as the only Virginia athlete to win one of the four field events contested on Friday at Liberty University. The state of North Carolina had winners in the other three field events (girls long jump, boys triple jump, girls pole vault).   Stafford sophomore Hannah Lowery separated from Herndon's Carolyn Hennessey and the girls' 1600 meter field for a four second victory with her season best time of 5:09.69.   Liberty Flames HS Invitational - Day 1 Results   More to come from Liberty after we return to on-site coverage on Saturday for another long day (events to go from 8:30 am to 10:30 pm estimated finish). Plenty of photos and race videos (we shot video of every section of every running event on Friday!) to be uploaded over the weekend from the meet. Photos and videos from both days will be posted overnight Saturday into Sunday.

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  

The Midlothian program looked very dominant in Saturday night's Sportsquest Relays at the Richmond International's parking lot #6 grounds on a sepertine 2500 meter loop in the 5 leg relay race. The Midlothian boys won the "A", "B", and "C" races, while the Midlo girls took first in the "A" and "B" races.     Lake Braddock sophomore Sophie Chase ran one of the most impressive legs of the night on second leg to move up her team from a considerable margin and several places back into first place with her 8:47 split (5:18 mile split). However, Myah Hicks of Thomas Edison ran the fastest split among the girls at 8:44 as the first to hand off the baton among a strong group of opening legs.     Mountain View's Nicholas Wolfe clocked a swift 7:24 leg, while Atlee's Andrew Catanese (7:32) kicked past several strong runners on first leg, while Cody Snyder (7:33) moved quickly as a middle leg for Lee-Davis. More to come from the Sportsquest Relays. Relay team results & race videos posted below!     Coaches: Please feel free to email your athlete's splits from the "A", "B", & "C" relay races as well as the extras races to MileStat.com at milestat@gmail.com and we will gladly post to athlete's profiles.   Sportsquest Relays Results Sportsquest XC Relays Race Videos: Championship A Girls Relay - Championship A Boys Relay - B & C Girls Relay - B & C Boys Relay - Extra Girls Race - Extra Boys Race Photo Gallery by John Herzog - Photos from extra races and B-C team relay races only. No photos from "A" races due to poor lighting. Look for video grabs from race footage of "A" race to be added earlier this week.

MileStat.com visited the Lee-Davis cross country team on their home course and venue for the Central Region Championships at Pole Green Park in Mechanicsville. Lee-Davis team ran a fairly challenging workout on a humid day with 4x1 mile repeat with 400 meter jog/walk recovery (roughly 4-5 minutes rest) with the first repeat at tempo pace, second fastest at even splits, third fastest at negative splits, and fourth finishing strong as the fastest. Lee-Davis coach Neil Mathews has a boys and girls team this fall which both have goals of winning the Capital District title and advancing onto the state meet as one of the four teams from the Central Region, but also has two returning All-State caliber individuals in Cody Snyder and Bonny Turnage. Snyder was an All-State finisher in cross country last November, but has primarily been known as more of a middle distance runner with a sub 2:30 1000 and sub 4:20 mile to his credit. However, Snyder as a senior is starting to really apply his talent to the 5K distance as seen with his season opening runner-up finish at the Great Meadow Invite in late August. Snyder looked fit in the workout as he dropped down from 5:18, 5:12, 4:58, and 4:45. Turnage was one of the state's top new distance running stars as a freshmen last year as she posted one of the faster 5K times ever at Pole Green in 18:14. She finished her freshmen year of cross country making it on the podium in an All-State top 15 finish in the Group AAA race. Turnage, who also ran 11:08 in the 3200 in the spring, will be one of the top contenders for the Central Region title with returning champion Erica Dobbs of Deep Run and Megan Moye of Cosby. She consistently ran in the 5:50s for all four of her mile repeats around the practice fields at Pole Green Park.   The Warmup Pre-Workout Interview w/ Coach Neil Mathews 4xMile Repeats Bonny Turnage Interview Cody Snyder Interview Post-Workout Interview w/ Coach Neil Mathews

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.

Brayden Burleigh not only leads a Group AAA top ranked Midlothian squad, but a very strong group of boys individuals within the Central Region who all are capable of competing with the best in the state this fall with Burleigh, Cody Snyder of Lee-Davis, Silas Frantz of Douglas Freeman, Andrew Catanese of Atlee, and Evan Niciphor of Cosby. Without a single distance runner in Group AAA with an individual state title to his name, the 2010 state cross country title will be hard fought between athletes hungry for that first championship glory. Grassfield's Jeremy Greenwald and Colonial Forge's David Pennesi might be the best in their respective regions as both also earned All-State honors in the 1600 meter this past spring and just ahead of the Burleigh.   The team scenarios are very interesting. Midlothian boys have a great track record of performing well in cross country despite not having runners with impressive track times as shown with their third place state meet podium finish and solid showing at the NXN Southeast Regional last November. However, the Colonial Forge and West Potomac boys have closed the gap on Midlo during the track season with their decent size lists of returning sub 10:00 3200 and sub 4:40 1600 runners.

Lee-Davis junior Montasia Golden (pictured left by John Herzog) started out high school with some big shoes and expectations to fill when she took over the role as the top point scorer for the track team and drew quick comparisons at the time to the recently graduated multi-event star Rachel Butler. There is good reason to see why the comparisons appeared as Golden does many of the same events which Butler excelled in such as the jumps and hurdles. During this past year Golden has become not the next Rachel Butler, but instead established herself and her own name with a state title indoors in the triple jump and enters this weekend's Group AAA State Championships in Richmond as one of the top seeds in both hurdle events fresh off two all-time best performances at the regional meet. A stress fracture injury prevented her from competing early in the outdoor season as well as held her out entirely from taking any attempts at the triple jump, but with her focus completely on the hurdles she may get a worthy consolation prize for being unable to go for an outdoor title in the triple jump. Read more for interview with Montasia Golden...

While Anthony Kostelac was a no show for Friday's anticipated 1000 meter showdown with some of top middle distance preps on the East Coast at the New Balance Collegiate Games (potentially due to the snowstorm which has hit the Mid Atlantic this weekend), three other Virginians participated and posted fine times in the race.

At the New York Armory tonight, several of Virginia's best middle distance runners will be racing at the New Balance Games Collegiate Games junior 1000 meter races featuring many of the fastest this season nationally in the event. MileSplit US affiliate ArmoryTrack.com is providing a live webcast of tonight's races at: https://ny.milesplit.com/pages/Webcast2010

Mills Godwin senior Grant Pollock recently turned in a sensational 1000 meter performance of 2:29.37 this past weekend, which would rank him as the 10th fastest all-time in the event in Virginia high school indoor history. However, he will have to achieve the time again on an indoor track to be listed on the all-time list which includes only performances from meets held indoors. Pollock ran his time in an outdoor polar bear meet at Douglas Freeman High School, which is certainly allowed in qualifying him for district, regional, and state competition in the event but cannot be listed among an all-time indoor list.

Atlee had the front running and Hanover had the depth. Front running won at the Capital District Championships on Wednesday at Pole Green Park as the defending district champion Raiders of Atlee were able to fend off a valiant charge by the Hanover boys. One point ended up being the difference between the two teams with 37 points for Atlee and 38 points for Hanover.