Check out the meet preview written by MileStat longtime contributor Pearl Watts.

The Lake Braddock girls did not qualify for the state meet last year, but as far as regional dominance through the years, no team can compare to the Bruins. Since the regional team championship and state qualifying process was instituted on the girls side beginning in 1978, Lake Braddock has qualified for the state meet an astounding 30 of the 34 years it has been in existence.

   The Oakton boys are solid favorites to defend their team title while the West Springfield girls seem to hold a slight edge over Jefferson and Lake Braddock for the Northern Region Championship meet to be held at Burke Lake's 2.98 mile course on Thursday, November 5th.

The South Lakes boys and Robinson girls will assume the roles as favorites for the team championships at the 2009 Northern Region Track and Field Championships to be held at the George Mason University Fieldhouse on Saturday, February 21.

The South Lakes boys, winners of the Liberty District title two weeks ago, are led Vincent Brown (pictured left by John Herzog). The Seahawks senior posted region leading times at his district meet in the 55 dash (6.42 seconds), long jump (22 feet, 1.5 inches) and also in the 55 hurdles at 7.46 where he is the defending champion in that event and the lone returning champion in a boys individual event.

The Robinson girls finished as the runnersup at the Concorde District meet but should be in a position to move up to a first place finish at the regional level, especially with the return of freshman Genamarie McCant.

The Washington-Lee girls have the first day lead with 46 points while Edison and Mount Vernon are tied for first with 39 points apiece on the boys side after the first day of the National District championship meet held at Episcopal High on Tuesday, February 3.

  It's the Herndon girls and Robinson boys with narrow leads after day one of the Concorde District Championships held at the Prince George's Sports and Learning Complex on Friday, January 30.  After the conclusion of seven of the 15 events, the Herndon girls have 54 points with one of the highlights, a win in the 3,200 run by senior Hiruni Wijayaratne in 11:08.63.  The Robinson boys currently sit in first place with 56 points. The Rams posted one victory by senior Fabian Bailey in the long jump (20-5.25) and also received runnerup spots from senior Joey Esposito in the shot put (46-10.5) and junior Ryan Tarpey in the 55 dash (6.69).

  The South Lakes boys and Marshall girls squads hold a slight edge in the team scoring after the first day of the Liberty District championships held at the Prince George's Sports and Learning Complex in Landover, MD on Thursday, January 29.

Photo by Michael Saunders

The Oakton and Robinson boys along with the Thomas Jefferson and Lake Braddock girls have emerged as the favorites for the team titles at the regional championship meet, following the results of this week's district meets and coupled with their steady progress during the earlier part of the season.

The meet is scheduled for this Thursday, October 30th on Burke Lake Park's 2.98 mile course for the 35th year in a row, with the boys race scheduled for a 3:15 p.m. start and the girls race to begin at 4:00 p.m. with the top four teams and top fifteen individuals automatically qualifying for the AAA state championship meet at Great Meadow in The Plains on Saturday, November 8.

The James Robinson boys will be the favorites at Glory Days this weekend and shooting for their second straight invitational victory after winning Octoberfest last Saturday. The Rams should see challenges though from Thomas Jefferson, Potomac Falls, Clarke County, and Gonzaga. (Photo by Ted Plunkett)

The second Saturday in October finds meet management once again very pleased in welcoming all competitors, coaches, parents and other relatives, friends, and also just plain old supporters of high school cross country to the 16th Annual Glory Days Grill Invitational at Bull Run Regional Park.

Everyone involved with the meet is looking forward to another exciting morning and afternoon of racing. with more than 2,500 runners representing 75 different schools from the area scheduled to compete in one of the nine different races to be contested on Bull Run's approximate 5,000 meter (3.1 miles) layout.

The West Potomac boys and the Lake Braddock girls have the early leads after day one of the Patriot District Championships held at Episcopal High School on Wednesday evening, February 6. West Potomac did not win any of the five events completed on the boys side but did finish in second place in four of those events with seniors Emmanual Koduah in the triple jump (41-6.75), Nick Schaum in the pole vault (12-0) and Kerem Ertekin in the shot put (46-6.5). The Lake Braddock girls lead with 33 points after the completion of four of the fifteen events. Senior Melanie Akwule won the triple jump at 36-6.75 and the Bruins received an additional ten points in the shot put from junior Kendra Baity (3rd; 33-4) and senior Anna Brionez (4th; 33-0).

Edison has seized the lead on both the girls and boys side after day one of the 2008 National District Indoor Championships, held at Episcopal High School in Alexandria on Tuesday evening, February 5.

The Jefferson boys lead with 48 points with almost half their points coming in the 3,200 run as senior Brian Landry established a new district meet record of 9:38.35 for the victory; senior Evan Heflin secured a state auto qualifier in second place at 9:41.85 and senior Aaron Bernstein finished fourth in 9:48.92. The Jefferson girls also have the lead after day one with a total of 36 points. The Colonials received a meet record setting performance in the 3,200 run by freshman Lisa Junta (pictured above by Ted Plunkett), as she shaved eight seconds off of her previous best with a winning time of 11:17.87. Read more...

Liberty District Meet Day 1 Results

With his first day of competition at the IAAF World Championships in Osaka, Japan tomorrow, Alan Webb has finally started to receive some attention for the major media outlets as recent articles published this week on Webb have been found in Sports Illustrated, USA Today, and Washington Post. However, along with the final installment of MileStat.com's video interview being posted on Friday, a familar name who has been covering Alan Webb from the beginning in Northern Virginia high school cross country and track writer Pearl Watts also got a chance to speak with Webb in his final preparation for Worlds. Read on for more.

Last year's chase for the boys team title resulted in E.C. Glass winning a relatively low scoring affair among the top teams with 33 points. This year, it appears that it may take at least 40 points to win it all, with Western Branch and Manchester probably having the best chances to top that number. However, stranger things have happened, come state meet time; and with the unpredictability of relay events and the ability of some teams to pile up enough points with just a couple of high scoring individuals, this year's boys meet also appears wide open.

Bethel is the defending state indoor champion and continued on their winning ways with a victory last week at the Eastern Region championships. This year's meet features Bethel as one of the favorites again, but there are a host of other schools with a shot at the team title; including Western Branch, Osbourn Park, Midlothian, Centreville, and possibly Deep Run, Landstown and Deep Creek.

Centreville and Westfield girls look like they will resume another close scoring encounter from their Concorde District meet, with four time defending champion Lake Braddock along with Patriot District titleist West Potomac and T.C. Williams also appearing able to put pressure near the top at this year's Northern Region Championships to be held this Saturday at the GMU Fieldhouse.Centreville edged Westfield two weeks ago by four points at the Concorde District championships and it looks like a duel between those two schools again, with both the Wildcats and Bulldogs capable of approaching the 70 point mark and all the other schools hard pressed to surpass the 40 point mark.

The fight for the Concorde District team championships figured to be close between Centreville and Westfield once again, and form prevailed once again as the Westfield girls managed an 11.5 point victory over Centreville only to have the role reversed on the boys side as the Centreville boys squeezed out a four point win over Westfield in the meet held at the Prince George's Sports and Learning Complex in Landover, Md.

The Edison boys easily defended their team title and the girls team victory became a co-championship affair as Yorktown and Edison tied at the National District finals concluded at Thomas Jefferson Community Center in Arlington this past Friday.

The West Potomac girls pulled out a big win over defending champion Lake Braddock and the West Springfield boys eked out the victory in a tight four team battle at the Patriot District championships which concluded this past Saturday at Episcopal High School's Flippin Field House.

Edison holds the lead on both the boys and girls side after day one of the National District championships held at Episcopal High in Alexandria on Tuesday.

West Potomac is the defending champion, having won the indoor title last year by a rather healthy margin of 27 points with their total of 113. This year West Potomac is one of four teams with a legitimate shot at the team title as it appears that maybe no more than 10-15 points will separate West Potomac, Lake Braddock, West Springfield and South County. The Lake Braddock girls had a truly dominating performance last year in scoring 196 points to win by well over 100 points. The gap has certainly closed somewhat this season, but the Bruins still remain a strong favorite to yet again, capture another district championship.

Edison girls are the defending champions and even though it looks like they will not be able to approach their 160 point team total from last year, the Eagles are still the favorites. Meanwhile, the defending champion Edison boys graduated numerous seniors off their squad which racked up 199 points last year. However, the Eagles still look strong enough this season to exceed 150 points and probably score twice as many points as the next closest team.

The Centreville girls team, led by junior Brittni Finch, holds the lead after day one of the Concorde District championships with 43 points. On the boys side, defending champion Centreville leads with 30 points in fairly balanced scoring which sees five schools still within 12 points of each other thus far.