Coverage

All-MileStat.com Cross Country Girls Team Dec 08, 2005

Find out which cross country girls from the state of Virginia were selected to this year\'s All-MileStat.com team. Runner of the Year, Coach of the Year, Newcomer of the Year, and Most Improved Runner of the Year awards were given out as well as the first, second, and third teams consisting of seven runners each.

All-MileStat.com Cross Country Boys Team Dec 07, 2005

The selection was very tough as always for the All-MileStat.com Team. As this cross country season like any other, anything can happen. What you expect to happens never seem to does and what happens you never would have expected. One week someone is hot, the next week that person is out of the picture. A star runner goes down, a newcomer comes out of nowhere. There were many deserving athletes to be on this list. Looking at this year\'s group, there are probably a dozen or so runners who are probably in a group of their own and then 3 dozen or more runners who could beat each other on any given day. Some of the runners missing from this list definitely deserve recognition for their fine seasons. Let these All-MileStat.com selections serve as a way to recognize the great accomplishments of the state\'s top athletes this fall, while serving as motivation and providing drive for those left off or returning next fall to strive for greater excellence in the future.

State Meet Summary Nov 12, 2005

Midlothian girls (63 pts) simply destroy NTN southeast #4 ranked Oakton (115 pts) for the AAA girls\' state team title. A NTN berth would be well deserved for the Lady Trojans (19:09 team average) after such a dominating performance with four runners hovering in and out of All-State honors with M.C. Miller (11th, 18:52.33), Paige Johnston (14th, 18:56.08), Erin Stehle (16th, 19:04.06), and Samantha Dow (18th, 19:13.86). Anne Tenser (40th, 19:41.45) ran a solid fifth for Midlothian. Rachel Rose runs the second fastest time of the day to win the AAA girls\' race in 17:57.77. The fastest time of the day belonged to Northside\'s Catherine White as she defends her AA state crown in 17:48.66. AA runner-up Becky Stewart (18:32.38) leads her Brentsville squad (19:19 team average) to their first AA state crown by a 25 point margin over Blacksburg. Craig County senior Lori Crotts surprised everyone in winning the girls\' Group A race over her Region C rival Kelly Clark of Glenvar (2nd, 18:55.11) as she did it in convincing fashion with a time of 18:15.45. No shocker in the girls\' team scores for Group A as Clarke County won by a 63 point margin. The Group AAA boys race sees a crazy finish with Chantilly senior Brad Siragusa (15:21.64) finally come up big in his final state meet as he outkicks favored junior Mike Spooner of West Springfield (15:25.26) for the win. The team battle was pretty wild as well as a mere four points seperated the top three teams in state champion Oakton (95 pts), state runner-up Thomas Jefferson (16:20 average, 98 pts), and state third-place finisher Midlothian (99 pts). Abingdon sophomore Griff Graves (15:51.34) got the last laugh on Christiansburg senior John Horst (16:01.40) in winning the Group AA individual state crown, while the Brentsville boys (16:24 team average) had a dominating team showing with 63 points putting them well-ahead of runner-up Western Albemarle. The Clarke County boys certainly showed they belong ranked among the top teams in Group AA and AAA with a dual meet-like score of 20 points to win the Group A state title with nearly 7 all-state individuals with their top 7 all in the top 17 places. Clarke County junior Simon Biddle-Snead successfully defending his title in 16:09.19, while senior teammate Michael Leonard was the race runner-up in 16:29.75. More detailed state meet summary to come later.

VHSL State Meet Preview Nov 11, 2005

Unfortunately I will not be at this year\'s state meet at Great Meadows as I promised my stepfather I\'d help pace him in his first ever marathon in Richmond this weekend, but I can still give my two cents of what to look for and expect this Saturday at Great Meadows. Not only will state titles be on the line, but for many teams Saturday will be a make or break situation for Nike Team National berths. Group AA kicks off things on Saturday morning with the AA girls as the first race at 10:30 am and AA boys following at 11:15. The Brenstville boys and girls are expected to sweep the state titles and set the bar high for NTN aspiring teams in the Group AAA races, which make up the middle portion of the meet. AAA girls go off at 11:45 am and AAA boys start at 12:30 pm. Oakton and Midlothian girls will butt heads, while there are a handful of teams that have to be considered in contention for the boys\' team title in AAA with the Oakton boys leading the way. The meet could possibly a see a clean sweep of teams with the Clarke County boys and girls heavily favored in the Group A division, which are the last races of the day with the girls at 1:00 pm and boys at 1:45 pm.