Glory Days Grill Invitational 2001

Lockhart runs 15:03 5K!

Photo by Joe Munchak

MANASSAS, VA -- The Northern Region prevailed on the girls side with Robinson claiming the
team title and Oakton's Keira Carlstrom the individual winner while Good
Counsel (MD) took the boys team title and Handley's Bobby Lockhart set
a new meet record to highlight the varsity seeded divisions at the Tenth
Annual Glory Days Grill Invitational held at Bull Run Regional Park this past Saturday.

With the district meets barely a week away and with the regional meet
the following week, Robinson looks to be the dominant team on the girls
side as they moved up one spot from their runnerup finish at last year's Glory Days Grill meet to win with 92 points. The Patriot District was especially strong as they took the top three and four of the first five team positions as Lake Braddock scored 135 points for second place to slip past third place Hayfield (141 points) with Magruder (MD) fourth with 179 points and West Springfield fifth at 194 points.

Robinson was led by junior Sam Ference, who has been the Rams most consistent performer this year, with her sixth place overall finish at 19 minutes, 17 seconds over the rolling, moderately hilly, all grass 3.1 mile (5k) course. Robinson also had juniors Lauren Hovland and Joanna Rodgers within 30 seconds of Ference in the number two and three spots with their fourth through seventh runners all within 1:30 of Ference, as they now
look
forward to the championship season.

Runnerup Lake Braddock was paced by junior Kelly Swain's third place
finish
in 18:53 and also had freshman Sara Rothe greatly contribute with her
ninth
place time of 19:24 while third place Hayfield put three runners among
the
top twenty five finishers led by Morgan Phelan (13th; 19:32).

In the individual competition, Oakton senior Keira Carlstrom made her
first
foray into racing on Northern Virginia soil this season a good one as
she won
in 18:27 to become the number seven performer all time, with five of
the six
performers ahead of her former Foot Locker National Finalists.

Carlstrom and a group of nine others were in the lead pack after a
fairly
conservative first half mile in somewhat breezy weather under warm,
sunny
skies before Carlstrom, Centreville sophomore Dacia Barr, Swain and
Katie
Endres of Potomac Falls made a slight break from the pack and went
through
the first mile in 5:42.

Approaching a short but steep hill close to the race's halfway point,
Swain
picked up the pace but first Barr and then Carlstrom covered the move
with
Endres then relegated to fourth place. Carlstrom then took the lead in
the
next quarter mile on the back portion of the course and held a five
second
lead over Barr at the two mile mark, which the Oakton senior hit in
11:38.

Carlstrom then maintained a twenty to thirty yard lead over Barr
for the
remaining mile of the course and finished well in control for a seven
second
victory over Barr, who now ranks as the number ten performer with her
runnerup time of 18:34 with Swain third (18:53) and sophomore Endres
fourth
in 19:07 to finish just ahead of fast closing Kristin Hart of Herndon
(5th;
19:10).

On the boys side, Good Counsel matched the Robinson girls as they
scored 92
points in winning for the second straight year. Good Counsel employed
some
excellent pack running as their top five scoring runners were all
within 40
seconds of each other led by Joey Norcia (8th; 16:17) and Kevin Graves
(9th;
16:21).

The Northern Region took the next six spots in the team scoring with
West
Springfield notching second with 127 points to finish just ahead of
Herndon's
third place total of 135. The Hornets were followed by Westfield (189),
Robinson (200), Oakton (248) and Langley (260) in the fourth through
seventh
spots with the only notable absence among region teams not competing
from the
top ranked squad of Jefferson.

The boys race for the individual title was not expected to be very
close
with three time AA state champion and two time Foot Locker National
Finalist
Bobby Lockhart in the field and the Handley senior left no doubt
shortly
after the opening gun. Lockhart had a thirty yard lead after the first
half
mile, blitzed through the mile mark in 4:29 and hit the two mile mark
in 9:24
with a thirty second lead before finishing up in 15:03 to break former
West
Springfield star Sharif Karie's 1995 record of 15:05.

Ben Stern of Georgetown Day was the closest pursuer behind Lockhart
for
most of the race and finished in the runnerup spot for the second year
in a
row, this time at 15:47. Oakton senior Phil Gaeta ran in third for most
of
the race but was overtaken on the final downhill straight by Herndon
junior
Rasheed Thompson as Thompson placed third (15:52) and Gaeta fourth
(15:54).

The next region finisher was West Springfield junior Jeff Day as he
led the
Spartan's runnerup team position with his tenth place finish in 16:22.
The
region also had the next six spots behind Day in Langley's Billy Bylund
(11th;16:23), Herndon's number two runner Mike Dominguez (12th; 16:24),
Lee
sophomore Robert Longoria (13th; 16:25), Hayfield junior Kevin Camp
(14th;
16:30), junior Brian Buckland leading Westfield's fourth place team
finish
(15th; 16:31) and West Springfield's Bryan Will as the number two
runner for
the Spartans (16th; 16:33).

Northern Region Teams battle for Top Honors

By Tom Crosson

MileStat.com Staff Writer

Saturday, October 13, 2001

MANASSAS, VA -- On Saturday, #1 ranked senior Bobby Lockhart of Handley and #1 ranked
senior
Kiera Calstrom of Oakton, secured their spots as the top runners in
Virginia. Glory Days Invitational is held on a hilly 3.1 mile course.

Bobby Lockhart decimated the field as he ran for a course record time
of
15:03. The old record was 15:05, held by former West Springfield
standout,
Sharif Karie. Forty-four seconds behind Lockhart was Georgetown Day
senior,
Ben Stern with a time of 15:47. Close behind was Herndon junior Rasheed
Thompson, who finished at 15:52. In fourth was Oakton senior, and
Northern
Region Champion hopeful, Phil Gaeta, who came in at 15:54.

In team competition, Good Counsel proved to strong for the rest of the
field. They came away with a score of 92 points, and their top 5
runners all
under 17:00. The battle for the next four places, was more or less a
chance
for the Northen Region's top teams to flex their muscles before
district
competition next week. In second was West Springfield with 127 points.
They
placed their five runners all under 17:10. West Springfield should
become
stronger as James Feeney returns from a bout of mono. In third was a
strong
Herndon team, with 135 points, who has picked it up from the begining
of the
season. Next was Westfields who ended up with 189 points. Rounding out
the
top five, and #4 from the Northern region, was an ailing Robinson
squad.
They scored an even 200 points.

The girls competition was lead by Kiera Calstrom with a time of 18:27.
Calstrom took control of the race from the mile mark and held on strong
to
the finish. Seven seconds behind in second place, was Centreville
standout,
Dacia Barr. Barr finished with a time of 18:34. Junior Kelly Swain of
Lake
Braddock ran for a time of 18:53 to round out the top three finishers.

It seemed to be a Patriot District sweep as Robinson, Lake Braddock,
and
Hayfield all made it to the awards stage. The Lady Rams continued to
dominate by scoring a 92, with all top five runners in the top 30.
There has
been a few changes in the Ram's lineup as their depth becomes more and
more
aparent to their competitors. Forty-three points behind was Lake
Braddock,
who scored 135 points. The Bruins placed their top five runners under
21:00
on this very difficult course. The Hayfield Hawks scored a 141 to round
out
the top three teams. They were lead by Morgan Blelin (19:32), and
Jessica
Webber (20:10). Look for the Hawks to move on from the top tough
Patriot
District to Northern Region competition.