The Albemarle Invitational definitely shook up the establishment as favorites faltered and underdogs rose to the occassion. No bigger underdog in the meet was the host school in the Albemarle boys going up against the giants in Western Albemarle and Mountain View. While neither of the highly ranked teams raced at full strength, one cannot diminish the team performance of Coach Buz Male's boys in pulling off the win in the home invite under their first year coach. It came down to a final two for the individual title between two of private school's best in Jeremy Haney of Fork Union and Austin Ellis of Covenant both (pictured above by John Herzog with Western Albemarle's Kyle Satterwhite) clocking in at 15:53 with Haney taking the slight edge and his major invitational victory. The VA #4 ranked Maggie Walker girls showed their depth, but in the wrong race as their top two finishers in JV race could have helped them out greatly in the varsity race. As a result, the VA #7 ranked Millbrook girls were able to score a mild upset led by another great 1-2 punch in the Parkes sisters and other teammates stepping up. Regardless of an off day from 2006 Albemarle Invite champ Liz Barclay, Osboun Park sophomore Ariel Karabinus will be tough to stop from winning the Northwest Region title if she runs like she did on Saturday in November with a 11 second 18:35 victory. More to come from Albemarle... Albemarle Invitational Photo Gallery (Varsity only) by John Herzog Albemarle Invitational Photo Gallery by Andy Paisley
Coverage
The Albemarle Invitational should have some excellent showdowns at Panorama Farms in Charlottesville this Saturday with many of the state's top teams and individuals. The Maggie Walker girls, led by a great front 1-2 in Susannah Piersol and Clarissa Schick, will face off against an upstart team this fall in Millbrook, who also is very tough at the top with the Parkes sisters, Presley and Parkes. Albemarle's Liz Barclay will look to go for a second Albemarle Invite win in front of the home crowd, but Osbourn Park's Ariel Karabinus will attempt to challenge and see if the Northwest Region title later this fall is a realistic goal with Barclay standing in the way. VA #5 Western Albemarle and VA #6 Mountain View lead the boys field as both team's front runners with Thomas Porter for Mountain View and the Western duo of Kyle Satterwhite and Tyler Stutzman will be the strongest individual contenders in the race.
Can they pull off the impossible again??? The Manhattan Invitational will keep all eyes in Virginia to the north to see how some of Virginia's best teams and individuals fair against the best high school running one can find on the entire East Coast. The Midlothian girls are going back to Van Cortland Park to defend their Eastern States title from a year ago with Blacksburg and Brentsville girls joining them in the race. The top four ranked boys teams in Virginia will also be at Manhattan as well spread out among the different varsity divisions with #1 Oakton, #2 Midlothian, #3 Brentsville, and #4 Blacksburg. Individually look for Peter Dorrell and Jason Witt to run for wins and try to post the fastest times of the day on Vanny's historic 2.5 mile course. Our MileSplit US affiliates in New York and Pennsylvania will be helping to provide coverage of the meet with photos, video, and updates.Meanwhile, plenty of meets to cover just within Virginia as four major invitationals will occur this Saturday in the Albemarle Invitational, Glory Days Grill Invitational, Lee-Davis Subvarsity Invitational, and Runnin With The Wolves Invitational. MileStat.com should have some form of on-site coverage at all four meets.Race videos wanted! Upload your videos to MileStat.comManhattan Invitational (VA) Previews: Boys - Girls Manhattan Invitational (NY) Previews: Boys - GirlsManhattan Invitational Race Assignments: Boys - Girls Albemarle Invitational PreviewGlory Days Grill Invitational Preview Lee-Davis Subvarsity Invitational Preview Runnin' With The Wolves Rocktoberfest Preview Team Lists for Albemarle, Glory Days, Lee-Davis, and Runnin With The Wolves
Team lists for three invitationals being held this Saturday, October 13th in Virginia: Albemarle Invitational at Panorama Farms in Charlottesville, Glory Days Grill Invitational at Bull Run Region Park in Manassas, Runnin' With The Wolves Rocktoberfest at Wolf Branch Farm in Forest.