Cave Spring senior Tim Smith (pictured left by Scott Rigler) not only came away with a decisve win over AA rival Alex Ott of Turner Ashby at the Runnin' With The Wolves Roctoberfest in Forest, Virginia, but also obliterated the meet record of 16:16 set by 2003 AA state cross country champion Justin Hatch by a whopping 28 seconds. Smith had finished a second behind Ott at the Maymont Festival two weeks ago and this weekend's race at Wolf Branch Farm was expected to be another close finish between the #4 (Ott) and #5 (Smith) ranked runners in AA. However, Smith simply dominated this contest in a 15:48 win as Harrisonburg's Bryant Clopper actually ended up slipping ahead of Ott (3rd, 16:03) for a second with a strong run of 16:02. This year's Runnin With The Wolves was one of the fastest ever on the boys side with ten under 17 minutes on one of the state's more challenging common run courses. With a 58 second spread for #1-5 and nearly five runners in the top 25 places, the #8 ranked Christiansburg boys won another invitational.The individual winner in the girls' race figured to be wide open and the actual winner turned out to be new name as an invitational champion in Broadway senior Margaret Richardson putting 27 seconds between herself and runner-up Stephanie Spickard of Lord Botetourt in a 19:50 win. The Blacksburg girls showed their great depth without their top seven present as they were racing in New York this weeked as the Blacksburg "B" team almost claimed the title at Runnin' With The Wolves led by a fifth place finish from Peter Dorrell's little sister Sarah (20:51), but the Jefferson Forest girls had too much pride on the line in their home meet to allow that to happen with a narrow three point win over Blacksburg with 77 points.Running With The Wolves Rocktoberfest Photo Gallery by Scott Rigler - More photos to be added on Sunday.
Coverage
Photos taken by Scott Rigler from the 2007 Runnin With The Wolves Rocktoberfest held at Wolf Branch Farm, Forest, Virginia on October 13, 2007
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
With the Blacksburg team being cleared last second to attend the Manhattan Invitational in New York, the clarity of the favorites for the Runnin With The Wolves Rocktoberfest has been dramatically changed with the door opened to new teams and individuals with one of the state's top girls teams in Blacksburg and top boys individuals in Peter Dorrell headed to NYC. Without them, the show will still go on as Jefferson Forest coach Jerome Loy will be putting on a great meet with a wild start and plenty of tunes to keep the runners pumped through the entirety of the challenging 5K course.Pictured right by John Herzog: Turner Ashby's Alex Ott finished just a second ahead of fellow Group AA runner Tim Smith of Cave Spring at Maymont two weeks ago. The two return in action against one another on Saturday at the Runnin' With The Wolves Rocktoberfest and could press each other to go under Mike Spooner's 16:25 course record at Wolf Branch Farm.
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.