Great finish in start of XC at Chancellor! Photo by Brandon Miles A great opener to the cross country season was held at Fredericksburg's Loriella Park for the Chancellor Invitational. The meet had two nationally ranked boys programs Jamestown and Mountain View clash in an early season test for both squads to see where they are at in beginning of this fall. The Chancellor Invite also saw a meet and course record go down by a somewhat surprise winner in Northwest Region outdoor 3200 meter champion Elizabeth Walls just dipping under the old Loriella best of 19:46 set by Kristyn Shiring of North Stafford with her winning time of 19:45 on a mild Saturday in September. While Walls pulled away for a decisive victory over a quality field in the last half of the race, Alex Ott and Andrew Colley could not shake each other off until the end in the varsity boys race with Ott pulling out the slight edge in a great finish. In a kicking battle to the line between two of AA's best juniors, Ott took the win in 16;30.8, while Colley settled as a close runner-up in 16:31.2. Colley did take home first place hardware though as his Jamestown team (54) defeated a Thomas Porter-less Mountain View squad (67 pts) by 13 points. The Eagles were able to overcome Mountain View putting five ahead of their fourth with three runners ahead of Mountain View's top finisher Daniel Porter (9th, 17:25.4). The Mountain View coaches wanted to see how well the rest of their guys could run without their ace Thomas Porter and their boys held up well as Mountain View at full strength against Jamestown on this day would have likely picked up a close win. While girls field lacked the powerhouse squads like Jamestown and Mountain View on the boys, one team stepped as a team to look out for thanks to the emergence of a talented freshmen. Sullivan Parkes had been a pre-race favorite coming in as a pre=season #13 ranked runner in the state, but she was not even the top finisher on her squad or household despite a solid fourth place time of 20:24 as her freshmen sister Presley Parkes ran a stellar high school debut race as runner-up in 19:58. With the firepower up front from the Parkes sisters, Millbrook won by a fair margin of 20 points over host school and AA #7 ranked Chancellor (2nd, 101 pts) with a team score of 81 points. Millbrook also defeated additional AA ranked squads in AA #5 James Wood (5th, 206 pts) and AA #6 Heritage-Leesburg (7th, 230 pts). Chancellor Invite Results: Varsity Boys - Varsity Girls - Developmental Boys - Developmental GirlsChancellor Invite Photo Gallery: Varsity Boys (348 pics) - Varsity Girls (358 pics) - Developmental Girls (148 pics) - Developmental Boys (247 pics) - Awards (38 pics) Video Interviews: Alex Ott - Andrew Colley - Elizabeth Walls Race Videos - Varsity Boys - Varsity Girls - Developmental Girls - Developmental Boys
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Photo by Brandon Miles Video interview with Battlefield senior Elizabeth Walls at the 2007 Chancellor Invitational. Walls scored a big victory at Chancellor along with a course and meet record by one second with her first place time of 19:45. Walls is the returning Northwest Region 3200 meter champion.
Video interview with Turner Ashby junior Alex Ott at the 2007 Chancellor Invitational. In his first race at Loriella Park, Ott turned in a strong time of 16:30 on the difficult 5K course and withstand a close challenge from fellow Group AA junior runner Andrew Colley. Chancellor is the first invitational win for the 2006 Foot Locker South sophomore race champion.
Photo by Brandon Miles A total of 34 schools and 1157 athletes will be competing at Saturday's Chancellor Invitational, which will be an season opener for all teams involved. MileStat.com will be on-site with coverage bringing you video, photos, and interviews from Loriella Park in Fredericksburg. First race begins at 9:30 AM with the varsity boys as the varsity girls, developmental boys, and developmental girls will follow thereafter. The meet will be an early clash between two Nike Team Nationals ranked squads in SE #4 Mountain View and SE #8 Jamestown, who will be led by two of the top individual harriers in the race with VA #4 ranked Thomas Porter (Mountain View) and VA #13 ranked Andrew Colley (Jamestown). Throwing in Turner Ashby junior and VA #6 ranked Alex Ott, the course record of 16:02 set by Devin Cornwall in 2005 could come under attack. Millbrook junior Sullivan Parkes finished 11th at the 2006 Chancellor Invite, but comes into this season as the #13 ranked runner in the state of Virginia and as a pre-race favorite for Saturday. However, defending Chancellor Invite champion Kaylan Comer (pictured above) might have something to say about that as a three-time All-State cross country performer in cross country.