Monroe Parker Invitational 2007

 Apparently Lia DiValentin (pictured above by Ted Plunkett) does not like to have company up front with her while leading races, so the Chantilly junior Lia DiValentin decided to pull away from Westfield's Tasia Potasinski for a strong first invitational win of the season for the AAA state title contender at the Monroe Parker Invite in 18:08 on a modified, but still 2.98 mile distance Burke Lake Park course. Potasinski's presence up front and eventual individual runner-up finish (18:29) helped spark her fellow Westfield teammates to beat many of their top Northern Region rivals and garner a runner-up showing (112 pts) to defending Northern Region champs Lake Braddock. The Lake Braddock girls were dominant with a team score of 51 points and four runners in the top 15 places as third place finisher Anna Corrigan (18:55) led the Bruins. With the Northern Region's top two teams in the Oakton and Thomas Jefferson boys competing elsewhere, Monroe Parker turned into a good indicator of which teams will be vying for those four spots to get out of the region onto the state meet later in the fall.  If W.T. Woodson can finish how they have they have started in 2007, they would be breaking a long drought of failing to make it out of the Northern Region as they beat out Robinson by ten points for the Monroe Parker title. T.C. Williams senior Bradshaw Kenimer, a runner-up one year ago at Monroe Parker to Mike Spooner, took over the crown this year by pulling away with a 13 second margin of victory over Edison's Leoule Degfae (15:39) in 15:26.  Monroe Parker Invitational Photo Gallery by Ted Plunkett - 885 photos total