DiValentin zips a 17:38 at Burke Lake
Oct 25, 2007
Chantilly junior Lia DiValentin (pictured left by Ted Plunkett) finished way out in front in the Northern Region's toughest district for cross country at the Concorde District Meet on Thursday at Burke Lake Park's 2.98 milie as she zipped through the course in a time of 17:38. Her time was 24 seconds faster than race runner-up Frances Dowd of Fairfax, who posted the second fastest time of the week at Burke Lake at 18:02. The Oakton girls will be confident heading into the regional meet after taking the district title ahead of three worthy squads in Herndon, James Robinson, and Westfield. Oakton's Becca Kassabian had emerged as a front runner for the team with a breakthrough performance at the Manhattan Invite. Now Coach Phil Tiller's girls have a pair with Kassabian and Hallie Eilerts both running well in the district championships finishing in the top 5 with times 18:15 or faster.The Oakton boys were rolling today just as well as the Midlothian boys with only 21 second gap in their top four behind Joe Lorusso, who defended his individual district title with a 15:24 clocking. The Oakton boys were also able to compare themselves to chief competition at the regional meet with the Thomas Jefferson boys racing on the same day and same course in the Liberty District Meet. Thomas Jefferson perfect scored their district champions with a top five all under 16 minutes led by Evan Heflin edging out teammate Brian Landry for the individual title with both timed at 15:32. Behind their top two finishers were Aaron Bernstein (3rd, 15:50), Alex Witko (4th, 15:52), and Brian Davenport (5th, 15:55) for team average of 15:44. Oakton's team average was slightly faster at 15:40 in the Concorde race as the Northern Region Meet should be a great meet between Virginia's #1 and #3 ranked squads.
