Central Region Meet 2001

RICHMOND, VA -- The Maggie Walker boys did what most thought was impossible earlier
in the season as they upset the #1 ranked team in the state of Virginia, Midlothian. At
the Central Region Meet, the team from Maggie Walker beat Midlothian by a 18 point margin
with their team score of 51 points. Leading the way for the upset was senior John Piersol
who took runnerup individual honors with his time of 16:01. Maggie Walker continued to
manhandle Midlothian by beating the defending Group AAA State champions at each position
in the respective squads' top fives. Along with Piersol, Daniel Howard (8th, 16:40),
Andrew Stegmaier (9th, 16:40), and Jarrett Ridgeway (11th, 16:44) earned all-region honors.
Rounding out the top five was Jonathan Charlesworth finishing in 21st place (17:11).

While Midlothian obviously was dissapointed with their performance, it was a strong one nonetheless.
Veteran senior Anthony D'Amato led the Trojans as he placed fourth in a time of 16:32. Making up
the squad's top five and giving Midlothian a team score of 69 points was D'Amato, Jason Call (10th, 16:42), Mike D'Amato (12th, 16:50), Ryan
Witt (19th, 17:09), and Joseph Johnson (24th, 17:25).

The Hermitage boys got solid contributions from their top three runners to take third with
94 points. Chad Hall (5th, 16:35), Cary Chaffee (7th, 16:39), and Matt Kirkland (13th, 16:51) have carried the squad all
season and will be carrying the team onto the state meet next weekend at Great Meadows.

Completing the group of four that will be representing the Central Region next weekend was Douglas
Freeman taking fourth with 126 points.

The boys race had a rough start, actually a restart, which caused a
delay for five minutes till the race got official underway. This distraction
didn't phase Thomas Dale junior Alex Tatu. Along with Tatu, Piersol,
Douglas Freeman senior Graham Kearney, and Mills Godwin senior Matt
Wolak led the field through the first mile around 4:52. Tatu gradually
broke away from this pack as only Piersol was able to maintain contact.
Tatu built up a six second lead during the last mile, and kept that
distance as he went onto win in 15:54. Piersol took second in 16:01.

The battle for the girls individual title was nowhere near as competitive
as Atlee senior Tiffany Cross made sure of that setting a blistering
early pace and winning by a 38 second margin with her time of 19:13.
Manchester's Diana Allin emerged from the chase pack to take runnerup
honors with her time of 19:51.

The James River girls had a dominating performance en route to winning
the Central Region girls' team title. The Lady Rapids had four runners
earn all-region honors with Christy Ward (4th, 20:02), Rebecca Ward
(11th, 20:24), Callie Hopkins (13th, 20:29), and Rita Degrazia (15th, 20:36).
They ran extremely well despite their top runner, Kristen Coffield
failed to finish the race. If Coffield can manage to recover for next
weekend's Group AAA State Meet, the James River girls maybe in serious
contention for a state title.

The Douglas Freeman girls, a traditional Central Region powerhouse,
had a fine performance to second with 95 points. Lady Rebels senior
Julia Siegel led the squad with her third place finishing time of 19:57.
Also joining Siegel earning all-region honors was teammate Tyler Wallace
as she finished sixth in a time of 20:06.

There was no doubt that Midlothian boys would advance to the state meet,
but few could have expected the Midlothian girls to be able to advance
out of the region, but they did as they surprisingly finished third with 104 points.
Maria Anthony (7th, 20:17) and Amanda Creamer (14th, 20:34) helped lead
the Lady Trojans onto the state meet.

And finishing in the final qualifying spot to move onto states was the
Manchester girls with 155 points. At the beginning stages of the season,
many thought this team would easily be the regional champions, but that
turned out not to be so. Nonetheless, the squad will be advancing onto
the state meet next Saturday at Great Meadows in The Plains.