Octoberfest Invitational 2008

Great Meadow (Non-State) Course
The Plains, VA
Hosted by Mountain View
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Records
Meet Records
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High School Cross- Country Pre-State Rankings Douglas McDaniel Oct 30, 2008

Here are the WV Runners Pre-State Cross-Country Meet 5K rankings. Remember, only meets with Hy-Tek that are on WVRunners are included. Performances from meets that are not in Hy-Tek are included if they met previous elite performance standards. Ari Kasprowicz of Preston leads the girls with a 18:33.81 first place showing at the North Central Athletic Conference Meet. Cody Pelliccioni of Morgantown leads the way for the boys with his impressive 5th place finish in 15:45.31 at the highly competitive Octoberfest Invitational. High School Girls Pre-State Meet Rankings High School Boys Pre-State Meet Rankings

Athlete Spotlight: Stacey Nobles (Ocean Lakes) MileSplit Staff Oct 21, 2008

Ocean Lakes senior Stacey Nobles (pictured right by Andy Paisley) has been virtually unbeatable thus far this season as her only loss has came at the Octoberfest Invitational against arguably the hottest runner in the state right now in Anneka Wilson of The Potomac School in a season best 5K time of 18:20. Nobles has scored major invitational wins at the Chesapeake Invitational, against virtually all of their top competion for the Eastern Region title, and at the Albemarle Invitational, which asserted herself as one of the top state meet challengers in Group AAA with a victory in Charlottesville. A two-time All-State performer in cross country, Nobles will be hoping to better her fifth place showing at Great Meadow last November and potentially compete for first place on November 8th. Her performances thus far this season have earned her a top 5 ranking among all high school runners in Virginia. MileStat.com's Brandon Miles interviewed Nobles as she prepares for Wednesday's Beach District Championships at Sportsplex in Virginia Beach with her Eastern Region top ranked Ocean Lakes squad.

Coach's Corner: Coach Cindy Walls (Bishop O'Connell) MileSplit Staff Oct 10, 2008

The Bishop O'Connell girls may not be favored to win this weekend's Glory Days Grill Invitational in Manassas with Southeast regionally ranked squads Thomas Jefferson and Lake Braddock in the field, but they certainly could it make close. Closer than most would normally expect even the best private school squad in the state to have a fighting chance against the top public school teams in Virginia, but the 2008 Bishop O'Connell cross country team is not your typical private school state champion caliber squad. A win at the Octoberfest Invitational and 7th place finish at Maymont against a field of ranked teams in Virginia and throughout the Southeast region proved that Coach Cindy Walls has a special group of girls and is doing some great things this fall under her guidance. Led by returning Virginia Independent Schools state cross country champion Megan Fitzpatrick and bolstered by several few faces in senior Claire Whitesell and freshmen Nicole Carty, Coach Walls talks with MileStat.com prior to Glory Days about an outstanding season so far for the Lady Knights and what to look forward for the remainder of this season. More...

Athlete Spotlight: Anneka Wilson (The Potomac School) MileSplit Staff Oct 10, 2008

Photo by Ted Plunkett In just her second year of cross country, Anneka Wilson seems to be hitting her stride perfectly as The Potomac School junior has been rolling as of late on every course she races on with a streak of four consecutive invitational victories heading into this weekend's Glory Days Grill Invitational. Wilson is part of an outstanding class of private school runners this fall emerging in Virginia between herself, Barbara Strehler of Trinity, and defending state champ Megan Fitzpatrick of Bishop O'Connell. An English citizen, Wilson's worldly travels with her family after stays in Belgium, Singpapore, and England have brought her across the Atlantic Ocean to Virginia in an indirect route to become of the state's top prep distance runners this fall. The former field hockey player has had to transition this season from her previous coach who helped convince her to give up the field hockey stick for a pair of racing spikes, but seems to be running better than ever under the guidance of her new coach. MileStat.com's Brandon Miles interviewed Wilson just one day prior to her big race at Glory Days in which she will look to extend her streak to 5 major invitational wins as well as go after her first sub 18 minute 5K performance. More..

Octoberfest Invite - Varsity B Race Summaries MileSplit Staff Oct 6, 2008

Trinity's Barbara Strehler (pictured left by John Herzog) would have liked to competed against the top runners in the Varsity A division at Octoberfest including her top two competitors in the VIS in Anneka Wilson of The Potomac School and Megan Fitzpatrick of Bishop O'Connell, but had to settle with dominating another second tier field with her 18:34 victory in the Varsity B division. Since Trinity is a category 3 private school, the school cannot compete directly against Maryland public schools which were present in the varsity A division. The same situation arose at Maymont last week with Strehler having to race down in the coastal division, which she convincingly won albeit against some state ranked runners. Her time bests her previous all-time best of 18:40 from the 2007 Foot Locker South Regional. Herndon competing without their top runners on both sides, opted to compete in the "B" division and came away with team victories in each race.

Octoberfest Invite Videos Oct 6, 2008

Octoberfest videos contributed by Kevin Milsted. Octoberfest Invitational Race Videos: Varsity A Boys - Varsity A Girls - Varsity B Boys - Varsity B Girls - JV Upperclassmen Boys - JV Upperclassmen Girls - JV Underclassmen Boys - JV Underclassmen Girls Anneka Wilson Interview

Octoberfest Invitational Coverage MileSplit Staff Oct 4, 2008

Photo by Andy Paisley For the second year in a row, a private school girl pulled off a major invitational win at Octoberfest. Defending Octoberfest and private school state champion Megan Fitzpatrick returned and helped lead her team to a significant team victory in the varsity A division, but it was another private school runner in Anneka Wilson of The Potomac School who was the individual champion this year. The junior Wilson ran a big personal best performance of 18:06 to lead a race which saw quick times with 13 girls breaking 19 minutes for 5K. Another race champion happened to be of the private school ranks as well as Trinity's Barbara Strehler won the varsity B division with ease in a time of 18:34. The Bishop O'Connell girls capped off a huge day by holding off close challenges from Ocean Lakes and Osbourn Park for the varsity A girls team title as the private school girls ran away from the public school girls on the same venue for the public school's high school state championships. Sherwood's Solomon Haile dominated another Virginia invitational after winning Oatlands two weeks ago. The Maryland high school runner blitzed a time of 15:10 at Great Meadow to finish well ahead of the next finisher Leoule Degfae of Thomas Edison (15:42). Third place finisher Jared Berman led the Robinson boys (104 pts) to a team title with 49 points to spare on the runner-up squad Walter Johnson (153 pts). More to come Sunday afternoon on Octoberfest! Octoberfest Invitational Results: Varsity A Boys - Varsity A Girls - Varsity B Boys - Varsity B Girls Octoberfest Photo Gallery by Andy Paisley Race videos to come!

Finish Line: National Roundup (Week Ending 10/4) Fran McLaughlin Oct 3, 2008

Andrews (pictured above, TXRunners photo) 17:07, Lutz in TX at Nike South | Hasay 17:54 season debut at Atascadero Invite |  A pair of all-time bests at Salesianum, DE | Dunbar, Kodiak, Francis three-peat in Alaska | Brasovan course record 16:46 at flrunners.com | PA Girls #1 Emmaus, Furcht 15:18 @ Paul Short | Doug Smith unchallenged 16:29 debut at Shore Coaches (NJ) | Quick times at Holmdel | Freshmen girls rock Maine FOC |

Octoberfest Invitational - Virtual Meet Scoring Preview Oct 2, 2008

Virtual meet scoring preview for this weekend's Octoberfest Invitational based off 2008 season best performances. Oatlands winner Solomon Haile will be the heavy favorite to win, while top individuals after the Ethiopian native include Thomas Porter, Josh Morris, Blake Theroux, Leoule Degfae, Ben Veilleux, Jared Berman, Chris Foley, and Drew Paisley. James Robinson and Western Branch boys appear to be the strongest teams heading into Great Meadow, but a handful of other teams could get in the mix including Clarke County, Potomac Falls, Ocean Lakes, and Good Counsel. There looks to be no clear favorite among the girls individuals and it could be a wide open race with plenty of lead changes. More than a handful of girls have won major invitationals already this season including Anneka Wilson of The Potomac School (Woodberry Forest, William & Mary "B", Mercersburg), Kaitlyn Davis of Mountain View (Chancellor), Stacey Nobles of Ocean Lakes (Chesapeake), and Myah Hicks of Thomas Edison (William & Mary "A"). VA #7 ranked Bishop O'Connell, VA #9 Osbourn Park, VA #10 Clarke County, and Ocean Lakes all have legitimate chances at winning team titles at Octoberfest.

Octoberfest Invite entries closed at 81 schools Sep 24, 2008

Entries are now closed for the Octoberfest Invitational to be held Saturday, October 4th at Great Meadow. A total of 81 schools and roughly 4,100 athletes are already entered. Any further entries at this point will be declined by meet management. With the Great Meadow Invite being cancelled in early September due to Tropical Storm Hanna, the urgency increased for schools to get into the second invitational to be hosted at the same venue for the VHSL State Championships. It will certainly be the featured meet of the weekend with many of the state's best competing at Octoberfest.