Lee-Davis junior Stephanie Cario (pictured left by David Fleenor) came into this season noticed by few at the state level as after all, she has never qualified individually for state competition. Her times were good enough to be one of the top runners in the Capital District, but she still was running in the shadows of others in her district and region including teammate Amanda Lineberry. When it was learned that Lineberry would be missing at the least the first half of the cross country season coming back from injury, Cario and her teammates knew they would have to step it up in her absence. Cario took the call to step up to heart as she has been running at a level which few including herself could have expected leading to this season. The Oatlands Invitational was an eye opener race for Cario of what she might be capable of with a top 20 finish and beating some highly ranked runners. She has shown the race in Leesburg was not a one time fluke in her follow up races including a 19:14 personal best run at Hagan Stone and winning her first major invite this past weekend at her home invite. MileStat.com's Brandon Miles interviewed Cario after taking first in front of the home crowd at Pole Green.
Coverage
Video of the varsity A boys race from the 2008 Oatlands Invitational held Saturday, September 20th in Leesburg, VA. Solomon Haile of Maryland (15:25 course record) and Oakton boys won the individual and team titles.
Photos taken by Brandon Miles from the 2008 Oatlands Invitational held Saturday, September 20th at Oatlands Plantation in Leesburg, VA
The results keep flying in and the final tallies are showing some interesting stories across the nation. Top teams and individuals from coast to coast had much to prove this weekend, as the national level competitions really took off. Individuals like Solomon Haile and Jillian Smith showed their talents at the highest levels, while Saratoga Springs and North Central proved why they are two of the top teams in the country. See what else took place in our weekend highlights and results section.
On Site coverage at JFk Sterling, Suffern, PSAL, Xavier, and Western NY Officials. Stay tuned for stories, pictures, race video, and video interviews.
Photos taken by Dan Larson from the 2008 Oatlands Invitational held Saturday, September 20th at Oatlands Plantation in Leesburg, VA.
Photos taken by Ted Plunkett from the 2008 Oatlands Invitational held at Oatlands Plantation, Leesburg Va, on 20 September.
Can any Virginian stop Solomon Haile at Saturday's Oatlands Invitational? The Ethiopian native competes at Sherwood High School in Maryland and is one of the nation's top returning distance runners after winning national titles in the 5K last year at Nike Indoor and Nike Outdoor Nationals. He will be given his toughest test likely until Foot Locker regionals as five of the top six runners in Virginia will be racing at Oatlands with #1 Tyler Stutzman, #2 Thomas Porter, #3 Ben Dejarnette, #5 Alex Ott, and #6 Kyle Satterwhite. (Photo from mocorunning.com) This Saturday should push the Oatlands Invitational over the top into becoming a nationally recognized event with a huge field of 101 schools featuring some national caliber teams and athletes including the Saratoga Springs girls of New York and Solomon Haile of Sherwood (MD). Both will be heavy favorites in Leesburg despite the fact that most of Virginia's best will be present to give their best against the national powerhouse squad and emerging individual national star.
A new course in Hershey was unveiled at the 2nd PIAA Foundation meet (Pre-States, as we like to call it). Photo gallery, video on.
The past month has been an exciting one with the start of the cross country season. This weekend the season really gets going with numerous national-level match-ups get going across the land. Big meets in Virginia, Kentucky, Idaho, New Jersey, New York and Colorado feature top invitationals, while a half dozen others showcase nationally ranked squads and individuals. See who's where this weekend in our weekly weekend preview.
Podcast interview with Oatlands Invitational co-meet director Derek Farrey. Farrey and co-meet director Matt Oblas in only three years have built up the Oatlands Invite to become one of the largest high school cross country meets on the East Coast as a total of 101 schools will be competing at Saturday's event including teams traveling as far as Colorado and New York. The 24 minute interview is split up in two parts. Oatlands Invitational meet director podcast interview: Part 1 - Part 2
This will be the first year that MileStat.com's Brandon Miles will be doing on-site coverage of the Oatlands Invitational and this year looks to be the biggest and best version of the meet with a total of 101 schools set to converge on the Oatlands Plantation course in Leesburg. Plenty of pre-meet coverage and previews on the way throughout the week. Link to list of teams attending and course map below. List of schools attending Oatlands Invitational
Coaches please check this link: http://www.runhigh.com/Register/SchoolList.php?neventid=234 to make sure your team has completed their entries for our meet. The teams listed below will be competing in this year's Moore Hummer Oatlands Invitational.
The 2008 Oatlands Invitational turned out to be one of the most impressive high school events ever put together on Virginia soil as Derek Farrey and Matt Oblas did a masterful job in not only assembling a mega meet with 101 schools including teams as far as New York and Colorado, but pulling it off on the day of as there were was absolutely no noticeable errors and shortfalls at all with the meet. I want to personally thank Derek Farrey for allowing my team to compete in this year's event and want to give a full 100% endorsement of MileStat.com behind the Oatlands Invitational as I thought this was a top notch event that we should all feel proud to have within our borders to showcase the very best we have to offer in terms of competition and how to host a meet!
The storied York High School program of Illinois coached by the legendary Joe Newton is often referred to as the "Long Green Line" as the team often dominates every meet it attends with a line of York runners in green singlets leading the way in the field. The cross country boys team at Thomas Jefferson Science & Tech of Alexandria could be referred to as the "Long Math Equation" as not only is the team filled with brilliant student-athletes in mathematics, but when adding up their individual scoring places at a cross country meet, it usually equals a low team score. Read on for more...