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.
Coverage
Photos taken at 2008 Chesapeake Invitational. Bells Mill Course. Chesapeake, VA
Liana Epstein leads the Lake Braddock girls to the Ocean State Invite in Rhode Island this weekend against a large field of top teams in the Northeast and New York including NE #2 Glastonbury (CT). (Photo by Ted Plunkett) While a large majority of Virginian high school cross country teams will be competing at Maymont on Saturday, there are also many other meets where teams will be racing at this weekend in-state and out-of-state. Lake Braddock is traveling the furthest as the Bruins head to the New Balance Ocean State Invitational in Warwick, Rhode Island. The Lake Braddock girls, ranked #5 in Virginia, will be competing against some top teams in the Northeast region and from the state of New York including NE #2 Glastonbury of Connecticut. Thomas Jefferson may have avoided direct competition last week at Oatlands having their "A" teams compete in the "B" division, but will not be avoiding top ranked squads this week at the Carlisle Invitational in Pennsylvania as the #3 ranked boys and girls team in Virginia will race against the top 6 ranked boys teams and top 5 ranked girls teams in Pennsylvania. Thomas Porter and Kaitlyn Davis of Mountain View will look to invade Maryland on Saturday and seize first place finishes on the home course for Maryland State Championships at Hereford for the Bull Run Invite. Porter's likely top competition will be Graham Bazell of Altholton High School in Maryland, who was the only runner willing to attempt to challenge Andrew Colley last week at William & Mary. Davis was the top Virginia finisher at Oatlands and will look to pick up her second major invitational victory this season after starting the season with a first place finish at Chancellor. Many teams in the Southwest portion of the state will be headed to Bristol Cross just across the state border in Tennessee. Almost the entire Eastern Region will be at the Chesapeake Invitational to get an opportunity to preview the regional championships course at Bells Mill Park.