Monroe Parker Invitational 2001

Burke Lake, VA
Hosted by Mount Vernon

Preview

West Springfield boys come into race without #1 runner
By Tom Crosson, MileStat.com Staff Writer
Sunday, September 2, 2001

BURKE, VA -- On Wednesday, many of the Northern Region and the nation's top runners will be competing to show everyone just why they are ranked so highly. They will be competing at the Monroe-Parker Invitational, which is held on the difficult 2.98 mile, Burke Lake Cross Country Course.

Look for West Springfield, Herndon, and South Lakes, to be the top men's teams. Herndon is led by junior Rasheed Thompson, who posted a 4:17 1600 in the track season as he will be battling for the individual title with senior Richard Smith (4:14 1600m and 1:52 800m) of South Lakes.

Also on the men's side is West Springfield which has a strong team in senior Bryan Witt (9:47 3200m) and the junior duo of John Cook (4:28 1600m) and Jeff Day (4:25 1600m). But, one prominent member of their squad will be missing at race time. That is senior James Feeney (15:45 at Burke Lake last year) who has caught mono. He is expected to be back in competition by the end of October.

On the girls side the ladies of James Robinson are expected to be the dominating force. After being the Patriot District Champions, Northern Region, and State runners-up, they have high expectations this season. The lady rams have been ranked second in the state by MileStat.com and #5 in the South Region by Harrier magazine. Two Robinson girls are expected to contend for the individual title with #7 state-ranked junior Joanna Rodgers (11:12 3200m), and #11 state-ranked junior Sam Ference (11:17 3200m), both of James Robinson, for the individual title.

One dominant team that has not been mentioned in this preview is Lake Braddock. They are leaving on Thursday to compete at the Race of the Great Bay in San Franscisco, CA.