Clash With The Titans 2009

At the Clash With The Titans, VA #1 ranked Hidden Valley girls will open their season in their home invitational against teams in the Roanoke Valley area. Hidden Valley should win big if all five of their top 5 returnees are racing led by 2008 Group AA state runner-up Annie LeHardy. LeHardy won last year's inaugural Clash With The Titans with a one second victory over teammate Mary Catherine Sowder in 20:45.   The top three boys teams coming into the meet feature a strong #1 runner each who will be battling for first individually on Saturday in Group AA #5 ranked Andy Eddleton of Christiansburg, Group A #3 ranked Jared Miller of Radford, and Group AA #14 ranked Cody Seymour of Cave Spring.

The Hidden Valley girls, ranked #19 in the nation according to MileSplit US recent national team rankings, began their 2009 season with a victory in their home invitational in the second annual Clash with the Titans. The Hidden Valley girls were competing without three of their top five runners, but still were able to hold off Christiansburg by 10 points for a first place team finish with 47 points. Mary Catherine Sowder (pictured by John Tyree), a runner-up in last year's Clash with the Titans, won easily without her other teammates in the race with a time of 20:56. Coming from the flat land of Tidewater Virginia, Greenbrier Christian Academy's Michael Bailey sure had no problem tackling the hills on Hidden Valley High School's home course. Bailey pulled away for 17:10 win with Christiansburg's Andy Eddleton 12 seconds back at 17:22.