Three years ago at the 2006 VHSL State Championships, a young Drew Paisley was the top finishing freshmen in the entire meet as a ninth grader at Ocean Lakes High School. Since then other runners have risen and emerged to become the best in the class of 2010 runners, but Paisley will have the opportunity in his final state cross country meet this weekend to again regain his status on the top of the class. Coming off a mild upset win at the Eastern Region Meet against Blake Theroux (the top returnee from last year's AAA state race), Paisley will be an underdog once again as he attempts to become the first Eastern Region boys cross country state champion since Seneca Lassiter of Lafayette won back in 1993. He is also receiving some pretty good advice and support heading into this weekend from last year's girls state champion and Ocean Lakes grad Stacey Nobles, who happens to be Paisley's girlfriend and knows a thing or two about being an underdog heading into a state championship race.
Coverage
Landstown senior Stephanie Frenchik’s time of 18:22 at Bells Mill Park at the Eastern Region Meet last Thursday is significant because it is three seconds faster than the 2008 performance by last year’s Group AAA state cross country champion Stacey Nobles on the same course at the 2008 Eastern Region Meet. Frenchik had just barely qualified for the state meet last year with a 15th place finish in the regional race and fast forward one year later and she just won the Eastern Region title by 33 seconds with hopes of finishing high in the field and possibly contend at Great Meadow this weekend.
Regional week begins on Tuesday with the Region II Championships being held at Panorama Farms in Charlottesville and ends on Saturday with the Central Region Championships being held at Pole Green Park in Mechanicsville. on Wednesday, two regional meets were held with the Region III Championships and Region B Championships. The Hidden Valley girls did it again and knocked off a top ranked Blacksburg squad at the Region IV Meet for the third consecutive year. Of course in the past two upsets, Blacksburg has been able to bounce back and win the Group AA state title the next week. We will see if history repeats itself next week at Great Meadow as two of the state's best teams face off once again.
The Grassfield boys regained regional bragging rights in claiming their first Eastern Region cross country team title over rival Western Branch with a top five spread of 56 seconds and all five scorers among the top 20 ranging from times 15:52 to 16:49. Despite losing their top three runners from a year ago, the Ocean Lakes girls repeated easily as champions by a 46 point margin. Landstown senior Stephanie Frenchik maintained her regional dominance with a personal best 18:22 win, while Drew Paisley made it a Beach District individual sweep as the Ocean Lakes senior scored a mild upset 15:37 victory.
