Maroon Tide Invitational 2001

HILLSVILLE, VA -- There are a few advantages in racing in the meet in which you host and the Galax boys and girls cross country teams took full advantage of hosting today's meet and were victorious at the Maroon Tide Invitational held at the Soutwest Virginia Training Center in Hillsville. Both squads headed into today's meet ranked #5 in the Group A and lived up to their billings.

The Galax boys won fairly easily (40 pts) with a 22 point win over second place Patrick Henry (62 pts). The team had superior depth over any other squad in the meet as they placed 5 runners in the top 14. Andy Haines, ranked #10 in Group A, led Galax with a third place finish of 16:58.

Running without defending Group A state champion Michael Buchanan who is still out with a quadricep injury, the Patrick Henry boys performed well nonetheless as they took second to Galax. Having race winner Josh Harton with his time of 16:54, surely helped out the Patrick Henry squad.

The Galax girls had their work cut out for them with the Giles County squad as they beat Giles by a slim margin of 5 points (49-54). The #4 ranked runner in Group A, Elizabeth Mattson, took second for Galax with an excellent time of 20:08. She was upset however by previously unranked Elizabeth Hagood of East Montgomery with her time of 20:01. Hagood will most likely move into the top 5 in next week's poll.

Leading the Giles County girls attack was Anna Carpenter with her 4th place finishing time of 20:39. Carpenter is ranked 13th in the state currently and in today's race she beat higher ranked runners, Liza Spengler of Galax (#8) and Micah Orfield of Patrick Henry (#11).