VHSL State Cross Country Championships 2010

Race footage of the State Meet Record won by Andrew Hunter of Loudoun Valley. Be sure to check out our full length videos to for double the coverage!

Kyle King leads a group of Virginia boys going into Foot Locker South with hopes of qualifying for the national race in San Diego. The Grafton senior won his second consecutive state title two weeks ago at Great Meadow with the fastest time of the day in a 15:21 PR. With the college decision out of the way as he will follow in the footsteps of Coach Matt Gutridge to UVA, King has geared his season in the training and racing schedule to run his best at this point of the season in order to give himself a shot at a top 10 finish at McAlpine Greenway Park in Charlotte. After only racing two invitationals during the regular season and arguably only exerting himself near 100 percent effort in a dominant win at the Albemarle Invite and his Group AA state title repeat performance, King should have a lot left in the tank to go for a national berth on Saturday. MileStat.com recently interviewed King, one of Virginia's best chances to have a representative and qualifier in the boys' race at Foot Locker Nationals heading into this weekend's South Regional. (Photo above by Ryan Kelly)

  Stafford sophomore Hannah Lowery (pictured above by John Herzog) has had a very busy fall. Between winning numerous cross country invitational races as well as winning district, regional, and state titles to go along with helping the Stafford field hockey team advance all the way to state semi-finals, the Governor's School student Lowery has had a full plate for the past few months. She has at least moved field hockey off her plate for the time being and now only has one more race left to cap off one of the most impressive and successful cross country seasons in recent history by a Virginia high school female distance runner. Lowery won a total of five major invitationals this season, while taking only second twice to Cosby's Megan Moye at the competitive Oatlands Invite and MileStat.com Invite. Herself and fellow sophomore Sophie Chase of Lake Braddock have had two thrilling finishes with one another in their only two encounters this fall with Lowery getting the narrow win in both photo finishes determined by their chip timed feet. Since the two sophomores should make for a great rivalry over the next two years competing for state titles with only one able to be the champion, it would be fitting if both were to qualify for Foot Locker Nationals as two of the state's top hopefuls at the South regional next Saturday in Charlotte. However, the Stafford boys are expected to race on the same day at the Nike Cross Southeast Regional in Cary, North Carolina, so Lowery is still torn on which national qualifier meet to run in next week. While she has been a magician in being able to compete in cross country meets and field hockey games sometimes on the same day, she will unfortunately have to decide which race she will compete in next Saturday between Foot Locker South and Nike Cross Southeast. Either way, a West Coast-bound ticket earned to either Portland, Oregon for Nike Cross Nationals or San Diego, California for Foot Locker Nationals would be a well-deserved and well-earned trip for the 2010 Group AAA state cross country girls' champion Lowery.  

  Two years ago at the state cross country meet, Hidden Valley senior Annie LeHardy (pictured above by Frank Locascio) got the short end of the stick in a photo finish between herself and Brookville's Janel Reeves for the Group AA state title. As a senior in her last high school state cross country meet this past Saturday at Great Meadow, LeHardy made sure she would not be stuck in the same position again as she broke away from top ranked Mattie Webb of Western Albemarle and teammate Haley Cutright before the two mile mark. A state champion as a freshmen in track at 1600 meters, LeHardy continued to build her lead en route to matching the course record time of 17:34 set one year ago by Kathleen Stevens of Blacksburg with her second individual state title overall and first in cross country. Her performance also led Hidden Valley to a second straight Group AA state title, which builds momentum for the squad into the Nike Cross Southeast Regional as a returning NXN at-large qualifier from 2009. LeHardy and teammate Cutright certainly have excellent chances at qualifying individually for the national meet  in Oregon if there team is unable to qualify. MileStat.com interviewed LeHardy, who has a solid and consistent four year high school career under coach Daniel King at Hidden Valley.

Photo by Mike Somers   Awareness helped Jon Ulrich win the Group A state cross country title. He was aware before the meet by his Lebanon coaches that it was the first chip timed foot to cross the line and not the torso as is the case with most meets not timed by chips which would determine his and his teammates' place order as they figured to be in a close fight with several schools for a podium spot at Great Meadow. Not sure if Ulrich knew this knowledge would eventually gain him the state individual title as well. The Lebanon sophomore Ulrich now has the opportunity to join potentially four others in boys' state meet history to win three state cross country titles after winning a photo finish over Northumberland senior Mischa Turner which based off the photo did not appear in his favor. A member also of the highest finishing Region D squad at the state meet since 1988 with Lebanon's runner-up finish to Altavista, Ulrich started the season off strong with a win at the Run Fer Da Hills Invitational but an early season stress fracture hindered him to run behind teammate Bradley Rasnake in most races and workouts during the season before coming out on top at season's end. MileStat.com interviewed the sophomore state champion from Lebanon days after his dramatic state meet victory which he had to wait 20 minutes to officially find out that he was in fact the champion.

Photo by Ted Plunkett Annandale junior Ahmed Bile is the son of a 1987 world champion Abdi Bile from Somalia. 99.9% of today's high school runners in Virginia probably do not know who Abdi Bile is and probably a majority of their coaches do not either. However, both Virginia high school cross country coaches and runners know who Ahmed Bile is or now know all about him after his dramatic and remarkable last 100 meters kick to run down top ranked Silas Frantz of Douglas Freeman for the Group AAA state cross country title. He has only been running seriously for a year now after giving up soccer, which is scary for the competition to consider how much more development and potential is left in the tank for Bile. Fresh off his thrilling state meet victory, Bile now prepares for the Foot Locker South Regional and figures to be a late surging contender for a top 10 national berth. Earning a trip to San Diego this year or next fall would certainly show Ahmed is making a name for himself on his own accord and a different path to success than taken by his father, a NCAA champion at George Mason University. MileStat.com interviewed the 2010 Group AAA state cross country individual champion Bile on Monday evening after the state meet...

Midlothian boys averaged well under 16 minutes and won by a huge margin for the AAA team title.

Anna Spiers and her 5th place finished helped lead the Maggie Walker girls to a runner-up finish in the AAA race.

Robert E. Lee senior Abraham Yacob finished 6th in the AAA race with a time of 15:47.

Princess Anne senior Lizzie Cornell was the top finisher from the Eastern Region with an 8th place finish in the AAA race.

Albemarle junior Ben Deal finished 12th in the AAA race.

Powhatan sophomore Rachel Byrd becomes her school's first All-State finisher in many years and possibly school history.

Deep Run senior Erica Dobbs finished 7th in the Group AAA state race.

Anthony Noegel led Blacksburg to the Group AA state title with a ninth place finish.

Albemarle girls finished 6th in the Group AAA state race.

Albemarle boys fnished 3rd in the Group AAA state race.

Lebanon junior Tabitha Arwood finished 3rd in the Group A girls race.

George Mason girls won a 3rd straight Group A team title led by a runner-up finish from Julia Estrada.

Midlothian boys won the AAA state title in dominan fashion.

Strasburg junior Katlyn Ayers repeated as Group A state individual champion with a time of 19:08.

Cosby junior Megan Moye finished 3rd in the AAA race with a time of 18:03.

Northumberland senior Mischa Turner finished 2nd in a close call finish for the Group A state title with a PR time of 16:22.

Stafford sophomore Hannah Lowery won her first state title with a PR time of 17:41 in the AAA race.

Colonial Forge girls ran an exceptional pack race to snag the third place and final podium spot in the Group AAA race.

Daniel Blanks (4th) and Sean Farney (5th) helped lead the Altavista boys to their first Group A state team title.

Annandale junior Ahmed Bile unleashed a great kick in the final stretch to win his first Group AAA state title in 15:27.

Hidden Valley girls put 3 in the top 10 for a 2nd straight Group AA state title including Annie LeHardy tying the course record in 17:34.

Grafton senior Kyle King repeated as Group AA state champion with the fastest time of the day in a 15:21 PR.

MileStat.com's final team rankings (top 16 deep) for Group AAA, Group AA, and Group A as well as Cream of the Crop (All-Class) before this Saturday's VHSL State Championships at Great Meadow.

MileStat.com's final individual rankings (top 25 deep) for Group AAA, Group AA, and Group A as well as Cream of the Crop (All-Class) before this Saturday's VHSL State Championships at Great Meadow.

The Ocean Lakes cross country program coached by Mike Nestor has proven that being a school from the Eastern Region does not automatically mean that you cannot compete with the best cross country teams in the fall and distance runners during the track season. Coach Nestor has coached two individual state champions in Stacey Nobles and Drew Paisley as well as an indoor state champion girls' 4x800 meter relay to go along with the numerous district and regional champion teams featuring many individuals qualifying for multiple state meets and All-State honors. At last week's Eastern Region Championships, Coach Nestor achieved a first since becoming the head coach of both programs a decade ago with the Ocean Lakes boys and girls sweeping the team titles. With few losses due to graduation from their current top seven for both boys and girls for the 2011 cross country season, Ocean Lakes can certainly try to go for another first next fall to become the first Eastern Region school with a pair of squads on the state meet podium. MileStat.com interviewed Coach Nestor following their regional title double as the teams hope to both break into the top five in state competition on Saturday...

W.T. Woodson junior Paul Gates (pictured above by Ted Plunkett) expected to be one of the top runners in the Northern Region this fall after a great track season clocking personal bests of 4:22 in the 1600 and 9:30 in the 3200 last spring. He was not out winning invitationals earlier in the season and others were taking the spotlight and top rankings for the region, but came through with a big victory at the Patriot District meet in one of the more competitive districts in the state with a 15:15 performance at Burke Lake Park. Gates followed up with a third place finish at the regional meet behind Annandale's Ahmed Bile and Chantilly's Sean McGorty and since none of the top three runners are seniors, the Northern Region should be even stronger and very exciting next fall with all three back to battle at Burke Lake. Gates gave up lacrosse last spring to focus only on running and his focus now is centered on a top 15 All-State finish Saturday at Great Meadow. MileStat.com interviewed one of the Northern Region's best in Gates prior to the state championships...