XC Practice Tour Stop #18 - Hidden Valley MileSplit Staff Sep 06, 2013

Stop #18 of our XC practice tour took us out to Roanoke, Virginia to Hidden Valley High School, which has had one of the top girls programs in the state over the last handful of the years and a boys' squad which qualified for the state meet for the first time since 2007 last fall

XC Practice Tour Stop #17 - Deep Run MileSplit Staff Sep 05, 2013

 

MileStat.com visited the Deep Run cross country team on Wednesday afternoon in the Short Pump area of Richmond for a team workout which included a 2 mile tempo on the roads, 1 mile tempo on the track, and 2x400 meter repeats to finish the workout of the day.

Preseason XC Tour Stop #17 Preview - Deep Run MileSplit Staff Sep 04, 2013

Tomorrow will be XC practice stop #17 on our statewide tour as we visit the Deep Run squad in the Short Pump area of Richmond. Their boys team expects to be one of the better squads in the new 5A classification with one of the state's best returning top 3 in Matthew Novak (4:15 1600/9:24 3200/15:55 5K), Grayson Reid (4:33 1600/9:33 3200/15:56 5K), and Alexander Varon (4:30/9:29 3200/16:05 5K).

 

Preseason XC Tour Stop #16 - Colonial Forge MileSplit Staff Aug 29, 2013

MileStat.com visited the Colonial Forge cross country on Thursday morning in Stafford County as the team did their regular hill workout near H.H. Poole Middle School which includes a set of running the same single track path and hill for 400 meters, 300 meters, 200 meters, and 100 meters. Some of their top level varsity runners for boys and girls ran up to 4 sets of the hill repeats. The team is preparing for their season opener meet in two days at the Chancellor Invitational in Fredericksburg on Saturday. 

Preseason XC Tour Stop #15 - Western Albemarle Girls MileSplit Staff Aug 28, 2013

MileStat.com visited the Western Albemarle girls on stop #15 of our preseason practice tour at Panorama Farms on Wednesday afternoon for their two mile time trial. A steady downpour of rain slowed times down on the hilly 2 mile grass course (same used for Ragged Mountain Cup next week) before the varsity runners got to spike it up to run 2x1 mile tempo on the same loop. 

Preseason XC Tour Stop #14 - Veritas School MileSplit Staff Aug 27, 2013

MileStat.com visited the Veritas School cross country team on Tuesday morning at their new school location at the 3400 block of Brook Road in Richmond. The Veritas boys are the two-time defending Virginia Independent Schools state cross country champions in Division 2, while the Veritas girls are led by one of the state's top young talents in 9th grader Morgan Lewis, who won a state cross country title and broke 11 minutes in the 3200 as an 8th grader last year. The squad is going through a transition in coaches as their program's founding coach in Christian Cuthbert has moved to Georgia during the summer to take a teaching and coaching position there, while taking over the reigns of a talented group of returning runners as the new head coach is Parker Spencer, a young early 20's coaching who also coaches tri-athletes at the Richmond-based group Endorphin Fitness. 

Preseason XC Tour Stop #13 - Cave Spring High School MileSplit Staff Aug 26, 2013

On stop #13 of our preseason cross country practice tour, MileStat.com traveled out to Roanoke to visit the Cave Spring High School. A big reason for our visit was check in with one of the state's most talented returning individuals in senior Katie Fortner. Fortner is a sub 4:50 miler, a Group 3A state title favorite, and a Foot Locker Nationals hopeful. 

Preseason XC Tour Stop #12 - Trinity Episcopal MileSplit Staff Aug 23, 2013

MileStat.com visited the 3-time defending Virginia Independent Schools state cross country boys team champions at Trinity Episcopal as well as last year's League of Independent girls team champions and 3rd place state meet squad in the Trinity. It was also an opportunity to see one of the state's top returning girls distance runners in Molly Breidenbaugh, who won state titles in all three seasons last year and dipped well under 18 minutes for 5K and 11 minutes for 3200 on the track this past spring.

Preseason XC Tour Stop #11 - Albemarle High School Boys MileSplit Staff Aug 23, 2013

MileStat.com visited the Albemarle boys cross country team on Thursday evening on their home cross country course at Panorama Farms just outside of Charlottesville. Their squad is coached by Buz Male, who enters his 40th year of coaching high school cross country. After competing in the competitive Commonwealth District out of the Northwest Region in Group AAA, the Albemarle Patriots move to 5A this fall in the 5A North Division.

Preseason XC Tour Stop #10 - Lake Braddock High School MileSplit Staff Aug 21, 2013

Today was a very different practice visit from all our preseason stops so far, but unique in a good and fun way with the Lake Braddock cross country team as they did their annual scavenger hunt run in Washington DC. The Lake Braddock XC squad organized into teams of at least 4 boys and 4 girls with an hour of time to try and answer scavenger hunt questions for nearly 2 dozen different monuments and memorials along the National Mall area in Washington DC. 

Preseason XC Tour Stop #9 - Blacksburg High School MileSplit Staff Aug 21, 2013

 

MileStat.com visited the 4-time reigning Group AA state champion Blacksburg boys and 2-time defending Group AA state champion Blacksburg girls on Tuesday morning for a 3xmile repeat workout followed by hill repeats. More to come from our visit to Blacksburg later on Wednesday when we return from our visit with Lake Braddock. 

Preseason XC Tour Stop #8 - Osbourn Park High School MileSplit Staff Aug 19, 2013

MileStat.com visited the Osbourn Park boys and girls cross country team on Monday morning in Manassas for a two mile trial at the Manassas Battlefield. Coached by one of the funnier and likeable coaches in the state in Mike Schuster, the Osbourn Park program has been one of the Northwest Region's top programs in recent years and now moves into the 6A North Region with many of the traditional Northern Region programs. 

Preseason XC Tour Stop #7 - Maggie Walker Governor's School MileSplit Staff Aug 17, 2013

On Friday for stop #7 of our pre-season XC practice tour, MileStat.com visited the Maggie Walker cross country team, who begins a new chapter going from being in the largest classification in the former 3 class system to dropping all the way down to Group 2A in the new 6 class system to finally be competing against schools with the same enrollment sizes. However, the team will be competing against many schools with much smaller squads and talent pool than what the successful Maggie Walker program has been been able to build up by having to race up all this years.

Preseason XC Tour Stop #6 - Washington-Lee High School MileSplit Staff Aug 15, 2013

MileStat.com visited the Washington-Lee High School team on Thursday morning in Arlington, which their girls were ranked #1 in the state of Virginia in our composite computer pre-season team rankings taking into account track times as well as cross country times. There is reason for great optimism and high expectations for the Washington-Lee girls after a fantastic outdoor track season for their distance crew.

Preseason XC Tour Stop #5 Preview - Chantilly High School MileSplit Staff Aug 13, 2013

On stop #5 of the MileStat.com pre-season cross country practice tour, we will make our first of possibly several visits to Burke Lake Park, a historic course and training grounds for many of the schools in Fairfax County that comprised of the old Northern Region. The team which we will be visiting on Wednesday morning for a 4xmile tempo workout which they have planned made a lot of history over the past 12 months both as a team and as individuals in the Chantilly cross country program.

Preseason XC Tour Stop #4 - Lafayette High School MileSplit Staff Aug 13, 2013

Stop #4 of our pre-season XC practice tour took us to Williamsburg, Virginia to visit one of the top contending teams this fall in the Group 3A classification in the Lafayette boys. Meeting for a Tuesday morning practice at the Warhill Sports Complex, the Lafayette boys and girls ran 800 meter repeats with the goal of dropping down the pace on each one and followed their workout with uphill and downhill strides.

Preseason XC Tour Stop #3 Preview - Ocean Lakes High School MileSplit Staff Aug 11, 2013

Week #2 of MileStat.com's preseason XC practice tour takes us down to Virginia Beach to visit the Ocean Lakes team for a fartlek workout at Seashore Park. The Ocean Lakes cross country squad has been one of the most successful programs in the Eastern Region over the last decade and beyond under the guidance of Coach Mike Nestor. The Ocean Lakes program starts a new chapter with no Eastern Region anymore and in the 6A South Region, which includes adds in some of the former Central Region and Northwest Region schools to make their regional meet before the state meet more of a challenge and competitive. 

Preseason XC Tour Stop #2 Preview - Patriot High School MileSplit Staff Aug 08, 2013

Stop #2 of MileStat.com's pre-season XC practice tour takes us to a team that has quickly risen to success in only two years of existence at Patriot High School in Nokesville. On Friday, we will making the trip up to Prince William County's Bristoe Station Battlefield Park for a morning practice with the Patriot squad, which will include a 2x2 mile tempo workout

Preseason XC Tour Stop #1 - Jefferson Forest MileSplit Staff Aug 07, 2013

MileStat.com began its 2013 preseason cross country practice tour on Wednesday, August 7th at Jefferson Forest High School in the suburbs of Lynchburg. After an early morning drive from Richmond, we made our way to the neighborhood surrounding the Ivy Lakes in Forest, Virginia where the cross country team at Jefferson Forest would be meeting and gathering to start their practice of the day.

Preseason XC Tour Stop #1 Preview - Jefferson Forest MileSplit Staff Aug 06, 2013

MileStat.com's first stop on our 2013 preseason cross country practice tour will bring us to Forest, Virginia (a suburban community outside of the city of Lynchburg) to visit the Jefferson Forest High School cross country squad. Their girls team looks to be one of the top contending state title teams in the new 4A classification as on paper.

MileStat.com's Pre-Season XC Practice Tour Resumes This Month! MileSplit Staff Aug 02, 2013

Back in August of 2010, MileStat.com went on a pre-season tour of the cross country practices at some of the state's top programs as we got to show others how these teams training and practice as well as gained valuable insight from the team's coaches. It was a very popular featured series on the website and we are planning to do it again for this upcoming season and do a lot of highway driving around the state of Virginia to bring you a closer look at many of the top teams and individuals with some of the best potential for success this fall as well as tap a little into the minds of some of the brightest and best coaches in the state of Virginia.