The Western Albemarle boys and girls swept the varsity 4x2 mile relay races at the Ragged Mountain Cup on Tuesday afternoon at Panorama Farms in Charlottesville.

The Western Albemarle boys, ranked #4 in the state of Virginia, won by a total of 1 minute and 40 seconds over cross town rival and #9 ranked Albemarle. Coach Lindy Bain had six boys break 11 minutes led by "A" team anchor Derek Armstrong who ran the fastest split at 10:08. VA #1 ranked Kevin Bennert of Woodberry Forest was unchallenged on the first leg with a 10:16 split, while Monticello senior Nathaniel Hermsmeier looked strong as the fourth leg with the second fastest split of the day at 10:13.

The VA #2 ranked Western Albemarle girls ran without two of their top six runners in Emily Moffett and Peri Bowser, but still dominated the relay race for girls as their "A" team crossed the line with a time of 51:51 and 75 seconds ahead of the runners-up from Albemarle (53:06). Group AA state title contender Mattie Webb made it a no contest for the Western girls from the start with her 11:33 opening leg split, which was only a few seconds off the course record still held by two-time Group AAA state cross country champion Rachel Rose of Albemarle. Webb's split was nearly a full minute faster than the next fastest split at the Cup, which helped give her team enough breathing room on the Albemarle girls having three of the next four fastest splits in sophomore Allison Huschke (12:31), freshmen Olivia Lewis (13:04), and senior Elizabeth Sinclair (13:11).

Ragged Mountain Cup Results: Individual - Team

Race Videos: Varsity Relay Race (Part 1) - Varsity Relay Race (Part 2) - Open Race

Interviews: Mattie Webb - Derek Armstrong

Photo gallery to be posted on Wednesday

Today will be the second attempt of the Ragged Mountain Cup being held after being postponed last week due to excessive heat. The 4x2 mile relay opener for the Charlottesville area schools at Panorama Farms will include several of the top individuals and teams in the state led by VA #1 Kevin Bennert of Woodberry Forest and VA #3 Mattie Webb of Western Albemarle. The VA #2 ranked Western Albemarle girls should be heavily favored to win the girls' race and potentially break their own course record from last year, while it should be a cross town battle between AA squad Western Albemarle and AAA squad Albemarle for bragging rights at the Ragged Mountain Running Shop this fall. MileStat.com will be on-site with coverage.

Top 25 teams in the state scored based on season best 5K times. Full lists including filters for each classification, region, and district can be found at the below links.

Boys 5K Team Scores

Girls 5K Team Scores

Sarah McCarthy (pictured right by Tim O'Dowd of irishrunner.com) led the Bishop O'Connell girls to a team title on Saturday in Maryland at the Peter Geraghty Invitational with her third place individual finish. Her time of 19:06 ranks as third fastest so far this season in Virginia between two meet record breakers from this past weekend's meets in Hannah Lowery of Stafford and Hannah Brown of Blacksburg.

The top 50 fastest 5K times so far after week two of the 2010 cross country season. Full rankings including filters for classification, region, district, and grade level can be found at the below links.

Fastest Boys 5K Times List

Fastest Girls 5K Times List

Hannah Brown (pictured above by Frank Locascio) sure picked a difficult course to set a new 5K personal best and break a meet record on. The Blacksburg junior who ran under 5 minutes for 1600 meters and won the Group AA 800 outdoor state title with a 2:12 personal best in the event showed herself to be just as capable of excelling at the 5K distance in her first race of the cross country season by winning the Blue Demon Invitational in a new meet record time of 18:59. Following individual race champion Brown, the Blacksburg put three more runners under 21 minutes on the Christiansburg High School's hilly and challenging home 5K course layout while placing six among the top 15 places for a low team score of 27 points.

The Jefferson Forest girls (64 pts) finished as a respectably solid second place in the team standings with distance and points to spare on the third place and host school Christiansburg girls (110 pts). For the second straight weekend, Cave Spring freshmen Katie Fortner ran strong up front in the field to take runner-up honors and join a short list in the course's history under 20 minutes at 19:40.

The Blacksburg boys put on an even more dominant team display than their female counterparts by flirting with a near perfect score of 15 with only Group AA All-State caliber runner Cody Seymour of Cave Spring able to break up their top five in fourth place with a time of 16:45. Battling it out for first place individually were Blacksburg teammates Frank Locascio and George Carter with Locascio pulling out a slight margin of victory at the end in a time of 16:21 over Carter in second at 16:22. Despite not running one of their top five runners in Anthony Noegel, Blacksburg followed Locascio and Carter pushing the pace up front with Caman Skelton (3rd, 16:36), Zach Link (5th, 16:59), and Matthew Paiser (6th, 17:10) for a 49 second spread and team average of 16:41. A 5K performance under 17 minutes at Christiansburg usually is a good sign for an eventual Group AA All-State finisher, so Blacksburg might have a handful of guys on the podium at Great Meadow come November.

The Abingdon boys certainly stamped themselves as the next best team in Southwest Virginia and Region II following Blacksburg with their runner-up finish and team score of 69 points putting them well ahead of the other teams competing at the Blue Demon Invitational. Abingdon had a great 17 second swarm of finishers for their top four runners finishing between places 8 and 14 as well as times between 17:33 to 17:50.

Blue Demon Invite Results: Varsity Boys - Varsity Girls - JV Boys - JV Girls

Race Videos by Tayloe Skelton: Varsity Boys - Varsity Girls - JV Boys - JV Girls

Photo Gallery by Frank Locascio

Photo Gallery by Tayloe Skelton

Stafford sophomore Hannah Lowery continued her great start to the 2010 cross country season by following up her dominant win at Great Meadow by shattering the course record at Loriella Park as the first girl ever under 19 minutes on the challenging 5K course in Fredericksburg with a 18:51 victory at the Chancellor Invitational. Lowery won by a large margin of one minute and 13 seconds as she went through the mile in 5:40 and just under in 12 minutes at the two mile.

The Colonial Forge boys really responded well in bouncing back from a disappointing at the Great Meadow Invitational by not only winning at Chancellor but also defeating the #1 ranked team in the state with Midlothian making their first trip ever to Loriella Park. The top four of the Colonial Forge boys really took charge of the race early on running among the top 10, while Midlothian attempted to pack it up from behind at a more controlled pace and try to reel the competition in during the final mile.

The top four of Donny Lozier (4th, 16:53), Brian O'Loughlin (5th, 16:54), David Klimek (9th, 16:59), and David Pennesi (11th, 17:01) stayed up front for Colonial Forge head coach Michael Porter through the end with all four finishing ahead of Midlothian's top finisher Brayden Burleigh (12th, 17:02). Especially missing their usual #5 and #6 runners, the front running performance by Colonial Forge's front four was huge in overcoming Midlothian's great depth through seven which also extended to the developmental race with five of the top six finishers in the JV division. Midlo's #7 finished 20 places ahead of Colonial Forge's #5, but Colonial Forge putting four ahead of Midlothian's #1 was the different maker in their 82-97 win. 

The Riverbend boys finished close on Midlothian's heels for third place with 98 points led by two top 15 finishers in Shaquon Wilkins (6th, 16:55) and Ryan Kuhns (13th, 17:04), while an overachieving Stafford squad claimed fourth place with a surprising runner-up finish from senior Tyler Oliver beating virtually all of the Northwest Region's best with his time of 16:49.

The Midlothian girls executed the similar race strategy and having their team run conserative as a pack through the stages of the race as the only five runners which toed the line for them in the varsity race were together as a group through the two mile mark. As much ground as they covered in the final 1.1 miles, it was not enough real estate for them to run down the Colonial Forge girls who followed their boys with an upset as well of a top ranked Midlothian program. Shaina Manuel led the charge for the Forge girls with her highest individual finish yet in a major invitational as the race runner-up to Lowery in a time of 20:04 as she opened up a 23 second gap herself on third place.

Behind Manuel, the VA #10 ranked Colonial Forge girls put their remaining scoring five among the top 17 places with Hannah Dickinson (5th, 20:41), Mackenzie McDonald (10th, 21:03), Colleen Wade (15th, 21:11), and Lilly Moore (17th, 21:19) for a team score of 49 points compared to Midlothian's 76 point total. Midlothian had four girls really move up in the final move to probably pick off 12 runners each with Kara Dickerson (4th, 20:36), Claire Benjamin (8th, 20:53), Krista Willard (9th, 20:56), and Meghan Mulroy (12th, 21:08) but their fifth runner struggled to make the same move in the final move as Colonial Forge pulled off the major upset.

Neither team raced at full strength with Midlothian missing their top runner Marie Johnston due to illness and her kid sister Kari Johnston unable to make her high school race debut due to a soccer tournament as the younger Johnston figures to run well within Midlothian's top five this season. Colonial Forge sat out their top returning miler in sophomore Jenna Walker this weekend and still have two more likely top varsity runners this season including Hannah Somers who are still on the comeback trail from injury.

The Mountain View girls continue to impress early this season as a team likely to reach the state meet once again out of the Northwest Region as they placed third at Chancellor with 107 points and three runners in the top 16 including Mackenzie Davis (6th), Kimberley Ficenec (11th), and Lauren Braney (16th) while Jamestown really came out strong to represent Region I well finishing close behind Region II's Brentsville (4th, 109 pts) for fifth place with 114 points.

There was the potential for a clash among three top contenders for state titles this fall at Loriella Park with Woodberry Forest's Kevin Bennert, Grafton's Kyle King, and Midlothian's Brayden Burleigh. Unfortunately, a showdown between three of the state's top ranked runners in the preseason never materialized as King was held out of the race as he is training through and Burleigh had to run with his teammates for at least the first half of the race before being allowed to take off. Pre-season #1 ranked Bennert did not even know either was racing anyways until five minutes before the start of the race so it did not change his race plans to runaway from the field at the beginning, which he did throughout the race to win by 21 seconds in a time of 16:28.

Chancellor Invite Results: Varsity Boys - Varsity Girls - Developmental Boys - Developmental Girls

Race Videos: Varsity Boys - Varsity Girls - Developmental Boys - Developmental Girls

Video Interviews: Hannah Lowery - Kevin Bennert - Brian O'Loughlin & Donny Lozier - Shaina Manuel & Colleen Wade - Tyler Oliver

Photo Gallery by Brandon Miles - Over 1,200 total photos from all 4 races & team awards.

Lake Braddock sophomore and VA top ranked Sophie Chase opened her 2010 cross country season on Thursday at the Potomac River Running Kick-off Relays leading from the gun with a 5:25 hard first mile to break the Bull Run Regional Park 2 mile course record in a time of 11:36. She ran 12:25 to win the freshmen race last year. Chase looked fit and strong in her first race back since missing the state outdoor meet due to injury after a sensational freshmen season running times of 4:52 for 1600 meters, 10:39 for 3200 meters, and 18:19 for 5K.

Thomas Edison's Myah Hicks and West Potomac's Sarah Jane Underwood followed in for second and third place with times of 11:42 and 11:46 respectively as Underwood's West Potomac girls won the team title with 39 points against a solid challenge from a Chase-led Lake Braddock squad (45 pts). West Potomac inserted three girls among the top 10 with Underwood (3rd), Dale Lescher (5th), and Sophia Passacantando (6th).  The Lake Braddock girls were a close second by a few points and had two freshmen run really strong up finish in the freshmen race earlier, which could have made the team outcome even closer if they had run in the varsity race later.

While it was almost impossible to the tell the two teams apart running in virtually identical light blue Nike jerseys, it was similarly too tough to call who was the boys team champion between West Potomac and South Lakes. South Lakes scored an upset in their 50-51 win over Group AAA #2 ranked West Potomac as they were led by a 1-3 finish from Will Sickenberger and Nicholas Guarnaccia. In an early season meet with an abnormal format and distance at 2 miles, the favorite within the Northern Region is far from being known, but both teams certainly looked fast and running like state meet podium caliber squads averaging 10:17 (South Lakes) and 10:19 (West Potomac)  on the two mile course.

Last year as a junior, Will Sickenberger split a 10:45 2 mile at the =PR= Kickoff Relays. While a key member of a resurgent South Lakes program, few could have picked Sickenberger to pull out the win as he did by closing strong in the final half mile to go from fourth place to first to cross the line in a time of 9:55. Lake Braddock's Sam Rubenking ran a strong race to make the first breakaway in the final mile and finished second in 9:58 to propel his team to a solid third place showing and 10:27 team average.

RESULTS: VARSITY/OPEN BOYS - VARSITY/OPEN GIRLS - FRESHMEN BOYS - FRESHMEN GIRLS

RACE VIDEOS: VARSITY BOYS - VARSITY GIRLS - FRESHMEN BOYS - FRESHMEN GIRLS

VIDEO INTERVIEWS: SOPHIE CHASE (Lake Braddock) - WILL SICKENBERGER (South Lakes) - MYAH HICKS (Thomas Edison) - SAM RUBENKING (Lake Braddock)

PHOTO GALLERY - 999 total photos from the 4 races.

Many of the top Northern Region individuals and teams will ease their way into the 2010 cross country season in a modified version of the =PR= Kick-Off Relays, which due to this week's excessive hot weather and new VHSL regulations in regards to holding athletic competitions and practices in extreme heat has forced the meet to drop its original schedule of a 4x2 mile relay race and instead run individual head to head 2 mile races. The format change should actually give a much better indication of how some of these teams and individuals match up with one another instead of spread out on different legs and the different strategy involved with a relay race.

The defending Group AAA state champions Lake Braddock and returning 3200 meter state indoor champion Sophie Chase are expected to both open at this meet. Chase won the freshmen 2 mile race last year in her first high school meet ever and a foreshadow to what would be one of the best freshmen years for a female distance runner in state history. It should be a good early season test for the Lake Braddock girls as they try to reload after losing a great senior class of runners with another regional title contender this fall in the West Potomac girls also racing at the Potomac River Running Kick-Off Relays.

Four boys teams with serious hopes of qualifying for the state meet out of the Northern Region will be facing off led by Group AAA #2 ranked West Potomac boys and followed by in this meet by South Lakes, Lake Braddock, and Centreville. W.T. Woodson's Paul Gates had a great track season running a 9:30 for 3200 meters and is looking to translate that performance into a fast 2 mile on the grass at Bull Run Regional Park on Thursday evening.

First race is a 6 PM with the freshmen girls and last race starts at 7:00 PM with varsity/open boys. MileStat.com will be on-site with coverage.

"Cream of the Crop" All-Class rankings (top 15 teams/top 25 individuals) for Wednesday, September 1st.

Not much movement among the Group AAA girls from the pre-season rankings, while the Great Meadow Invitational certainly shook things a little bit for the boys especially among Northwest Region teams and individuals, while six of the top ten ranked teams are from the region led by #3 ranked Riverbend moving ahead of Colonial Forge as Ryan Kuhns led them as the second highest Group AAA finisher to move into this week's top 10.

The Great Meadow Invitational also saw two of the state's returning sub 11 minute 3200 meter runners featured with race winner Hannah Lowery of Stafford and second place Carolyn Hennessey of Herndon (both pictured left by Brandon Miles). Their actual race finishes matched up with their pre-season rankings (#2 Lowery and #6 Hennessey) order along with another top 10 ranked Bonny Turnage of Lee-Davis taking fourth place.

There are a lot of great duos and tandems among the Group AA girls this cross country season including Millbrook's front two of Crystal Nelson and Presley Parkes, who both finished among the top 10 last Saturday at the Great Meadow Invitational. It was the first race for Parkes since the 2008 state cross country meet as she had missed all of her junior year and track season of her sophomore year due to injury. Parkes showed little sign of race rust finishing sixth overall in a strong field behind teammate Nelson, who garnered a third place finish.

Nelson and Parkes join three other duos in the top 10 of the Group AA girls individual rankings including the stellar programs of Western Albemarle (Mattie Webb & Killian O'Connell), Blacksburg (Sarah Dorrell & Hannah Brown), and Hidden Valley (Annie LeHardy & Haley Cutright).

The Lebanon boys and sophomore John Ulrich (pictured right by Dee Perry) won out in an early season Group A battle at Run fer da Hills this past weekend with pre-season Group A #1 ranked Radford and their sophomore star Walker Mogen.  Urlcich, who placed third in the 3200 at the Group A State Outdoor Championships last spring as a freshmen, won the race individually in a time of 16:59 joining a short list of runners who have ran under 17 minutes on the Holston Dam 5K course.

The Lebanon boys, who move to a #2 ranking this week behind defending state champions Clarke County, finished second overall and 71 points ahead of a fifth place Radford squad. Ulrich leaps to the top of the individual rankings with strong opening win in Bristol, Tennessee. Very minor changes this week in the rankings for the Group A girls.

Updated private school cross country rankings as of Wednesday, September 1st. No changes were made in the top 10 team rankings, but Josh McNamara (pictured left by Alan Norfleet) of Richmond Christian with track PR's of 4:38 1600 and 10:02 3200 jumps into the boys individual rankings at #11 after transferring back to the private schools from L.C. Bird.

The Bishop O'Connell girls had a impressive top three pack of runners finishing among the top 10 at the Great Meadow Invitational and ahead of many Group AAA and Group AA All-State caliber runners to give them the top three individual rankings this week with Sarah McCarthy taking over the #1 spot from teammate and pre-season #1 Emily Blagg while O'Connell sophomore Devin Nihill moves up to #3.

Due to the weather, the Potomac Rivier Running Kick Off Relays on Thursday, September 2nd at Bull Run Regional Park will be changing their format tomorrow to a series of four 2-mile races beginning at 6:00.  The race schedule will go as followed:

6:00 PM Frosh Girls
6:20 PM Frosh Boys
6:40 PM Varsity/Open Girls
7:00 PM Varsity/Open Boys

Following teams are scheduled

Westfield
South Lakes
Lake Braddock
West Potomac
Edison
Stuart
Robinson
Centreville
WT Woodson
Washington-Lee
Western Branch

MileStat.com will be on-site with coverage (photos, videos, interviews).

MileStat.com visited the Mills Godwin cross country team in the West End of Richmond on Tuesday morning for a high quality workout which included a 20 minute tempo run, an all out 600, and 4x200 meter repeats. The Mills Godwin boys had one of the most successful seasons in school history last fall led by Grant Pollock, but graduated six of their top seven as this fall will be a rebuilding year behind lone top 7 varsity returnee in junior Dan De Nijs.

The potential for great success shifts to the Mills Godwin girls this year as not only should they be vying for one of the four state meet berths out of the Central Region, but their great returning depth could help them challenge Maggie Walker for the Colonial District title. A lot of the program's recent success and improvement has to be attributed to their young coach Jon Lauder, who has challenged the Godwin runners to become more competitive since coming on board several years ago as an assistant coach to long-time coach Kemper Towler. The former University of Richmond and Oakton runner has since become a head coach in cross country and track.

The Godwin girls have six girls back who have ran under 6 minutes in the 1600, three under 12 in the 3200, and three in the 19 minute range for the 5K. The big key for their success this season might be finding a front runner or at least finishing reasonably close to their rival team's top finishers. Lizzie Powell and Katie Wood look to be the top candidates as both were just a few places away from qualifying individually for the state outdoor championships as Powell ran 5:20 in the 1600 and Wood ran 11:45 in the 3200.

With experienced seniors Catelyn Hill and Anne Menefee and a rising talent in sophomore Courtney Burton, Mills Godwin has a top five pack of girls in place which as they move up together can take their program to new level. Watch workout video and interviews below!

The Warmup

Interview w/ Coach Jon Lauder

Workout Video - 20 Minute Tempo Run

Workout Video - 600/4x200

Strengthening Exercises

Interview w/ Lizzie Powell, Katie Wood, Catelyn Hill, & Ann Menefee

Interview w/ Dan De Nijs

Cosby's tempo run at Pocahontas State Park in Chesterfield made for stop #11 in MileStat.coms cross country practice tour. Despite being a fairly young school with its first class of seniors attending all four years at the school graduating this past spring, Cosby has enjoyed some quick success in cross country as district runners-up numerous times, sending a girls cross country team to the state meet, and few All-State individuals including 2010 returnees Megan Moye (2008, 2009) and Evan Niciphor (2009). The girls team last fall was decimated by the H1N1 swine flu virus affecting for four of their top seven runners. A young squad last fall and again youthful this year with few seniors vying for top seven positions, the Cosby girls are hoping to regain its form when healthy earlier last cross countr and return back to the state championships after their school's first state meet berth in 2008.

Megan Moye excelled as a freshmen in cross country with a seventh place finish at the state cross country meet and only continued that development into her sophomore year with another All-State finish while lowering her track PR's significantly down to a sub 5 mile equivalent of 4:37 in the 1500 and debuting in the 3200 with a season best of 11:01. Since the dominant  high school career of Kathleen Lautzenheiser has ended, Moye has become be one of the top contenders to challenge for the Dominion District and Central Region titles in 2010 with her 18:15 5K best.

Cosby's Evan Niciphor got an early taste of the state meet experience as sophomore but it was a bitter taste as his attempt to give it a go at the state cross country championships two years ago with a hamstring injury was a futile one as he was forced to drop out early in the race. In his second trip back to Great Meadow, he made the most of his next opportunity by snabbing his first All-State honor with the final podium position of 15th place. Following up with two more state meet appearances in indoor and outdoor track as a junior and PR's of 4:22 1600 and 9:39 3200, Niciphor enters his senior season as an athlete to look out for not only within a strong and competitive Central Region for the boys individuals this fall but at the state level as well.

Watch interviews with Moye & Niciphor along with Cosby coach Chris Averill and video of their tempo run workout at Pocahontas State Park below!

Pre-Workout Talk from Coaches

The Workout: 25-30 Minte Tempo

Coach Averill Interview

Megan Moye Interview

Evan Niciphor Interview

The Ragged Mountain Cup at Panorama Farms in Charlottesville, originally scheduled for Tuesday, August 31st, has been postponed to next Tuesday, September 7th. Due to a new VHSL rule this year which prohibits any athletic events if the heat index is 105 or above and forecast for tomorrow close to or exceeding that number tomorrow, meet management is going to err on the side of safety. The race will be moved to next Tuesday, September 7th with the exact same time schedule.  Varsity races go off at 5:00pm, open JV race right after (6:15).

Stafford sophomore Hannah Lowery had nothing but open space to run on Saturday after spending her freshmen year running with the likes of now graduated Northwest Region stars Katherine Walker, Kaitlyn Davis, and Ariel Karabinus. Lowery, splitting time once again with field hockey this fall, won by 51 seconds with her time of 18:35. Last year she improved a full minute from her first to second race at Great Meadow.

After putting together strong finishes and beating many of the top ranked public schools in Virginia for several years at Great Meadow, the three-time private school champion Bishop O'Connell girls scored a monumental win in the program's history with their first place finish on Saturday. The VA #10 ranked O'Connell girls put three runners among the top 10 in the competitive field with Sarah McCarthy (5th, 19:44), Emily Blagg (8th, 19:59), and Devin Nihill (9th, 20:00) as they front loaded with their top three on a well packed VA #9 ranked Colonial Forge squad (27 second 1-5 spread) to win by 31 points with their team score of 55.

The Gonzaga boys and Collin Leibold took it to the Virginians in the opening meet of the 2010 cross country season for the Washington, DC private school. Gonzaga's top runner Leibold was able to open up on a talented pack which included Loudoun County's Tommy Curtin, Lee-Davis' Cody Snyder, and Warren County's Seumas O'Reilly in the second loop of the hill course at Great Meadow. Leibold was the only runner under 16 minutes with his 15:54 victory. Following Leibold, Gonzaga had their entire top five under 17:30 and among the top 35 to finish with an overall team score of 92 points for the team title.

In the race for second individually after Leibold, neither Curtin nor O'Reilly were able to chase after the leader or break away from Cody Snyder of Lee-Davis with his 2:29 1000 closing speed. Snyder was able to take advantage to outsprint both highly ranked Group AA runners for second place in 16:03. Warren County's O'Reilly put together another strong opener at Great Meadow following his runner-up finish in 2009 and put his name in the hat as a Group AA state darkhorse defeating contender Curtin.

Curtin while disappointed with his first race of the season and coming off a recent wisdom teeth surgery to interrupt his training, had to take great pleasure in his team's performance as the Group AA #8 pre-season ranked team shocked a lot of people including their own coach Courtney Campbell in beating out VA #5 ranked Riverbend on the sixth runner tiebreaker for second place in the team standings with an equal team score of 143 points. Loudoun County not only leapfrogged several higher ranked teams in their region and Group AA, but also defeated two VA top 10 pre-season ranked squads in #3 Colonial Forge (5th) and #8 Mountain View (8th).

MEET PAGE w/ FULL COVERAGE

Results: Varsity A Boys - Varsity A Girls - Varsity B Boys - Varsity B Girls - JV FR/SO Boys - JV FR/SO Girls - JV JR/SR Boys - JV JR/SR Girls

Photo Gallery by Brandon Miles - Over 2,000 photos total.

Race Videos: Varsity A Girls - Varsity A Boys - JV FR/SO Girls - JV FR/SO Boys - JV JR/SR Girls - JV JR/SR Boys - Varsity B Boys - Varsity B Girls

Video Interviews: Coach Campbell (Loudoun County) - Coach Walls (Bishop O'Connell) - Hannah Lowery (Stafford) - Cody Snyder (Lee-Davis) - Seumas O'Reilly (Warren County) - Tommy Curtin (Loudoun County)

Photos by Dan Wheeler

While the nationally recognized Blacksburg and Hidden Valley programs may not have wanted to show their full deck of cards this early in the season, Northside senior Erin Wheeler had no problem showing off her fitness as a potential breakthrough star this fall in setting a new course record with her 20:04 victory at the third annual Clash with the Titans. Wheeler closed her outdoor season with a 18:14 5K on the track, so it puts in perspective the level of difficulty of Hidden Valley's home course which she set a new course record almost two minutes slower than her PR on the track.

Photo by Tayloe Skelton
 

The Blacksburg boys did not race their probably top five runners and coach James DeMarco also elected not to run the team's top two runners Hannah Brown and Sarah Dorrell in Saturday's first weekend of cross country races. The Hidden Valley girls, the defending Group AA state champions and a 2009 NXN qualifier along with Blacksburg, also held out their top two runners in seniors Annie LeHardy and Haley Cutright. In an essentially a new team battle between the two team's #3-8 runners, Blacksburg won hands down with four girls ahead of Hidden Valley's first finisher and nearly four under 21 minutes on a very slow 5K course with Tazmin Kaiser (3rd, 20:29), Katie Buss (6th, 20:56), Lauren Jaeger (7th, 20:56), and Michelle Kauffman (9th, 21:03). However, past years have shown that Hidden Valley and coach Daniel King always seem to close the gap at season's end on a fast starting Blacksburg squad and this year will likely not be an exception.

Blacksburg won with a team score of 37 points, while Hidden Valley finished a distant sixth place with 122 points. Cave Spring rose up for second place with 75 points as they were led by talented freshmen Katie Fortner, who took second individually in a time of 20:29. Fortner could become the best distance female distance runner for Cave Spring since coach Tommy Maguire took over the program.

Patrick Henry senior Patrick Woodford scored a big moment when he won the Northwest Region 3200 meter title this past spring. He can add another monumental victory in his first major cross country invitational win as Woodford withstood challenges from juniors Cody Seymour (2nd, 17:07) of Cave Spring and Kevin O'Connor (3rd, 17:21) of William Byrd to become the first runner ever to break 17 minutes at Hidden Valley. Michael Bailey of Greenbrier Christian, the 2009 private school Division II state champion, held the previous top time in his 17:10 win from a year ago.

The Blacksburg boys top five is pretty close to set in stone with the likes of George Carter, Frank Locascio, Caman Skelton, Anthony Noegel, and Zach Link. The open door presents itself for the rest of the squad on who wants to be along for the ride with the varsity squad in their chase for a second straight Group AA state title and potential Nike Cross National berth run. Sophomores Nick Link (4th, 17:24) and Matthew Pasier (5th, 17:30) answered the call this week and also helped a short-handed Blacksburg boys team give a stiff arm to many of the full strength squads racing by completing the team title sweep with a low team score of 40 points. The Group AAA squad Patrick Henry (90 pts) led by individual race champion Woodford held off former Western Valley district rival and now Group AA school E.C. Glass (97 pts) for team runner-up honors.

Results: Varsity Boys - Varsity Girls - JV Boys & Girls

Race Videos by Tayloe Skelton: Varsity Girls - Varsity Boys - Middle School Race

Photo Gallery by Dan Wheeler

Photo Gallery by Tayloe Skelton

The first major invitational of the 2010 cross country season will be held at the same venue where state champions will be crowned in 12 weeks for Saturday's Great Meadow Invitational. Entries are bit down for this year's meet with the second year in a row being held early on the last week of August, while many school districts have started practices later than usual and enforced stricter mandatory practice requirements before the first competitions of the season. Nonetheless, the teams and individuals present on Saturday will be high quality as an early season measuring stick for many of the state's top ranked. Four top 15 state ranked boys teams, seven top 25 state ranked boys individuals, two top 10 state ranked girls teams, and five top 25 state ranked girls individuals will be racing at the Great Meadow Invite.

The Colonial boys and girls could make it a team sweep as they are the top ranked squads in both fields with the boys ranked #3 in Virginia and the girls sitting currently as the #9 ranked team in the state. Top challengers to the Colonial Forge boys are familar Commonwealth District rivals Riverbend and Mountain View as each school is ranked among the top 10 in the pre-season state rankings with Riverbend at #5 and the defending Group AAA state champions Mountain View at #8. It will be a good early season test for the Colonial Forge squad, which is a serious contender for their first state cross country title this fall. The Gonzaga boys from Washington, DC are a threat to beat all of the Virginia schools for the team title, while Group AA squads Brentsville, John Handley, and Fauquier will be competitive in the meet as well.

Individually for the boys, the Great Meadow Invite should be an exciting and loaded race with seven runners who have earned preseason top 25 rankings led by 2009 Group AA state runner-up Tommy Curtin (pictured left by Frank Locascio) of Loudoun County. VA #4 pre-season ranked Curtin posted times of 15:28 in the 5K and 9:23 in the 3200 as a junior. Last year's Great Meadow Invite was bit of a coming out party for Curtin, who placed fifth in a deep field. 

As one of the top returnees from the 2009 race, Curtin will be pressed for the win this year against many of the Northwest Region's best with Colonial Forge, Riverbend, and Mountain View all having several runners each expected to race with the lead pack. Riverbend has 2009 Northwest Region runner-up Shaquon Wilkins along with Ryan Kuhns and Gabe Fisher, while team favorite Colonial Forge has two-time All-State 1600 meter runner David Pennesi and three other teammates who have ran under 9:50 for 3200 meters.

Warren County's Seumas O'Reilly seems to run his best races in the fall season and last year placed second at the Great Meadow Invite in 16:19 before eventually running a 5K personal best of 15:51 during the season. Thomas Delaney of John Handley closed well last cross country season to place third in the Group AA state race behind Curtin and figures to be trailing closely this year as a Region II challenger along with O'Reilly. Cody Snyder of Lee-Davis has produced some stellar times on the track in middle distance races (4:19 1600/2:29 1000), but often forget his All-State cross country performance from a year ago as he looks to have a more standout season this fall than previous years.

The Colonial Forge girls should have their hands full with the defending three-time private school state champion and VA #10 state ranked Bishop O'Connell girls as the private catholic school has faired well at the Great Meadow invitationals in the past against the best public schools. The O'Connell girls might be the slight favorites with their establshed track record of success in cross country, while the Colonial Forge girls are looking to open the season with several runners running PR's after virtually their entire top 7 of girls ran under 12 minutes for the 3200 meters in the spring. Central Region schools Mills Godwin and Lee-Davis are both vying for state meet berths this fall with the depth and pack on the side of the Godwin squad, while Lee-Davis will be front led by Bonny Turnage.

Turnage is one of five top 25 stated ranked individuals as the sophomore last year earned All-State honors in Group AAA and had a personal best 5K time of 18:17. Ranked ahead of her in Saturday's race will be another super sophomore in Hannah Lowery (pictured right by Ryan Kelly) of Stafford, who ran under 11 minutes for 3200 meters and right at 5 minutes flat in the 1600 meter during the track season. Lowery and Turnage are the top returning finishers from the 2009 Great Meadow Invitational, which were strong openers in their high school careers with Lowery finishing 6th place and Turnage placing 13th.

Group A 3200 state champion Natalie Young debuts with her team at Forest Park as the former George Mason High School runner looks to bring her new team along as their new front runner. Young, who ran a 18:15 5K on the track this spring, would have been a major contender for the state cross country title in Group A, but now will be in a more competitive setting in Group AAA and should be pushed more by the increased level of talent. Group AA All-State caliber runners Crystal Nelson of Millbrook and Emma Helsel of Fauquier also are featured this weekend as well as returning Great Meadow Invite top 15 finisher Kayla Gibbons of Warren County and Audrey Houghton, who leads the new Loudoun County school Woodgrove in their first meet in school history.

The nationally ranked and defending Group AA state champion Hidden Valley girls open up on their home course on Saturday. With Blacksburg not running their varsity lineup, Hidden Valley girls should pick up a comfortable opening team win with a potential 1-2-3 sweep from Annie LeHardy, Carolyn Bethel, and Haley Cutright. LeHardy was the race champion in the 2008 invite with the meet record time of 20:45.

Northside's Erin Wheeler is one individual and capable of breaking up a top 3 individual showing by the host school as she ran stellar in the outdoor season clocking times of 11:08 in the 3200 and a 18:14 5K at the New Balance Outdoor Nationals. She was a runner-up in last year's Clash of the Titans and could move up one spot to first place this weekend. Anna Paden Carson of Patrick Henry, Eliza Eaton of Christiansburg, and Lindsey Siska of Salem all should be racing for top 5 individual finishes.

Eaton finished third in last year's race, while Carson ran 11:26 for 3200 meters in the spring. Both will be leading teams at Christiansburg (Eaton) and Patrick Henry (Carson) who will be Hidden Valley's top challengers on Saturday.

Patrick Henry senior Patrick Woodford is the top returnee from the 2009 Clash with the Titans (3rd place) as the defending Northwest Region 3200 meter champion will attempt to begin his 2010 cross country season with an invitational victory on Saturday at Hidden Valley High School. Woodford is a potential Group AAA All-State hopeful with his Group AAA #17 pre-season ranking and 16:13 5K PR.

Woodford will be facing off with three Group AA top 25 ranked runners in #5 Cody Seymour of Cave Spring, #14 Stuart Robertson of Staunton River, and #22 Kevin O'Connor of William Byrd. Seymour trailed Woodford in fourth place at the 2009 Clash With the Titans and finished his outdoor season with an All-State PR finish of 9:33 in the 3200. O'Connor just missed Group AA All-State honors in the spring with a ninth place finish at the state championships and will be a contender for the Region III cross country title this spring.

With the absence of Group AA state champion Blacksburg's top runners, the team battle should be much more entertaining with Cave Spring, Patrick Henry, and E.C. Glass as the top returning teams in the field. Patrick Henry will have a great front runner in Woodford. Cave Spring has a strong 1-2 punch in Seymour and Andrew Smith. Then E.C. Glass might be the best packed team with the smallest spread between their #1 through #5 runners.

MileStat.com has now visited the "Big 3" as far as the top three Group AA girls programs, which all are national caliber programs after checking in with the Western Albemarle girls on Wednesday afternoon in Crozet, Va following previous visits at Blacksburg and Hidden Valley. The Western Albemarle girls did their annual two mile time trial on the famous training grounds for current and past Western Albemarle runners at Dick Woods Road, a long gravel and dirt road with its share of hills and flat portions for training runners. The two mile time trial helps determine who will run on the varsity relays at the team's season opener every season at the Ragged Mountain Cup held at Panorama Farms next week.

Mattie Webb's high level of fitness had been lauded after the High Performance Distance Academy in early July, but MileStat.com got to witness potentially this year's breakthrough cross country star in the state in person with a eye opening performance. Webb, who struggled last fall running within the team's top five while battling an iron deficiency, nearly matched her track PR with a 11:03 two mile performance in Wednesday's time trial. Webb is pre-season #2 ranked in Group AA and her huge improvement gives the Western Albemarle girls the front runner which they lacked last fall racing against Blacksburg and Hidden Valley.

Also making a jump and running a very solid time trial performance of 11:56 as the second finisher for the Western Albemarle girls was senior Killian O'Connell. O'Connell has been able to stay close and run up with teammate Webb in workouts and runs this summer, which would indicate to Coach Katie Pugh that she may have another all-state cross country finisher in O'Connell.

Claire Johnson is one of four seniors among the team's top five returning runners and she was the lone individual on the team to earn All-State honors last fall in the team's third place state meet finish. Johnson along with the other seniors look to pull their tight pack from a year ago more closer to the front of the field in their quest to add another title to the Western Albemarle girls' rich tradition and past of state team champions. Johnson (12:27), senior Katie Farina (12:32), and Peri Bowser (12:36) rounded out the top five finishers for the Western girls in their time trial, while probable top five runner and senior Emily Moffett did a training run while easing her way back from an injury.

Coach Katie Pugh enters her sixth season as the head coach for the Western Albemarle girls and has continued on many of the traditions for the program, while adding her own wrinkles into the training and team atmosphere which her senior group has certainly bought into as the team is position to challenge for their first state title under Coach Pugh. With a veteran group, the Western girls figure to be well prepared for competing well against two well coached and talented teams in Blacksburg and Hidden Valley, while also ready to race in big meets such as Maymont and Great American to prepare for a likely post-season trip to the Nike Cross Southeast Regional.

Pre-Time Trial Interview w/ Coach Katie Pugh (Part 1)

Pre-Time Trial Interview w/ Coach Katie Pugh (Part 2)

Drills & Stretching

Warmup Run

2 Mile Time Trial

Team Cheer & Cooldown Run

Interview w/ Mattie Webb, Killian O'Connell, & Claire Johnson

Post-Time Trial Interview w/ Coach Pugh

MileStat.com visited the Hidden Valley program on Tuesday afternoon in Roanoke. Their girls' squad  is pre-season nationally ranked by Marc Bloom's Harrier Rankings and last year their team won their first state cross country team title over district rival Blacksburg and also qualified to compete at the Nike Cross Nationals in Oregon as an at-large berth which they finished 13th in the national championship meet. They lost three of their top six runners from a year ago, but return one of the best top three in the state in Annie LeHardy, Haley Cutright, and Carolyn Bethel.

On Tuesday afternoon following a heavy downpour earlier in the day, the rain lightened up for the Hidden Valley team to take to their home cross country course for hill repeats on a steap but winding hill which Coach Daniel King had them work the crest with a surge of 50 or more meters. After three repeats on the hill, the team shifted gears to 6x250 meter repeats on a flat portion as they worked on turnover.

LeHardy, Cutright, and Bethel are all returning 18 minute 5K runners, which Coach King believes all three are capable of running under 18 minutes this season. The biggest question or key to Hidden Valley's success this season will be the improvement and development of their #4 through #6 runners to round out their scoring five. Greta Weidner (40th place finisher at 2009 AA State XC) and Roanoke Catholic transfer Patricia Sorrentino (5:44 1600/2:29 800) are the likely the best bets so far to complete their top five.

MileStat.com enjoyed a great sit-down and in-depth interview with Coach Daniel King prior to the team's workout. His methods and philosphy may be different to some of his team's rival programs, but the results and success validate those methods and philosophy. Watch below interviews with Coach King, the Hidden Valley girls top three and videos from their workout day.

Pre-Workout Interview w/ Coach King (Part 1)

Pre-Workout Interview w/ Coach King (Part 2)

Pre-Workout Interview w/ Coach King (Part 3)

Team Meeting Before Workout

Coach King Trimming Branches

Workout Video: Hill Repeats

Workout Video: 6x250m Repeats

Coach King's Team Pep Talk

Interview w/ Annie LeHardy, Haley Cutright, & Carolyn Bethel

Post-Workout Interview w/ Coach King

Workout videos and interviews uploaded from our visits this week to Hidden Valley on Tuesday and the Western Albemarle girls on Wednesday. Go to the Videos page to see footage. More to come from those visits on Thursday after visit with Lake Braddock including pics and stories. Special note of Mattie Webb's 11:03 2 mile at the Western Albemarle girls time trial!