After their third place finish yesterday at the Nike Cross Southeast Regional in Cary, the Hidden Valley girls had to play the wait and see game to find out if they would be selected as one of the four at-large berths given out after the automatic top two teams advanced from all of the nine NXN regional qualifiers. With a win against the best from Texas including NXN South team champions Southlake Carroll earlier in the season as well as defeating their district rival and NXN automatic qualifier Blacksburg twice in championship season, the selection committee determined that the girls squad from Roanoke was worthy of  an at-large spot in the field of 22. Hidden Valley head coach Daniel King received the phone call on Sunday at noon from a Nike representative bringing the great news for the AA state champion girls team and Coach King (Watch Post-Meet Interview w/ Coach King). A remarkable season for both River Ridge district programs Hidden Valley and Blacksburg to advance onto the national stage and compete this upcoming Saturday at Portland Meadows in Oregon.

MileSplit US will have on-site coverage at the Nike Cross Southeast Regional in Cary, North Carolina this weekend from Brandon Miles of MileStat.com and various photographers. Expect race videos, photos, interviews, and complete results to be posted soon after the completion of the meet. An in-depth meet preview highlighting the top ten teams and top dozen individuals is now available.          

Neither Paige Kvartunas of West Springfield nor Kevin Dowd of Fairfax would have been satisified with the finish to their seasons if they decided to shut it down following the state meet. After winning the Northern Region title over some of the state's top runners, Paige Kvartunas (pictured by John Olson of scrunners.com) failed to make even the top 15 and earn All-State in Group AAA girls state race. Meanwhile, Dowd had been the #1 ranked runner in the state during the middle of the season but had to settle for third place finishes at both the regional and state meet to runners who simply had stronger finishes. Those disappointing showings are distance memories for both Northern Region runners after qualifying for the Foot Locker Nationals on Saturday with ninth place finishes each in the seeded race at the South regional.

While the Nike Cross Southeast Regionals has pulled away many of the state's top girls either competing on contending teams or trying to secure one of the 5 individual quaifier spots, tradition and dreams of sunny San Diego still keeps the best Virginia boys coming back to Foot Locker South as the top ranked half dozen runners in the state will be racing on Saturday at McAlpine Greenway Park in Charlotte with top 10 aspirations. While the best Virginia girls who will be racing in Charlotte will be considered long shots of making it to nationals, one upside for both Brooke Point senior Katherine Walker and Lake Braddock freshmen Sophie Chase is neither has any problem pushing the pace and running up front, which is necessary in order to put yourself in position for a top 10 national qualifier position on the fast and flat McAlpine 5K course. MileSplit US will have on-site coverage for MileStat.com led by scrunners.com webmaster John Olson as a total of 422 runners are entered in Foot Lockter South from the state of Virginia.

Tatnall girls will be attempting to establish themselves as the model program that all teams within the Southeast region strive to become if they are successful on Saturday in qualifying for a fourth straight Nike Cross Nationals race. A trio of Virginia schools (Hidden Valley, Blacksburg, and Midlothian) will attempt to be the spoilers after battling it out with one another throughout the fall including a fourth meeting in five weeks for Hidden Valley and Blacksburg. Florida's top ranked squad Chiles is back to prove they are more than just fast times on flat courses in Cary after a disappointing showing last year NXN Southeast against the Virginia schools and Tatnall, while Green Hope girls of North Carolina are the darkhorse pick and looking fit after an impressive 3200 time trial recently.

Maryland state champion Andrew Palmer is the only returning boys individual national qualifier from the Southeast region, while Colin Mearns of Jamestown (VA) was one of the region's top finishers in both the region and national race alongside his team. Mearns is one of several of the top individuals in the race who will be looking to bounce back from a disappointing state meet by earning one of the five individual national qualifier spots reserved for the 12-state region. The Brookwood boys of Georgia are heavy favorites to win the regional title especially after impressing earlier in the season on the same course in a Great American victory. Florida state champions Christopher Columbus and Virginia state champions Mountain View are just two of several teams with hopes of sneaking in behind Brookwood for second place and an automatic berth to the national race in Portland.

A fun hypothetical virtual meet for this Saturday's Nike Cross Southeast Regional based off current season best 5K times in theh MileSplit database. This should not be taken as educated prediction for the meet as some teams have raced on faster 5K courses than others this season and is simply a team score automatically generated based off times alone. Only includes runners competing on entered teams and no individual entrants.

Entry list for the championship races for Saturday's Nike Cross Southeast Regional in Cary, North Carolina. MileStat.com will be on-site with coverage.

Meet standards for the state indoor championships this upcoming 2009-2010 season for Group AAA and Group AA. Meet standards can also be found on both meet pages on the indoor calendar.

You have probably noticed the green icons on the meet calendar.  We have had quite a few meets sign up to use our online registration system, which had its public debut last fall and is currently being used at indoor track & field meets around the country. So I wanted to just write a quick little article telling a little bit about it and encouraging any of you on the fence to make your life easier and go with our online registration system!

The effort of Davis and Lowery helped lead the charge for TEAM VA’s GIRLS as they handily defeated TEAM MD 65 to 145.   Kaitlyn Davis also managed to add some intrigue to the Boys Seeded race.   She had a hand in convincing the Boys of Mountain View High School to come race the Smokey Glen Farm double loop course to stay fresh for their attempt to earn a berth in the Nike Cross Nationals (NXN) Finals in early December at next Saturday’s NXN SOUTHEAST REGIONAL.  Their goals were to use the race as a training run, and they hoped to assist Team VA in the Battle for the Potomac XC Cup. 

Several dozen Tidewater area high school runners extended their cross country at the Norfolk Academy hosted Run For Sight 5K held on the school's fast and flat 5K course layout in Norfolk. Two of Virginia's top tier boys runners faced off in VISAA Division 2 state champion Michael Bailey of Greenbrier Christian and Group AAA All-State runner Brian Davenport of Maury. Bailey continued a fall season which has been full of first place finishes with another win as he posted a solid time of 15:43.

Clarissa Schick (pictured by John Olson of scrunners.com) and several of her Maggie Walker teammates will be extending their cross country season to the USATF Junior Olympic Nationals in Reno, Neva after qualifying through the regional meet on Saturday in South Carolina. Schick, an All-State finisher in the Group AAA race (10th place) last weekend, won the young women's division race with a personal best 18:21 performance to finish 43 seconds ahead of her nearest competition. Schick previously had a personal best of 18:35 for 5K and will be looking to follow in the footsteps of former teammate Susannah Piersol, who was a national runner-up in the USATF national race a few years ago.

  The lines are drawn and the Cross Country Battlefield is set.  Girls and Boys from Virginia, Maryland, West Virginia and the District of Columbia will face off and determine whose “home” can claim the title of Best in Cross Country along the Potomac River.   “Our event (XC BORDER WAR) is now established on the post-season high school cross country calendar.  It was only right to formally add the other state and homeland bordering the Potomac River to the Battle of the Potomac”, commented Dave Watt, Event Director.  

MileStat.com will have a very active meet schedule of on-site coverage this indoor season as MileStat.com's Brandon Miles is now back to working full-time on the site and taking a break from coaching. Take a look at the meets which are scheduled tentatively to have on-site coverage at this upcoming season. Keep in mind others will be contributing photos and videos from meets elsewhere on these dates.

An updated November 18th list of all athletes currently registered for Foot Locker South including a good representation of Virginians. From the recent 11/11 Cream of the Crop Rankings, the top 7 ranked Virginia boys are all set to compete in Charlotte and 13 of the top 25. Meanwhile, 8 of the top 25 ranked girls will be racing at McAlpine Greenway Park as more top ranked girls are on NXN berth vying squads than boys. More information on registering for Foot Locker South can be found at http://footlockercc.com/south/   Foot Locker South Entries by State (PDF file)

After being dormant this fall, the track stars of Virginia began practice this week with the indoor track season beginning with the first official practices. Here is a look at the top returnees based on last year's indoor season performances including Great Bridge sophomore Shakeela Saunders, who expects to assert herself as one of the state's most dominant track athletes after a stellar freshmen year in which she excelled in the sprints and jumps with national caliber performances. (Photo by John Herzog)

There are quite a few post-season racing opportunities this weekend for Virginia high school cross country runners to extend their season or prep for the Foot Locker or Nike Cross regionals over Thanksgiving weekend. Two of the faster 5K courses in the state wil be having meets hosted on their venues with the Run for Sight 5K at Norfolk Academy's flat and swift 5K layout on their school grounds while the AAU State Meet is being held for the first time on the Pocahontas State Park 5K in Chesterfield, which saw many of the state's fastest 5K performances of the season earlier from the MileStat.com Invitational. It is not uncommon for runners fresh off a cross country season to step on the track and pop a huge track PR, which runners will get an opportunity to run a new PB in the 3200 meter run if they chose to compete at Charger 3200 Open in Fairfax County. If you are proud to be a Virginian then you should consider jumping in the Battle of the Potomac, which is a border war race with runners from the state of Maryland held at Smokey Glen Farm in Gaithersburg, MD. Runners will be given Team VA singlets and a barbeque chicken dinner to follow the race. All four meets are accepting pre-race and race day registration, but would encourage register prior to the meet. MileStat.com will attempt to get photo coverage at all four events, so any parent photographers willing to take pictures please let us know.

No new rankings for each classification as there was a state meet this past weekend to settle those debates, but an updated All-Class state rankings is now released with the top 15 ranked teams and top 25 ranked individuals in the state of Virginia. Nike Cross Southeast Regionals and Foot Locker South in two weeks will help determine the end of season rankings.

Very poor and muddy course conditions, which got progressively worse as the day went on. The largest classification Group AAA were the last races of the day. Times slowed by at least 15-20 seconds if not more based off last year's results in ideal course conditions. Temperature was ideal in the 50s with cloud cover, except for the last half of the Group AA girls when the sun came out and several runners struggled to get to the line including two of Blacksburg's key scorers. Course record by Kathleen Stevens (17:34) of Blacksburg. Previous record 17:38 set last by Megan Marsico (2008 Foot Locker South runner-up). Twin sister Joanna Stevens was second in the Group AA girls race in 17:39. Midlothian girls streak of 4 AAA state titles and Blacksburg girls streak of 3 AA titles are snapped by Lake Braddock and Hidden Valley respectively. Lake Braddock was the major upset of the day as their freshmen Sophie Chase led the charge literally with a hot pace to put herself in front and held on for a third place finish as Lake Braddock added a ninth state title to their rich history of state championship excellence. Hidden Valley had a slower team average than Blacksburg by 17 seconds, yet still found a way to win with five runners among the top 25. No drama to determine boys team champions as Mountain View (AAA), Blacksburg (AA), and Clarke County (A) dominate their respective classifications with Mountain View posting a team average of 16:33. Ted Richardson of James River won in a well packed AAA boys race till late with the day's fastest performance in 15:34 as Western Branch's Blake Theroux had made the move to break up the pack with 1200 meters to go and finished runner-up with a time of 15:38. A thrilling finish for Group AA boys as early race leader Colin Mearns of Jamestown collapsed in the final 150 meters and Kyle King of Grafton seized upon the opportunity as the 16:01 winner.  More to come...   Results: Group A Boys - Group A Girls - Group AA Boys - Group AA Girls - Group AAA Boys - Group AAA Girls and State Meet Race Videos & Interviews

The private school runners on Friday at Woodberry Forest gave a sneak peak of what might be in store for the public school runners on Saturday at Great Meadow. The Division I boys got to break in the course with their spikes as the first race of the day, while the Division II girls had to navigate around the slop and mud in the last race of the day. The champions in the field though were not affected by the conditions as many of last year's winners once again claimed VISAA state cross country titles. Complete results, race videos, and photo gallery posted.

You better like some mud or you might as well stay home this weekend. Champions will be crowned in likely very adverse course conditions on Friday at the VISAA State Championships (private schools) and on Saturday at the VHSL State Championships (public schools). The remnants of Tropical Storm Ida, which has developed into a powerful northeaster storm, has pounded the state of Virginia this week with heavy rainfall and wind. Both state meets will be run as scheduled, while many in the state are without power, schools are closed on Friday, and travel is difficult due to severe flooding. MileStat.com will be providing on-site coverage from both meets.

MileStat.com has been informed by meet management that Friday's VISAA State Championships at Woodberry Forest School will be run as scheduled. The first race will start as originally scheduled at 2:30 PM with the Division 1 boys followed by Division 1 Girls (3:00 PM), Division 2 Boys (3:30 PM), and Division 2 girls (4:00 PM).

From the VHSL (Thursday 12:31 PM) – Due to the inclement weather, the course at Great Meadows in Warrenton will not be available for practice on Friday, November 13, 2009.