Cue an early scene from “Karate Kid.”
The kid himself walks into Cobra Kai dojo and discovers that his nemesis is the top student. If that wasn’t intimidating enough, the kid also encounters a meathead instructor, or sensei, as he’s laying out some raw facts.
Loudoun County’s cross country teams were gracious hosts at the Oatlands Invitational, but not pushovers.
Last year’s 3A state champion Andrew Hunter of Loudoun Valley continued to exhibit his dominance that has been budding since last spring to win in 15:21, and Heritage newcomer and Eritrean native Weini Kelati surprised the field with an early lead that was never threatened, despite a loose shoelace that forced her to stop twice. She won in 18:12.
Five local college teams battled on the Naval Academy golf course, with the Salty Dog Invitational serving as a de facto D.C. championship, since all of the teams compete in different conferences.
[button-red url=”http://www.navysports.com/sports/m-xc/stats/2014-2015/mensvarsityrace.html” target=”_self” position=”left”] Men’s Results [/button-red]On the men’s side, American University (Patriot League led the D.C.-based teams in the men’s race, finishing second to Navy, which all but closed out team scoring with the top four finishers. Nicholas Regan and Brendan Johnson led the Eagles in fourth and fifth place. George Washington (Atlantic 10) followed in sixth, with Howard (Mid-Eastern athletic Conference) in eighth and Bowie State (Central Intercollegiate Athletic Association) in 10th.
Laid end-to-end, the races by the scoring five of a cross country team would stretch 15.5 miles.
As cool as that would be, it would take forever, so the Braddock Relays cuts it in half, gives the runners and atmosphere otherwise saved for high school football games and pits the teams against one another, one runner at a time.
When he last set foot on a track, all was right in Jim Vollmer‘s world. He was at the Maryland state track and field championships over Memorial Day weekend, working as a race official and silently cheering on his Poolesville High School runners, whom he coached in cross country.
He left the meet with genuine excitement and a feeling of satisfaction for the achievement of his runners on this sunny spring day. Senior Chase Weaverling capped a sensational senior year by winning the state title in the boys’ 3200 meter race. And the girls’ and boys’ 4×800 meter squads ran spirited efforts to finish third and fourth, respectively.
Many runner notched new personal records – and broke some course records as well – on a beautiful morning at the Navy-Air Force Half Marathon.
[button-red url=”http://www.zippyraceresults.com/search.php?ID=4284″ target=”_self” position=”left”] Half Marathon Results [/button-red]Erin Taylor, who runs with Capital Area Runners, had hoped to finish in the top three, but ended up winning the half marathon for the women in 1:20:36, getting a new PR and breaking the course record, despite running much of the course on her own.
Siraw Kebede might have run a little faster on more than two hours of sleep, but not much.
[button-red url=”http://www.mcrrc.org/parks-half-marathon-men-1″ target=”_self” position=”left”] Men’s Results [/button-red]The Parks Half Marathon winner got in from New York at about 3 a.m., the morning after he ran 4:05.3 to win the New York Road Runners Road Mile division at the Fifth Avenue Mile.
Every week during the cross country season, we’ll hear from our RunWashington coaches panel to learn what they liked about the most recent races, including some normative judgments that I, as a journalist, feel unqualified to make.
Local teams ran at the Monroe Parker, Great Meadows, Lake Forest, Seahawk and Brunswick invitationals, among others. The heat and humidity played a big part in slowing times down.
The number — 4:40 — looked like it belonged with a Bible verse. It bounced above Erica Ferrell, attached to a long stick, as she toted that sign through Columbia Heights, NoMa, Capitol Hill and Anacostia, her disciples followed.
In the end, her message was indeed the truth. She crossed the line at the Rock ‘n’ Roll USA Marathon in 4:40:06, right on schedule.