Two Northern Virginia teams with hopes for making the state’s 6A meet under new challenges sharpened up for the post-season at the Third Battle Invitational, with J.E.B. Stuart’s boys and West Springfield’s girls getting the wins.
West Springfield put four runners in the top 16 to edge 5A’s Tuscarora, who themselves had two ahead of the Spartans, including overall winner Emma Wolcott (17:56). and Ava Hassebrock (18:34) in eighth.
Maryland runners made themselves at home at Virginia’s Bull Run Regional Park, winning the individual and team titles at the Glory Days Invitational. Walter Johnson senior Abbey Green led the girls’ race from the start, and cleared the way for the Wildcats to claim the team title.
On the boys’ side, Poolesville’s Ryan Lockett overpowered Severna Park’s Garrison Clark in the last half mile, despite a rough start and a last-mile misstep.
Name: Jenn Dietz
Self-described age group: over 30 club
Two recent additions to the Army’s World Class Athlete Program won the Army Ten-Miler on a muggy day that felt more like July. Haron Lagat and Susan Tanui, both natives of Kenya and U.S. Army specialists, have benefited from more structured training environments, and it showed Sunday. Conditions were bad enough that after 10:08 a.m., the race rerouted runners near the Department of Agriculture to cut a mile off of the course and soon after stopped recording finishing times. Roughly 24,723 runners crossed the finish line, though race representatives have not quantified the nine- and 10-mile finisher totals.
Race representatives have also not responded to inquiries about the number of runners given medical attention during the race.
Oct. 22, 2017
Basking in his 15:11 that led the day’s times at the DCXC Invitational, Grafton senior Price Owens summed up the day’s races without saying a word.
He threw back his head and guzzled from a gallon jug of water.