State meet action continues this weekend with numerous championships occurring around the country. With races coast to coast, expect some fantastic results. Highlights and results are posted for AL, DE, GA, KY, MD, NJ, NM, NY, TX, VA.
MileSplit Coverage: State Meet Highlights & Results
New Mexico State Cross Country Championships (NM)
US #1 Albuquerque Academy beat US #6 Los Alamos every time the two teams met this season. At Saturday's Boys 4A Championship the two teams met once again, but this time the outcome changed. Los Alamos used five runners in the top ten team spots to beat Albuquerque Academy 34-40. Despite Academy's first and third finish up top, led by race winner senior Ben Johnson, the 21 second 1-5 split Los Alamos unleashed overwhelmed the state meet favorite. Ben Johnson won the individual title in 15:36, winning by 14 seconds.
The Girls 5A Championship highlighted US #3 Eldorado. As usual Eldorado domianted the field, beating runner-up La Cueva 38-89. The squad placed three runners in the top five, while their fourth and fifth runners placed in the top fifteen team spots. Allison Bedonie, Rachel Velarde and Kristy Hannah placed 3-5. La Cueva's leader on the day was Laura Lavezo, who won the individual title in 18:35.
The closest team race of the day came in the Girls 3A Race. St. Michael's beat Zuni 51-52 using a strong number four runner. Through three runners the two teams were incredibly close, but St. Michael's number four runner finished way up on Zuni's. The two teams drew together at the end though as Zuni's number five runner crushed St. Michael's. If this race came down to the sixth runner St. Michael's had the stronger runner.
New Mexico State CC Champs. Meet Page
Virginia State Cross Country Championships (VA)
MileStat.com State Meet Summary Article
The talent that assembled at the Virginia State CC Championships Saturday excited the fans in Virginia more so than most other years. Numerous amounts of talent went head-to-head in many of the races, creating an exciting atmosphere on the day.
The top match-up came in the Boys AAA Race. Individually, Jason Witt (Sr., Midlothian) beat Thomas Porter (Jr., Mt. View) by 12 seconds, running the fastest time of the day in 15:10. Porter meanwhile barely outkicked Midlothian senior Michael Hammond as both athletes finished in 15:22. While Midlothian placed three in the top six, the team didn't have a strong enough fifth runner to hold off fast charging Thomas Jefferson, losing the state title 91-101. Thomas Jefferson followed the lead of fourth place finisher Brian Laundry (Sr.). Mt. View finished third with 106 points.
Another close race came in the Girls AAA Race . Kathleen Lautzenheiser (So., Midlothian) beat Lia DiValentin (Jr., Chantilly) with a furious kick 17:56-17:58. Both athletes ran amazing performances on the day. Lautzenheiser's first place finish helped her team score a team championship as well, beating second place Oakton 57-110. Their deep top seven averaged a great time of 18:44.
Another race of importance came in the Boys AA Race. Peter Dorrell (Sr., Blacksburg) beat a strong individual field by a few seconds, outdistancing himself from Andrew Colley (Jamestown) in the last 200m. Dorrell ran 15:16, three seconds ahead of Colley. The man to challenge Dorrell was supposed to be Abingdon senior Griff Graves. Graves did not have it on the day however as he finished ninth in 15:43.
Virginia State CC Champs. Meet Page
New York State Cross Country Championships (NY)
For the past few years the best girls teams in the country have come from the state of New York. This year US #1 Fayetteville-Manlius is proving they are one of the best teams of all time, crushing their competition. Saturday at the New York State Championships the team beat US #5 Saratoga Springs 23-71. F-M followed placed four runners from third to sixth, with the rest of their top seven placing in the top twenty. Freshman Courtney Chapman led the way for F-M in third, as she ran 17:55. The two girls who beat her were race champion Hannah Davidson (Sr., Saratoga Springs) in 17:46 and Shelby Greany (Jr., Suffern) in 17:53.
US #8 Burnt-Hills won the Girls A Race with 31 points. Much like Fayetteville-Manlius, B-H used strong pack tactics to beat the field. Sam Roecker led the team finishing second in 17:34, while the 2-6 runners finished within eight spots of each other. Emily Lipari (So., Roslyn) won the individual title in 17:31. Greenwich won the Girls C Race with twenty points. The squad followed first place senior Caitlin Lane, with four athletes in the top five.
The top boys finish came from Warwick Valley in the Boys AA Race. W-V beat Shenendehowa 41-61. Individually Pat DuPont (Sr., Fairport) beat Giovanni Signoretti (Sr., Smithtown) by 22 seconds, winning the race in 15:35 with the top time of the day. In the Boys A Race, Queensbury won with 34 points, 39 points ahead of second place.
New York State CC Champs. Meet Page
Texas State Cross Country Championships (TX)
US #9 The Woodlands showed their strength in the Texas Boys 5A Championships, beating runner-up Southlake Carroll 70-76, despite junior frontman Reed Connor finishing as their fifth scorer. What won the competition for the Woodlands was their powerful 26 second split, which crushed Southlake Carroll's split of over 90 seconds. Southlake Carroll's leaders came from race winning Colby Lowe (Sr.) and third place finisher C.J. Brown (Jr.). Lowe dominated the field in 15:11, beating runner-up Zac Flowers (Katy Cinco Ranch) by 25 seconds. Brown finished third in 15:40, while super freshman Craig Lutz (Lewisville Marcus) finished fourth in 15:47.
In the Girls 5A Championships, Kingwood and Southlake Carroll tied with 74 points a piece, with Kingwood winning on the sixth person tie-breaker. Kingwood's sixth runner Hailey Nicholls beat Southlake Carroll's number six by a mere five seconds to clinch the win for her team. Individually, Lauren Smith (Clute Brazoswood) won the race in 11:15 (2 miles), winning by nine seconds.
Other highlights: In the Boys 4A Championship, Rory Tunningly (Lockhart) won the individual title with the second fastest time of the day, running 15:19 to win by four seconds. Alex De La Garza (Mercedes) beat Zach Dawson (Big Spring) by .05 for second.
Texas State CC Champs. Meet Page
NJSIAA Group Championships (NJ)
NJRunners.com Group Championships Summary Article
The race of the day at the New Jersey Group Championships came in the Girls Group 3 race. Melanie Thompson (Jr., Voorhees) beat Chelsey Ley (So., Kingsway) by two seconds, outspriting the star sophomore to finish in 18:18. Thompson's first place helped her team capture the team title as well, as Voorhees ran a tight pack to beat Ridge 45-87. Roxbury finished third behind Ridge by two points, as senior Lauren Penney led the way for the team finishing in third place overall.
US #12 Brian Leung (Sr., WW-South, NJ) crushed the field at the NJSIAA Group 4 Championships Saturday. Leung blitzed the field very early on in the race, cruising to a 15:41 win. His mark won the race by 24 seconds, while Cherokee won the Group 4 team title scoring 104 points, beating runner-up Old Bridge by 42. Doug Smith (Jr., Gill-St. Bernard's) won the Boys Non-Public B Championship by over a minute in 15:44.
In the Girls Group 4 race, Jillian Smith (Jr., Southern Regional) beat second place Jillian Prentice (So., Montgomery) by 14 seconds, finishing in 18:29. Smith's first place effort sparked Southern Regional's second place team finish, trailing Toms River North 108-119. In the Girls Non-Public B race, Kathleen McCaffert (Sr., Oak Knoll) won with the fastest time of the day in 18:13, winning by 59 seconds.
NJSIAA Group Champs. Meet Page
Georgia State Cross Country Championships (GA)
Emily Reese continued to roll through Georgia competition as she won the Girls 3A race at the Georgia State Championships Saturday. Reese blitzed the field by 1:14, winning the race in 17:56. Reese's performance only matched that of the dominant Collins Hill win in the Girls 5A race. Collins Hill scored a mere 28 points, while putting four in the top nine. The leaders of the pack were Amanda Winslow and Nicky Akande. The two frontrunners finished 1-2.
The Collins Hill boys team won the 6A race to match their girls squad's effort. However it was not nearly as dominant. Collins Hill beat Brookwood 109-123 in a close team battle decided over the last mile. The squads depth won the meet for them. Zack Flickinger (Lassiter) won the individual crown with a 15:49 mark, beating runner-up Joseph Hackney (Kell) by a second.
Georgia State CC Champs. Meet Page
Alabama State Cross Country Championships (AL)
US #4 Mountain Brook girls won the Girls 6A Championship placing three in the top ten, scoring a 35-71 win over Hoover (1:07 split). Finishing without frontrunner Madeline Morgan, freshman Marie Demedicis had to lead the way as she finished third overall. The overall race winner was Jennifer Dunn (Austin), who won another state title, this time running 17:44 to win by 23 seconds.
A performance equally noteworthy came from Scottsboro in the Girls 5A race. Scottsboro won by 25 points as they tallieed 31 points for the win. Dominating the top fifteen, the squad placed six in the top fourteen. Emily Thompson (Sr.) won in 18:17.
The top boys performance came in the Boys 6A race. Hoover beat Westavia Hills 56-93 over the 5k spread. Hoover's leader, Patrick McGregor (Jr.), won the race by a solid nine seconds in 15:38. Hoover junior Nick Perkins finished fourth overall, giving Hoover two runners in the top five.
Alabama State CC Champs. Meet Page
Maryland State Cross Country Championships (MD)
Despite placing two runners in the top four, Eleanor Roosevelt lost the Girls 4A Championship by a mere point, as C. Milton Wright won 96-97. Wright used a strong 1:20 split and a strong 3-5 to knock off the perennial favorites. For Eleanor Roosevelt followed the lead of individual champ Teshika Rivers (Jr.) and Dominique Lockhart (Sr.) in fourth.
On the boys side top ranked Quince Orchard easily won the Boys 4A Championship. With three runners in the top ten, and a great 47 second split, Quince used their seven senior squad to run away from the field. Leading the way for the squad were David Laratta in second, Neal Darmody in third and Artem Panasenkov in tenth. Northwest placed second with 117 points. The individual champion was sophomore Andrew Palmer (Walt Whitman), winning the race in 16:36, seven seconds ahead of Laratta.
Maryland State CC Champs. Meet Page
Kentucky State Cross Country Championships (KY)
Emma Brink (Fr., Sacred Heart) established herself as the top girl in Kentucky this year, winning her first state 3A championship in 18:20 by 19 seconds. Brink beat some talented individuals by quite a bit. The freshman's top placing also helped guide her team to second place overall behind state champ Assumption. Assumption used a very strong pack to tally 55 points, 50 less than Sacred Heart.
In the boys race Daniel Norman (Sr., Tates Creek) ran away from the field over the last mile, running 15:47. However, the most impressive result of the 3A race came from team champion DuPont Manual. D-M won over Apollo 83-115 using a tight 21 second split. The team averaged an impressive 16:23. The other top boys performance came from junior Gordy Dooley (St. Henry) in the Boys 1A race. Dooley, the top performer in Kentucky the past year, ran a dominating race in 15:50, winning by 18 seconds.
Kentucky State CC Champs. Meet Page
Results: Boys 1A / Boys 2A / Boys 3A / Girls 1A / Girls 2A / Girls 3A
Delaware State Cross Country Championships (DE)
Tatnall and Archmere, Archmere and Tatnall. The two Delaware powerhouse programs dominated DII action Saturday at the Delaware State Meet. In the Girls DII race Tatnall beat Archmere 20-45, placing five in the top seven, with junior Juliet Bottorff taking top honors in 18:17.
Archmere returned the favor in the Boys DII race, beating Tatnall for the team title 37-64. Archmere placed three in the top four, while George Vernon (Sr., Concord) won the race in 16:11. Andy Weaver (Sr., Charter) won the Boys DI race in 16:08.
Delaware State CC Champs. Meet Page
Results: Boys DI / Boys DII / Girls DI / Girls DII