Photo by: Mary Ann Magnant
Virginia is nationally known for its star talent in all three seasons of our sport. This year Virginia is not only known for those elite individuals but also the teams that are coming from Virginia to compete at the NXN Southeast regional championship in Cary, NC. Headlining this group are returning champions Blacksburg.
Photo by: John Herzog
Despite losing their top two and number five runners from a year ago Blacksburg comes back arguably stronger than ever. They average a crazy fast 18:26 across their top 5 and have a small 43 second gap between first and fifth's season's best. That type of consistency and star talent is what makes them so deadly and potentially the team to beat.
Something else that is strongly aiding their case is the emergence of Sophia Link as their top runner. Though she has the second fastest time on her team, the way she performed at states in her 3A victory showed us a lot of what she is capable of doing. If the weather cooperates and she runs like she ran at states then she could run well into the 17s and potentially be fighting for the individual title as well.
Some other big names to watch for Virginia on the girls side are Lake Braddock, Albemarle, and Ocean Lakes. Out of this group Lake Braddock has a serious shot at getting that second position to advance to NXN. Historically our region has not received an at large bid so it will be up to their performance Saturday to either make or break their chances at getting there.
Photo by: Lisa McArthur
Though there is a lot of pressure on them they are a veteran group and led by superstar Kate Murphy. Murphy has been running ok for a lot of the season but has yet to have that break through race which should be scary for her competition. She almost races better when she is mad and she could be mad this week at her performance at states (though it was all the weather causing slow times). Don't be surprised to see her crossing the line first and getting her team some huge points.
Also fighting for that individual title will be returning champ Rachel McArthur. Both her, Kate Murphy, and Sophia Link are all defending state champions and ready to rumble. Rachel missed out on the state meet but has yet to lose at the state meet since which makes for quite the race this weekend if everyone is healed and ready to go! She is the defending champ and has been working very hard to return to the course this season and more importantly NXN!
No matter which girl you are cheering for, Virginia has a serious shot to go 1-2-3 individually and 1-2 in the team race if both Lake Braddock and Blacksburg run like they are very capable of doing.
Photo by: Jon Fleming
On the boys' side of things things are not as bright. The top teams representing Virginia will be Lake Braddock, Stone Bridge, Thomas Jefferson, Midlothian, and Blacksburg. All five of these teams should finish decent amongst their out of state competition but it is going to be tough to break into that top two. Lake Braddock likely has the best shot as they were third a year ago and definitely have the team to make it.
The thing Lake Braddock needs most though is just one or two guys to have monster races and pr big time. That point swing puts them in serious contention. Stone Bridge though should not be too far behind, they showed everyone at states that they know how to win and run their race. If they run their race the right way then they are a top 7 team.
Blacksburg, Midlothian, and Thomas Jefferson all ran well at states but did not achieve the goals they set for themselves. That is a good thing when it comes to NXN-SE because this means they are fired up and ready to change the script. Look for all of these teams to try and do something special.
Individually Virginia's top runners not on these teams are running at Foot Locker South. Colin Schaefer (Lake Braddock), Saurav Velleleth (TJ), Sam Teller (Blacksburg), and Randy Hahn (Midlothian) should be some of Virginia's top finishers. Do not be surprised though if a couple other Lake Braddock Bruins sneak their way into the Virginia top 10 with Conor Lyons and Ben Fogg both running very well this post-season!