Holt, Suliman, & Owens Headed To San Diego!

CHARLOTTE, Nc.- Three Virginians finish inside the top 10 in the two championship races to advance to Nationals out in San Diego in two weeks. Leading these finishers was Heather Holt (GCM) who put up a great last surge to finish second in 17:23. 

This was a great finish for Holt and surely a big relief after finishing in a brutal 11th place last year. Holt now adds being a Foot Locker finalist to her already impressive list of accolades that includes winning now two 5A State titles. 

In the boys race Waleed Suliman easily advanced finishing 5th in 15:05 and will be joined by Price Owens of Grafton who finished 10th in 15:07. He is one of just five underclassmen to advance to Nationals this year. 

The first race of the championship races was the girls race. This race ultimately saw Team Virginia finish 4th amongst eight states competing. 

Though this race ended fast, it actually started out quite slow considering the amount of talent in the race. The first Mile was run in roughly 5:30 with a huge pack leading. It was just after that point that, NC star and eventual winner, Nevada Mareno made a slight move to gap the field by two seconds.

Considering she boasts a strong 16:36 PR, it was no surprise to see no one actively try and chase her down. It wasn't until the end of the race that Holt and others began to mount a comeback. 

Finishing inside the top 30 for Virginia in the girls race was Emma Wolcott (Tuscarora) who finished 15th in 18:02, Olivia Beckner (South Lakes) who finished 18th in 18:03, and Jodi Tolarchyk who finished 27th in 18:21. 

The boys race saw a similar strategy play out. Though it was not just one athlete, it was a group of athletes that opened slow and then gapped the field just after the mile mark. 

It should also be noted that there was a fall in the first 50m of this race which definitely cost some VA athletes a good couple seconds in the race due to a restart. 

After that opening mile though it was a solid group of under 20 guys for the remainder of the race and both of the VA athletes in that group fought the entire way. Waleed ultimately cruised across the line in 5th and Price Owens, a junior, powered down the stretch to finish 10th and advance to San Diego. 

Virginia had an addition four guys finish inside the top 30 to help Team VA finish second amongst eight states. Finishing in 21st was Patrick Lynch (George C. Marshall) in 15:36, finishing in 22nd was Bashir Mosavel-Lo (Deep Run) in 15:38, finishing in 26th was Peter Smith (Oscar Smith) in 15:43, and in 27th was Saurav Velleleth (Thomas Jefferson) in 15:44. 

Another notable performance though was Joshua Shackleford of Gloucester who finished 35th in 15:49 and was the third fastest sophomore in the entire race. 

Though the championship races are certainly the center of attention, there were also multiple class races that Virginia performed well in too. Check those top finishers out below. 

Boys' Freshman Race