MIDLOTHIAN SWEEPS CROSS COUNTRY STATE TITLES: Douglas Freeman Places Third in Girls Race; LaReau & Witt Head List of All-State Awards to Area Runners

Deep Run's Courtlin LaReau Finished Second in Saturday's State Cross Country Meet. Photo: Linda D'Amato.

On Saturday afternoon, Midlothian became the first AAA school since Manchester accomplished the feat in 1997 to win both the girls and boys races at the Virginia State Cross Country Championships, held at Great Meadow. The wins were not unexpected, because both teams are nationally ranked " the girls at #2 and the boys at #11 " in the most recent Harrier Super 25 rankings. But, in cross country, nothing is sure until the race is run.

The Douglas Freeman girls also reached the podium with a third place team finish. The Hermitage boys just missed the podium with a fourth place finish.

Several Central Region runners had standout individual performances, including second place finishes by Deep Run's Courtlin LaReau in the girls race and by Midlothian"s Jason Witt in the boys race.

Girls Race

In the girls race, the unseasonably warm temperatures Saturday (highs in the upper 70s) played a role in the finish, with a number of the athletes suffering from heat and dehydration. A few "went down" during the race, with several needing medical attention.

Earlier in the week, the venue was very wet, with standing water, from recent rains. By Saturday, the course had drained off nicely, but still was wet and slick in spots.

At the 3200 meter mark of the 5000 meter race, defending champion Rachel Rose of Albemarle led with teammate Elizabeth Barclay and Central Region champion Kristen Wolfe of James River close behind. The following chase group included Kristine Tobin from Great Bridge, Deep Run's LaReau, and the Midlothian contingent " including Kathleen Lautzenheiser, her sister Leia Lautzenheiser, and M. C. Miller.

The beautiful, rolling Great Meadow course is marked by several challenging features including a long finishing straight-away stretch of approximately 500 meters. The stretch seems to go on forever and has "done in" many a runner over the years " and Saturday was no exception. Rose and Wolfe entered the stretch close together. LaReau had moved up into third followed by Barclay. Midlothian"s pack still was together, taking up five of the next six places. Tobin was in 6th place in the middle of the Midlo pack.

In a final push, Wolfe looked for the lead down the straight-away, but the heat and her effort caught up with her and she fell about 40 meters in front of the finish. She got to her feet and fell again, as the front of the field passed by. Wolfe stumbled across the line in 40th.

Rose broke the tape at 18:53.18 for the win.

Perhaps the most remarkable individual race of the day was that of LaReau who was closing fast on Rose at the finish and placed 2nd with an 18:56.02. Less than 48 hours earlier she had played in a long, tough Central Region Girls Volleyball Championship match as Deep Run's setter in a losing effort against Hanover. LaReau arrived at Great Meadow a day after the rest of her team, because she had practice on Friday with the volleyball team which begins state tournament play this coming Tuesday. On Saturday, heeding the advice of Coach Lake Stockdreher to take the early race pace a little easy and to bide her time, LaReau started her move on the final big hill and kept herself together down the final straight-away for her excellent finish.

Midlothian wasn't immune to the stress and heat of the day. As the runners passed 4000 meters, Coach Stan Morgan thought he saw his senior mainstay, M. C. Miller, start to falter, and he yelled to one of his many helpers who was standing nearby, "Get on her. She's giving up!" (Coach Morgan described his role once the race had started, "I just yell and scream." The yelling and screaming seemed to work for Miller as she picked off several runners over the last 800 meters.)

Leia Lautzenheiser faded from 8th to 33rd down the fateful final gauntlet, but sister Kathleen grabbed 3rd place, and three other Trojans also took All-State honors (top 15 individual places) with Miller in 6th (19:18.14); Samantha Dow in 8th (19:20.61); and Paige Johnston in 13th (19:32.36). This was enough to give Midlothian the meet trophy with 47 points, comfortably ahead of runner-up Lake Braddock (89 points).

Hanover freshman Lauren Hopper also gained All-State honors by moving up well through struggling runners down the stretch to place 9th.

Douglas Freeman came into the state meet seeking to surprise the competition and aimed for a high spot in the results behind Midlothian. The Freeman style is to run as a group and be patient and the strategy worked well through most of the race. But the big final hill and the finish broke up the pack and put considerable doubt into the minds of the Freeman faithful. They needn't have worried. Paced by Casey Fowler (22nd, 19:57.77) and Jamie Machich (25th, 19:59.63), Freeman's 147 points earned the team a 3rd place finish and a place on the podium, behind Lake Braddock in 2nd place (88 points).

Maggie Walker got great races out of freshman Clarissa Schick (20th, 19:53:06) and sophomore Susannah Piersol (21st, 19:56.60) to pace the team to 6th place (210 points).

Deep Run rounded out the Central Region team contingent. Shooting for a top 10 finish, Coach Stockdreher was happy with getting 11th (249 points). After LaReau, Deep Run's next finisher was Erin Bragg (41st, 20:27.32).

Boys Race

The top attraction in the boys race was the duel between West Springfield's Mike Spooner and Midlothian"s Witt. The two opened an early gap at the front, with Witt keeping on Spooner's shoulder most of the race, and letting Spooner do much of the work of carrying both of them along. When the two runners came around the final corner to head into the final straight-away, Coach Morgan said, "This is a heck of a race." Witt seemed poised to overtake Spooner, but it was not to be. Spooner extended his lead slightly and took the win in 15:53.72. Witt was second in 15:59.31.

The day's heat did not seem to affect this race as it did the girls race. Although there was some shuffling of places among the leaders in the final stretch of the boys race, no big swings occurred. Hermitage senior John Vial put in an excellent effort to take 6th place (16:22.45). Other Central Region runners taking All-State honors were Jonathan Mellis (8th, 16:26.11) and Mark Merritt (10th, 16:36.33). Midlo's Tommy Reese (16th, 16:47.22) and Deep Run's Drew Spicer (17th, 16:47.97) finished just outside the top 15.

Reflecting Midlothian's strength, the team's 6th place runner, Michael Hammond, finished 36th and beat the 5th place runner from every other team and beat the 4th place runner from every other team but one (Oakton). Midlothian scored 55 points for the team win, with Oakton taking second with 96. Thomas Jefferson S&T finished 3rd with 148 points.

Aside from Vial's effort, second place Central Region qualifier Hermitage ran a sub-par team race, but still managed to finish in 4th place with 157 points, just missing the podium.

Manchester had come into the State Meet with a goal to place in the top 10, but Coach Paul Kline was pretty satisfied with his team's 11th place finish (262 points). Team leader senior Andrew Duty  (25th, 16:56.73) has had his training time drastically reduced over the past three weeks due to leg injuries and had a very large bag of ice on his leg following the race. One of his teammates had a pronounced limp. Coach Kline said another team member had had a bad cough on the way up to Great Meadow.

"They've been going hard since the beginning of August. Some were going hard all summer," said Coach Kline. He feels that his guys are ready for some time off to recuperate before starting back up for indoor track.

Coach Jim Triempler's Atlee team finished in 13th place and was paced by senior Zach Ganey (44th, 17:18.46). Several of his runners " who the previous Saturday in the Central Region Championships had nosed out Thomas Dale by 1 point and Douglas Freeman by 2 points to take 4th place and the final state qualifying slot from the region " expressed appreciation for their appearance among the elite teams in the State Meet.

Several Central Region runners had qualified individually for the State Meet and competed without their teams. Mills Godwin's Brian Welch lost one of his shoes on the course during the race, but still managed to turn a 17:39.43.

Following the awards ceremonies, the Midlothian runners lingered in front of the Great Meadow stewards" stand, taking pictures, laughing, and enjoying themselves. Many Midlothian cross country program supporters came to watch the meet and to root for Midlo. The supporters included Midlothian running alumni, Midlothian Activities Director Richard Overton, fellow teachers, sub-varsity runners, and many families and friends of the Midlothian runners. None of them were disappointed.

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Top & Central Region Individual Finishers " Girls