Four schools from Virginia headed north and were able to escape much of the rain (at least before it moved up the East Coast by the afternoon hours) from Tropical Storm Hanna at the Gettysburg Invitational in Pennsylvania. Teams from Battlefield, Chancellor, George Mason, and Heritage of Lynchburg all competed among the three group races of the varsity division in the meet.
The George Mason girls in particular were impressive as a Group A school finishing second in the Group 2 varsity race and finishing ahead of Virginia Group AA teams Chancellor (5th, 222 pts) and Heritage (7th, 252 pts). The 2007 Group A state runner-ups in cross country were led by two freshmen and one sophomore all finishing in the top ten. A new star could be emerging in Group A and potential challenger to defending state champion Megan Marsico in Natalie Young (pictured left by Don Rich of penntrackxc.com) at George Mason. While well behind Group 2 race winner Jordan Jenkins (18:38) of New Oxford (PA), Young was well ahead of the third place finisher by almost a full minute with her runner-up time of 19:23. Young's teammates in freshmen Eva Estrada (8th, 20:35) and sophomore Mollie Breen (10th, 20:36) also had exceptional individual runs as the George Mason girls compiled a team score of 99 points.
The Battlefield boys finished 13th in the Group 1 varsity division race with 312 points. The team was led by top 50 individual finishes from junior Darren Driscoll (42nd, 17:17) and Kyle Beach (45th, 17:20), but was certainly humbled by some stiff competition from the Pennsylvania teams.
The George Mason boys had a slower team average than Battlefield (17:44) in the Group 3 varsity division at 18:32, but faired better in the lesser quality division as the third place finishing squad with 83 points and nearly pulling off a victory as the first and second place squads in Pennsylvania's Kutztown and Francis Scott Key were only a point better with 82 points. A solid pack and only 29 second gap separated the entire top five for the George Mason boys with Miles Butler as the team's top finisher in 12th place at 18:18.50 and Matthew Baker as the team's fifth finisher in 23rd place at 18:47.
In the current Group A state rankings, the George Mason girls are ranked #5 and George Mason boys are in the #4 spot. After their performances at Gettysburg, both teams might see a jump in their ranking standings as each squad seems to have very realistic shots of top 3 podium finishes at Great Meadow.
Gettysburg Invitational Results: JV Boys Groups 1,2 - JV Boys Groups 1,2,3 - JV Girls Groups 1,2,3 - Varsity Boys Group 1 - Varsity Boys Group 2 - Varsity Boys Group 3 - Varsity Girls Group 1 - Varsity Girls Group 2 - Varsity Girls Group 3