Great American XC Festival 2006

The morning began with the hustle and bustle that runners know so well. We relocated from our first hotel to the meet headquarters, The Wynfrey Hotel. The new hotel was gorgeous and actually attached to a mall!... (Photo: Off to the races...)

Weekend review for meets held on September 23rd. Include meet summaries from Great American, William & Mary Invite, Spiked Shoe Invite, Iolani Invite, Embry-Riddle/Smoothie King Invite, Penn State Altoona Lion Invite, and Hilltopper Invite.

Publish Dates: Pre-Season, 8/28/06, 9/12/06, 9/26/06, 10/10/06, 10/24/06, 11/7/06

Jennifer Barbi, of South Forsyth, was rewarded for her 2 year commitment to being one of the top female runners in Georgia. Chasing Jackie Drouin for the past 2 years in Region 7-AAAAA has helped develop a m

Ben Hubers showed the rest of the country what those of us in Georgia already knew and he capitalized it with his big win at Great American on Saturday.

Race summary in photos.

Highlight video from the Boys and Girls Race of Champions set to music.

For Emilie Amaro of Cypress Bay and St. Thomas Aquinas boys and girls teams it was more of a matter of survival Saturday afternoon than running a fast time. The Raiders swept team titles in the Red Varsity races and Amaro took third in the Girls ROC.

Ashley Brasovan and her Wellington teammates were at a disadvantage Saturday running in the Alabama hills Saturday at the Great American Cross Country Festival at Spain Park in Hoover, Ala.

The Midlothian boys and girls came away with top three finishes at the Great American Cross Country Festival held at Spain Park in Hoover, Alabama. The challenging course layout and a humid day tested all teams and individuals competing at the new venue for one of the largest and most competitive cross country invitationals in the country. The Midlothian boys validated their preseason #1 ranking in the Southeast region by finishing third overall in the Nike Race of Champions as the Southeast\'s top finishing team with 123 points. Finishing ahead of the US #15 Midlothian squad were two top ranked teams from the Northeast region in US #11 and NE #2 Collegiate of New York and US #21 and NE #4 Shenandoah of New York. Meanwhile, the SE #2 and US #16 Brentsville boys equally helped their cause in paving a road to Portland, Oregon for Nike Team Nationals finishing fourth (152 pts) in the Nike ROC as the region\'s second best squad at Great American. The Midlothian girls finished second to returning 2005 NTN squad and US #20 Episcopal of Florida in one of the closest team races of the day in the Nike ROC with Episcopal winning by 15 points over US #11 Midlothian. It was the first time ever that the Southeast region has had a ROC girls\' winner at Great American, much less the top two teams in the highly competitive race. Much more to come from Hoover (including more from The Road To Hoover...Brentsville boys pictured to the left with the Hoover High School cheerleaders at their football game on Friday night) as well as coverage of other weekend meets in Virginia.

Mann\'s Borowicz 18th in 19:43, Daniel\'s Gammon 23rd in 19:57 at Great American Festival

This just in from Alabama... Episcopal\'s (NTN SE #3) girls beat out Midlothian, Virginia (NTN SE #2) for the victory! Floridians all over rejoice!

9/23 HIGHLIGHTS: The Radnor girls revved up for their trip to NY next weekend by nearly sweeping the Small Schools race at the BULLDOG INV @ Rose Tree Park with a 28-sec spread, while Conestoga's Hannah Kligman tore up the course in 18:14 in the Small Schools race. Bethany Walker and Ben Hahn win at the SHARPESVILLE INV. NY's Saratoga Springs girls and NJ's Colts Neck boys dominate individual and team racing at the SPIKED SHOE INV, where Trevor Vanackeren of Liberty was 2nd. Neshannock's Kacey Gibson was 5th in the Race of Champions at GREAT AMERICAN. At Penn State-Altoona in the LION INV, Carly Seymour led her Central Cambria team to the win with her course record. Gettyburg's Bryan Beegle ran the best time of the day in winning his race at the WILLIAM & MARY INV in VA. The Mt. Lebanon girls won, but the boys were four short of Seneca Valley at the NORTHERN INV. Bradford dominated the team competiton at their home BRADFORD INVITATIONAL. Sarah Lonzi defended her home mud in a course record-tying 19:10. The Boyertown boys team took the top two spots at the CONRAD WEISER INVITATIONAL, with Boyertown senior Jason Weller leading the way. But Owen J Roberts squeaked by in the team scores. North Penn was led to victory by the 1st place of Jennifer Schofield. At the LACKAWANNA COUNTY COMMISSIONERS' INV, Lakeland Mark Bucklaw and Kyle Pepson were 1-2, but Bishop O'Hara took the next three spots and won the team title. Honesdale won the girls' title.

The Midlothian team awaited the arrival of the Brentsville team and the charter bus that would be transporting them down to the Great American Cross Country Festival on the sidewalk of the bus loop of Midlothian High School. As the regular student body filtered out at 1:45 pm, some walked by in curiousity of where the large group of Midlothian students with plenty of bags packed was going, while current team members that would not be make the trip to the team came to wish them good luck before their trip. Some kids were probably wishing they should have joined the cross country team in getiing out of school early on Thursday and missing class on Friday. Too bad for them as these Hoover-bound runners earned this trip.

Photos taken by Brandon Miles from the 2006 Great American Cross Country Festial held at Spain Park in Hoover, Alabama.

While the move of the Great American Cross Country Festival from border state North Carolina to the Deep South in Alabama affected the quantity of Virginia individuals and teams that usually compete in the event. The quality of the Virginians that will be at a very high level with teams from Midlothian, Brentsville, Oakton, and Blacksburg all having teams competing in the Nike Race of Champions, while Northside senior and returning Foot Locker All-American Catherine White will be competing as an individual as one of the race favorites in the Nike ROC.

MileStat.com\'s Brandon Miles will be en route and chronicling the long 12 hour journey that the Midlothian High School and Brentsville High School cross country teams will be making together on a bus down to Hoover, Alabama for this year\'s Great American Cross Country Festival. The meet has great Nike Team Nationals implications for both boys and girls\' squads on each team with the Midlothian boys ranked #1 in the Southeast Region currently and Brentsville boys right behind them in the #2 spot, while the Midlothian girls are ranked #2 in the latest Southeast region rankings with the Brentsville girls at #5. A preview article on the trip and meet is forthcoming as well as a wrapup from last weekend\'s racing action with more photos, videos, and meet summaries prior to Thursday\'s 1:30 PM deparature time from Midlothian to Hoover.

Emma and Kate Borowicz are sophomores on the Mann cross country team. The twins talk about Coaches Classic, including Kate\'s win and Emma losing her shoe, along with summer running and their future in the sport.

Mauldin girls, Fort Mill boys win team titles at Coaches Classic

NCAA policy concerning athlete travel reimbursement. Answers to a number of questions about athlete travel reimbursement for national meets, and that of parents and coaches. PDF of the NCAA policy concerning athlete travel reimbursement

The National Scholastic Sports Foundation\'s Great American Cross Country Festival will have a new home for 2006.