Megan Marsico stopped in the hallway of Glenvar High School on a recent afternoon and gazed at the Highlanders "Wall of Fame" decorated with plaques dedicated to the school's top athletes of yesteryear.

Two mementos caught her attention.

"Trisha Nervo, Group A cross country champion: 1992, 1993, 1994, 1995."

"Kelly Clark, Group A mile champion, 2003."

Marsico turned and walked away.

"I really want to be as good," she said.

Some people say she already is.

Fresh off dazzling Three Rivers District and Region C title-winning performances in the past two weeks, Marsico will run for a bigger crown in Saturday's Group A girls' cross country championship at Great Meadow course in Warrenton.

As a freshman, she took much of her competition by surprise when she placed fifth in the Group A meet and was the only girl from Timesland to finish in the top 25. Saturday, she returns with a year's more experience under her belt and even higher expectations.

"We've known she's talented for a while," said Glenvar assistant principal Jamie Soltis, who coached Marsico as a freshman. "She definitely has the potential to be one of the best runners we've had."

Marsico made her unofficial cross country debut as a seventh-grader. Though not permitted to participate in meets at the time, she practiced with the varsity team. One of Marsico's earliest mentors was Clark, a recent All-Atlantic Coast Conference selection at Virginia Tech and a first-team all-state cross country runner three years at Glenvar.

"We used to make Kelly [Clark] chase her," said Glenvar coach Richard Myers, who was a co-head coach with Soltis before this season.

Clark held the course record at the Southwest Virginia Training Center in Galax until last week -- when Marsico eclipsed Clark's time by 12 seconds en route to the Region C title.

"The thing about it is, [Marsico] works all the time," Myers said. "She bikes and runs maybe 40 to 50 hours a week easy. She works on Saturdays. ... She works on Sundays on her own and stuff. She goes and she works all the time and she really wants to be the best she can be."

Before Marsico could think about contending for a region or state championship, she first had to get healthy. For the second year in a row, she began the season nursing an injured quadriceps muscle that got banged up during the summer.

"All my injuries have been right before I go into my season, which is disappointing because you're racing people and they're beating you but you know you can beat them," Marsico said.

At the recommendation of her doctor, Marsico took two weeks off at the beginning of this season to let the injury heal. Not long after returning, she squelched concerns of any lingering effects with a 20^th place effort at the Maymont Invitational in Richmond. Competing against runners from Group AA and Group AAA, she was Timesland's highest finishing female.

"I don't stay out late on the weekends, I don't run around, I don't go to parties, I don't drink. I don't do all that stuff," Marsico said. "You have to make sacrifices for your sport in everything. In everything I do I think about my running and how it's going to affect it because it means so much to me."

Now, Marsico is thinking about a state title -- and getting her own plaque on the Wall of Fame at Glenvar.

"I'd really like to earn my spot up there."