varsity.roanoke.com

Photos by Stephanie Klein-Davis | The Roanoke Times

The boys' varsity race gets under way in Saturday's Knights Crossing Invitational cross country meet at Green Hill Park.

Glenvar High School's Megan Marisco stays in the lead and wins the girls race of the Knights Crossing Invitational cross country meet at Green Hill Park on Saturday.

So much for the curse.

Heading into Saturday's Knights Crossing Invitational cross country meet, Glenvar's Megan Marsico was hoping to put memories of recent disappointing performances on the Green Hill Park course behind her.

She did it in a big way.

Marsico crushed the 226-runner field in the girls' varsity race, winning by more than a minute. The reigning Group A champion, Marsico also broke the meet record set by former Northside star Catherine White.

"I look up to Catherine White," said Marsico, whose time of 18 minutes, 1.56 seconds was nearly eight seconds faster than White's 2006 time. "She's an awesome runner, and I want to be as good as her."

In the 231-runner boys' varsity race, Spencer Franton from Tennessee's Class AAA Morristown West won, just ahead of Bryan Lewis of Hidden Valley and Matt Howard of Blacksburg.

Franton's time of 16:17.45 was 40 seconds off of the meet record set last year by Blacksburg graduate Peter Dorrell.

Defending Group AA champion Blacksburg was the best girls team in the 32-school field, edging Thomas Jefferson Science and Technology, a Group AAA team from Fairfax County.

In the boys' race, defending AAA champion Thomas Jefferson edged Morristown West, placing all of its five scoring runners in the top 15.

Blacksburg was third in the boys' race, just 23 points behind Morristown West and well ahead of fourth-place Science Hill, another team from Tennessee.

The meet drew more than 1,200 runners, who competed in seven separate races, including events for citizens and even elementary school runners.

Blacksburg coach James DeMarco said he was pleased with his teams' performances in the varsity races, especially since many members of the girls' team have been sick.

"Usually, I don't have a lot of sympathy for them," said DeMarco, who said he was also feeling under the weather. "But after running around here today, I feel it.

"They were really tough. I'm proud of them for what they were able to do today."

DeMarco said his boys' team performed well. He wanted the runners to take it out fairly slow in the hot and humid conditions, then pick it up over the course's second and third miles.

"I'm really excited about how the boys did," he said. "Our pack did well moving up a lot toward the end."

In the boys' race, the maroon-clad runners from Morristown West set a fast pace. But as the pack strung out all but Franton began to fade.

Howard, a junior who was 30th in last year's state meet, moved quickly into second but could not close the 30-yard gap to Franton.

Lewis, a senior who was 31st in the state meet last fall, was in 24th place after a mile and then started picking people off.

"If you don't know that course and go out too fast, that first mile will kill you," said Lewis, who was in only his second race of the season.

Lewis steadily moved up, eventually catching Howard passing him in the final stretch. He time of 16:23.21 was his fastest ever over a 3.1-mile course.

While the boys' race was close, the girls' race was close for only about the first 30 seconds.

Marsico, who was 19th last year in 20:17.15 while running with a pulled quad muscle, blasted off the line and took the lead immediately, following Glenvar coach Dickie Myers' advice.

"I told her to go out hard, fall into your pace and, if anyone stays with you, keep going hard," Myers said.

Allie Scalf of Science Hill did stay with Marsico for a little while, but by the first mile marker, Marsico's lead was nearly 30 seconds. Still, the slight runner kept pushing, building her lead.

Cave Spring coach Tommy Maguire, the meet director, just shook his head.

"That was ridiculous," he said. "She's always been good, but today she was just incredible."

Marsico will be back on the course for the Metro Invitational on Oct. 1. But she didn't want to make a prediction about the possibility of making a run at White's course record of 17:51.26.

"I'm just going to take it race by race," she said.

DeMarco was less coy.

"I think if she would have gone out a little slower she would have broken the course record today," he said. "That was really neat to watch.

"You get a once-in-a-decade kid [White] and then all of a sudden, two years later, here comes another one."

At Green Hill Park (3.1 miles)

Boys results

Team scores: Thomas Jefferson Science and Technology 56, Morristown West (Tenn.) 64, Blacksburg 87, Science Hill (Tenn.) 123, Christiansburg 220, Abingdon 242, Radford 253, Hidden Valley 303, Patrick Henry (Roanoke), Lord Botetourt 331, Cave Spring 336, Fort Defiance 353, William Byrd 358, Roanoke Catholic 367, Hanover 409, Galax 428, Rockbridge County 446, Salem 480, Liberty Christian Academy 501, Auburn 529, Rustburg 537, Patrick Henry (Glade Spring) 580, Peaks View Pacers 645, Marion 691, Franklin County 700, Lebanon 711, Bassett 733, Tazewell 749

Individuals: 1. Spencer Franton (MW) 16:17.45, 2. Bryan Lewis (HV) 16:23:21, 3. Matt Howard (B) 16:25:24, 4. Zeke Hunsberger (LB) 16:32.33, 5. Michael Mansy (SH) 16:32.84, 6. George Carter (B) 16:40.30, 7. Timmy Galvin (TJ) 16.45.55, 8. Chris Bishop (MW) 16:47.13, 9. Alex Witko (TJ) 16:49.03, 10. Andy Eddleton (C) 16:50.46, 11. Logan Gates (TJ) 16:55.95, 12. Adam Merook (MW) 17:00.16, 13. Sean Flynn (RC) 17:00.45, 14. Jimmy Wu (TJ) 17:02.81, 15. Colin Maloney (TJ) 17:05.3

Girls results

Team scores: Blacksburg 68, Thomas Jefferson Science and Technology 79, Science Hill 97, Hidden Valley 140, Cave Spring 206, Christiansburg 223, Radford 274, Patrick Henry (Roanoke) 305, Hanover 313, Fort Defiance 363, Roanoke Catholic 400, Marion 430, Morristown West 441, Abingdon 475, Bassett 486, Rockbridge County 497, Patrick Henry (Glade Spring) 498, Franklin County 508, Lord Botetourt 528, Glenvar 580, Auburn 595, Liberty Christian Academy 595, Alleghany 600, Rustburg 645, William Byrd 651, Salem 654, Lebanon 657, Northside 669, Peaks View Pacers 685, James River 686, Galax 693, Liberty 730

Individuals: 1. Megan Marsico (G) 18:01.56*, 2. Allie Scalf (SH) 19:06.36, 3. Sarah Stites (TJ) 19:10.41, 4. Annie LeHardy (HV) 19:11.68, 5. Melanie Rice, (M) 19:13.22, 6. Allison Homer (B) 19:20.46, 7. Mary Catherine Sowder (HV) 19:22.95, 8. Joanna Stevens (B) 19:37.59, 9. Lisa Junta (TJ) 19:51.42, 10. Anna Gordon (H) 20:12.38, 11. Morgan Buchanan (SH) 20:04.19, 12. Kathleen Stevens (B) 20:07.68, 13. Lauren Hopper (H) 20:12.13, 14. Stephanie Marzen (TJ) 20:13.22, 15. Morgan Taylor (SH) 20:15.25

*Meet record. Former meet record of 18:09.44 set by Catherine White in 2006