Friday, November 07, 2008
Titan girls cross country team's big day nears
Now that Hidden Valley's girls' cross country team has won a second Region IV title, all that's left is a run at the Group AA title.
Hidden Valley's girls' cross country team participates in a hill-climbing workout on Wednesday. The two-time defending Region IV champions are taking aim at winning Saturday's Group AA state meet. Last year, the Titans finished fourth.
Photos by Jeanna Duerscherl | The Roanoke Times
Hidden Valley junior Mary Catherine Sowder (left) takes an ice bath in the Titans' trainers room while teammate Haley Cutright gets out of the iced tub she was sitting in. Hidden Valley will compete in the Group AA cross country championships on Saturday.
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Dan King expects to sleep well Saturday night.
Until then, the coach of the Hidden Valley High School cross country team knows he will be restless as he waits for Saturday's state championship meet, in which his girls' team is among the Group AA favorites.
"I'm nervous because I know how hard they've worked," said King, who is in his second year coaching the Titans. "And I know how good they are."
King also knows how good the other Group AA top contenders -- including River Ridge District rival and two-time defending state champion Blacksburg -- are, and that his team can't afford any mistakes.
"In order for us to win a state title on Saturday, everything has to be perfect," he said.
Take last year.
Like this season, the Titans headed into the state meet coming off a win over Blacksburg in the Region IV championships.
Led by Haley Cutright's second-place finish at state, Hidden Valley had three runners score in the race's top 12 places.
But the team's overall score suffered when Mary Catherine Sowder, one of the Titans' top runners, dropped out of the race because of anemia-related medical problems.
As Blacksburg cruised to its second straight title, the Titans finished fourth.
This year's season has unfolded similar to last year.
The state meet will be the seventh time Hidden Valley and Blacksburg have faced each other this season. Blacksburg won the first five times before the regional race on Oct. 30 in Christiansburg.
Blacksburg's Allison Homer edged the Titans' Annie LeHardy for the individual title, but Hidden Valley had five runners in the top eight to beat the Bruins by 14 points.
"At the regional meet, they ran to perfection," Blacksburg coach James DeMarco said of Hidden Valley, whose to five runners averaged just over 19 minutes, 17 seconds over the tough 3.1-mile course. "To run that fast on that course, I didn't think it was possible."
If the Titans runners are nervous heading into Saturday's 3.1-mile showdown, they're not showing it.
During Wednesday afternoon's practice the seven runners were a giddy, giggling pack as they went through an easy workout on the rolling hills around the Hidden Valley campus.
"It's not an act," King said. "They're like that all the time."
The fun took a quick break while the team ran a short series of sprints up a steep hill.
"Keep those arms pumping!" shouted King, who put his big batch of keys on the ground to serve as finish marker. "Knees up!"
LeHardy, fellow sophomore Cutright and junior Claire Sibley, the team's top three runners, led the squad up the hill. They reached the keys and kept going.
"You can stop at the keys," King said.
King said the team's success isn't simply a matter of good fortune.
"They are a very talented group of girls and they work hard," said King, who spent 20 years coaching in California before moving to the Roanoke area two years ago. "It's easy to work with a group of kids like this."
A native of Ohio who moved here at the urging of high school friend Steve Kasper -- who is the Titans' assistant coach -- King has an added advantage when it comes to managing a bunch of talkative girls.
"I grew up with seven sisters," he said, laughing.
Kasper smiled and nodded.
"He hears everything they're saying, even when they're all talking at once," Kasper said, shaking his head.
LeHardy said the team's chemistry is one reason they do well.
"We're really, really close, and that's a great motivator," she said. "In the middle of a race, if you're feeling bad, you know you're running for the team and every place is important."
That's particularly important for the Titans because, like last year, the team is strongest through its top five runners.
At the Region IV championship, for example, the team's fifth runner finished in eighth place but the sixth runner was 21st. Blacksburg's sixth runner was 13th; its seventh 17th.
Constantly facing Blacksburg is another motivator for Hidden Valley.
"They make us work so much harder," Cutright said.
DeMarco agreed that the rivalry drives both teams.
"I really believe we're the two best teams in Virginia at any level," said DeMarco, who said the frequent face-offs are challenging. "It's mentally draining.
"If you're 90 percent that day, you lose. And you lose bad."
Sibley said that while expectations do bring added pressure, the runners are more comfortable this season.
"We weren't really prepared last year," admitted Sibley, who was 15th in last year's state meet.
Cutright nodded.
"This year," she said, "just feels different."
Whether it ends differently will be determined in a little over 19 intense minutes Saturday morning.
