Sunday, August 30, 2009
High school cross country preview
The Roanoke Times
File Megan Marsico is battling injuries.
KYLE GREEN The Roanoke Times
Blacksburg' Joanna Stevens (left) and her twin sister, Kathleen (right).
MATT GENTRY The Roanoke Times
Blacksburg's Matt Howard and the Bruins should be strong this season.
varsity.roanoke.com
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How goes Marsico?
Last fall Glenvar junior Megan Marsico was untouchable, easily winning every race in Virginia on her way to a dominant win at the state meet, where she ran a 17:38 to topple the course record set by former Northside star Catherine White.
While Marsico is favored to again be the state's top girl runner, she will have to ease into the season due to recent injuries.
Marsico's outdoor track season this past spring was cut short by a foot injury. Then Marsico was diagnosed with a stress fracture in her other foot over the summer.
Tammy Williams, the new head cross country coach at Glenvar, said Marsico has been cross-training while the fracture heals.
"She's being conditioned," Williams said. "But she hasn't been running."
Marsico has been working with her longtime coach, Dickie Myers, who has retired but who will work with the team as an assistant.
Williams said the coaches' focus is to make sure Marsico is fully recovered from her injury before she starts running hard.
"If we would let her, she would be out there running," Williams said of Marsico, who has a reputation for her intense training ethic. "But we're trying to make sure she gets completely healed."
Williams said she and the team's other coaches still aren't sure what approach they will take to early meets once Marsico gets running clearance.
Will they hold Marsico out? Let her race but ask her to not push too hard? Or let her go all out?
Most likely the approach will be on the conservative side, with the focus on building up Marsico's running base with an eye on the important races in late October and early November.
Timesland boys
While Blacksburg coach James DeMarco has slotted his three-time defending state champion girls team as underdogs, he's not being so conservative with this boys' team.
"On the boys side we are unbelievable," said DeMarco. "Unless we get the flu or the plague the night before the state meet, we should win."
The reason for his optimism?
The top four runners from last year's state runner-up team return, with senior Matt Howard (ninth at state) and junior George Carter (22nd) leading the pack.
The team, which had a dominant win in Saturday's Great Meadows Invitational by placing its top five runners in the top 12, is also deep.
DeMarco said he has nine runners competing for the final three spots on the varsity team.
It doesn't hurt that the other top Group AA teams from last year's state meet were decimated by graduation.
Several other Timesland teams have good chances to score well at Great Meadows this coming November.
Christiansburg lost only one runner off the squad that was 12th at state last year, while William Byrd returns five of the seven runners who helped take the school to its first state meet in years.
Cave Spring could be a dark horse, returning everyone from a team that finished 15th at state last year.
With five of its top seven runners back from its state runner up team, Radford will again be among the best teams in Group A. But it will be tough for the Bobcats to catch up with defending champion and perennial powerhouse Clarke County, which lost only two of its top seven runners.
Floyd County, which returns everyone from the team that was seventh at state last year, should also see improvement this year.
Roanoke Catholic should continue to be among the top VIS teams, with good depth the key to the team making a run at repeating as state champions in the small school division.
For Timesland's Group AAA squads, none of which advanced out of the region last year, the best hope rests with an individuals surprise or two.
Patrick Henry's Patrick Woodford could be poised for a breakout year, having recently clocked a solid 16:30 in the Fab 5K open race on a grassy course at Green Hill Park.
Timesland girls
Hidden Valley and Blacksburg aren't the only Timesland powerhouses.
Jefferson Forest brings back six of seven runners from a team that was seventh in the state meet last fall.
Cave Spring and Christiansburg also took young teams to the state meet last year. Everyone is back for a Christiansburg squad that was 11th, while Cave Spring brings back five of its top seven from last year's team, which was 10th at the state meet.
In Group A, Radford was third in last year's state meet and lost only one senior from among its top seven runners.
But the Bobcats will have trouble gaining much on George Mason and Clarke County. The top two teams in the state meet last year both return most of their top runners.
-- Mark Taylor
