Who will be the boys and girls favorites in 4A? I know most of the Loudoun County schools, especially Loudoun Valley, are usually strong. The E. C. Glass girls also seem to be perennial contenders; I'm not sure about the Hilltopper boys. Blacksburg's move up from 3A should make things interesting. Having compared the Bruins' state meet times from last year against their 4A counterparts, I would think the Blacksburg girls will be right in the mix for the title this fall. The Bruin boys should be contenders for a trophy (top three) at state.
In this neck of the woods, Cave Spring usually has a decent team. Patrick Henry and Hidden Valley often do, as well. Auburn and Radford seem to have a couple of the better programs among the smaller schools. Salem is inconsistent at best on the boys side, and consistently not remotely a factor on the girls side.
What will be some other good teams from around the state? Top individuals? Come on, people - let's hear about those harriers!
As someone who participated in cross country all four years in high school, I still try to follow the sport. Which isn't easy, as it seems to get perhaps the least amount of coverage of all high school sports from the conventional media outlets. Believe it or not, when I was running in the mid- and late-seventies, the Roanoke Times used to print previews of all the local cross country teams. It usually took up one complete page.
I can't remember seeing a post about CC since VaPreps went to the "Fall Sports" format. Of course, on the old "Cross Country/Track & Field" board, once you got to the second page, you'd find posts that were nearly ten years old. It was not exactly Grand Central over there.
My hope, with this post, is to generate at least a little conversation about the sport. Even if people who have no idea what it is want to ask, "Just what the heck IS cross country?"
In this neck of the woods, Cave Spring usually has a decent team. Patrick Henry and Hidden Valley often do, as well. Auburn and Radford seem to have a couple of the better programs among the smaller schools. Salem is inconsistent at best on the boys side, and consistently not remotely a factor on the girls side.
What will be some other good teams from around the state? Top individuals? Come on, people - let's hear about those harriers!
As someone who participated in cross country all four years in high school, I still try to follow the sport. Which isn't easy, as it seems to get perhaps the least amount of coverage of all high school sports from the conventional media outlets. Believe it or not, when I was running in the mid- and late-seventies, the Roanoke Times used to print previews of all the local cross country teams. It usually took up one complete page.
I can't remember seeing a post about CC since VaPreps went to the "Fall Sports" format. Of course, on the old "Cross Country/Track & Field" board, once you got to the second page, you'd find posts that were nearly ten years old. It was not exactly Grand Central over there.
My hope, with this post, is to generate at least a little conversation about the sport. Even if people who have no idea what it is want to ask, "Just what the heck IS cross country?"
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