Writeup

Jamestown boys and Jefferson Forest girls win by landslides
By MileStat.com Staff
Saturday, September 1, 2001

Jamestown boys pose for a picture after their victory BRISTOL, TN -- Two of the top teams in the state of Virginia, the Jamestown boys and Jefferson Forest girls cross country teams proved why they are mentioned as two of the top teams in the state as they won by landslide margins at the Shoney's Run For The Hills Invitational in Bristol, Tennessee. Both teams also had individual winners with seniors Bryce Ruiz (Jamestown) and Shannon Saunders (Jefferson Forest) who shattered meet records.

The Jamestown squad from Williamsburg won the boys team title by 89 points over Science Hill of Tennessee (41-129) as Marion was the second best finishing Virginia boys team with their third place finish with 132 pts. Leading the Eagles was Ruiz who broke the previous course record of 16:10 by an amazing 42 seconds with his time of 15:28 on the choppy and hilly 3 mile course found at the South Holston Dam in Bristol. Ruiz was hard pressed for the win as he faced tough competition in last year's race champion Austin Weaver of Franklin Roads Academy (TN) and Marion senior Fleet Hower. The trio hit the mile mark in 5:00 and Weaver soon dropped off of pace after that as they began to make their way up the 1/2 mile long hill found in the middle of the race. On the downhill coming back from the crest of the hill, Ruiz and Hower battled it out as they jostled for position. As soon as they hit the last mile (which is for the most part flat, but with many sharp turns and very choppy), Ruiz began to gap Hower by a good margin as he was able to comfortably cruise in for the win on the last stretch at 15:28.

Hower finished second and still ran a stellar race as he went well under the old course record as well with his time of 15:40. The time was over a minute faster than the time he ran at this meet last year (16:41, 3rd place), which Hower went onto running a 15:56 at the state meet. With that said, expect some amazing times from Hower and Ruiz at the state meet this year.

Almost equally impressive as Ruiz and Hower's individual performances was the Jamestown pack of their #2-4 runners with only a 2 second difference between the three with junior Jonna Reinhardt (4th, 16:37), senior Tony Davila (5th, 16:38), and junior Brandon Miles (6th, 16:39). The ability of Jamestown to have their pack place so high up was very pivotal in the team's success at the meet.

Christiansburg sophomore Justin Hatch shows consistent improvement from a steady freshmen year where he dipped under 10:10 in the 3200 as he finished 7th in a time of 16:52.

Shannon Saunders coming down the stretch to break the meet record The 10th ranked nationally Jefferson Forest girls squad was dominating as they ran away with the title with a total of 45 points as the Christiansburg girls trailed considerably with 80 points for second. The fact the Lady Cavaliers won by such a large margin with some of their top runners not running makes their win even more jaw-dropping. Two returning top five runners from last year's Group AA State champion squad, Jennifer Templeton and Cate Jackson, did not participate in this meet for unknown reasons to us. However, Jefferson Forest strength is their depth and was it never more so evident today as they placed five runners in the top 20. Pacing the way for the team was Shannon Saunders as her only competition was the clock as she beat the clock in setting a new course record with her blazing time of 18:57 (old record was 19:37). After a strong track season and what looks to be an even better cross country season for her, Saunders looks to be a contender to place at the Foot Locker South Regional Meet in November. The next finisher in the race was sister Kristin in second with an exceptional time of 19:24. Rounding out a very tough looking top 5 was Carla Sitterly (5th, 20:53), Hoilly Carrisle (18th, 22:02), and M. Dailey (19th, 22:06).

Kristen Saunders following behind sister for runnerup honors The Christiansburg girls ran extremely well as they packed it up well with their #1-3 runners in positions 10-12 with Lauren Cook leading that group with a 10th place finishing time of 21:40. The team finished with a total score of 80 points which was good enough for runner-up honors.

The Jamestown girls, who ran strong to place 3rd in the race, got a pleasant surprise out of freshmen Erin Mearns who placed 6th in the race with a noteworthy time of 21:06. Also placing in the top 20 for the Lady Eagles was Grace Zamora (15th, 21:56) and Elizabeth Winthrop (20th, 22:07) as Jamestown placed third with 95 points.