On Saturday, September 13th, the Charger Cross Country Team competed in their first invitational of the season in Richmond, at the Lee-Davis Invitational.  Held at the site of the Central Region meet, the Chargers battled some of AA's better teams as well as temperatures and humidity that reached well into the 90's.  By all accounts, the Chargers passed their first early season challenge with high marks.

For the boys, a number of runners stood out.  For the varsity team, Junior Chris Foley demonstrated that he has done his homework this summer, and that he is primed to challenge some of the better runners in Virginia this fall.  He finished a very solid 3rd place behind two runners from Jamestown, both of whom are amongst the best in AA.  The team managed a 5th place finish, with junior Matt Cumpian taking a strong 16th place, followed by seniors Wilson Bever (29th), David Harsh (31st) and Andrew Zulick (34th).

The JV boys had an outstanding outing, as they took home the trophy as the team champions.  They did so in strong fashion, placing their five scoring runners in the top 14 finishers, with Samuel Tucker III showing great form with a 2nd place finsh.  Senior Jimmy Balladares and freshman Luke Ivers also earned medals with their 7th and 9th finishes respectively.  Sophomore Jay Keagy (11th) and senior Patrick Roberts (1th) completed the scoring for the victorious Chargers.

The girls took to the line without their top two runners, senior Lia DiValentin (ACT Testing) and Rachel Grochowski (wedding), but still gave a strong effort, leading to a solid 4th place finish.  Leading the way to her first career medal was sophomore Erin Horil, who took a strong 8th place.  Sophomore Kacey Norwood showed improving form after missing time with a nagging pre-season injury to finish 2nd for the Chargers in 16th place, just ahead of sophomore Hannah Strub (19th) and senior Katrine Gast (23rd).  Junior Cory Davis completed the scoring. The JV girls fought hard, and  were led to the line by sophomore Jennie Cohen (18th) and freshman Marin Shipe (26th).

The Chargers have a busy week ahead.  On Tuesday, the top 10 varsity runners will compete at Burke Lake at the Monroe Parker Invitational, at 4:30 pm (this is a makeup from the rainout of Sept. 6th). The JV teams will compete on Wednesday afternoon, also at Burke Lake. The team will finish the week at the Oatlands Invitational on Saturday, in Leesburg.

Full results can be found at:  http://www.chargercctrack.com/ccresults.html.

Please visit Tom Foley's photo album for pictures from the event:  http://picasaweb.google.com/CHSrunning.