The Monroe Parker Invitational is traditionally the opener for the Northern Region Cross Country Season. Run at Burke Lake Park, site of the district and regional championships, it is often used as a means of assessing which teams and individuals should be watched over the course of the season, and for the runners to show who has done their homework over the summer.  This year's edition served its purpose well. Even though it was delayed for a week due to Hurricane Hannah, the meet was run on Tuesday, September 16th, and if tradition holds true, the Charger Cross Country team can find plenty to be satisfied with.

The biggest story of the day came on the boys side, where junior Chris Foley had the biggest day of his career, running a personal best time of 15:26.64 (7th best in CHS history), and earning his first major invitational win of his career.  He came into this season with hopes of a high placing at the district and regional meets in October/November, and he indeed confirmed his status as one of the runners to be watched this fall.  His victory came with a bit of excitement, as he had to close a 5 second deficit in the last quarter mile, outkicking his opponent, Le Degfae of Edison, all the way to the line to steal the win at the last moment.

While Chris earned much of the glory, his teammates also had plenty to be happy about.  All of them enjoyed strong times, most of which were personal bests.  Junior Matt Cumpian has established himself as the early-season #2 for the team, and he celebrated a solid 30th place in the field of 233, with a personal best of over a minute, in a time of 16:54.  Seniors David Harsh (46th), Wilson Bever (57th) and Andrew Zulick (83rd) finished up the scoring for the Chargers, who took a very promising 6th place in the field of 24 teams.

On the girls side, the runners also had reason to smile.  Junior co-captain Rachel Grochowski enjoyed a break-out race, hopefully signalling her ascension to one of the better runners in the Concorde District, and possibly a means to challenge for a state berth later in the season.  Rachel ran a personal best time of 18:59.3 (17th on the CHS record board),  in taking a career best 6th place at an invitational, and earning her first medal.  She led the girls team to a strong 11th place of the 21 scoring teams.  Sophomore Erin Horil, who earned Athlete of the Week honors last week, followed up in 39th place (of 185 runners) in a solid time of 20:10.  Sophomore Hannah Strub (79th), senior co-captain Katrine Gast (83rd) and junior Cory Davis (122nd) rounded up the scorers for the Chargers, all in strong personal times.

The Chargers are back at Burke Lake on Wednesday, September 17th, for their regularly scheduled District Tri-Meet, against Robinson & Herndon, where the JV runners will compete.  Their next invitational is at Oatlands Plantation in Leesburg on Saturday, September 20th.

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

Thanks as always to Tom Foley for his photos, found at:  http://www.chargercctrack.com/ccresults.html.