High school notes

Green Dragon girls leaving foes behind in cross country

The top two girls cross country teams in the Central Region had mixed results in invitationals last weekend.

No.2 Maggie Walker Governor's School girls won the William and Mary Invitational by 65 points over Lafayette on the new 3.19-mile (longer) course at Eastern State Hospital in Williamsburg. The Green Dragons totaled 30 points with race winner Clarissa Schick (19:39) leading the way. Anna Spiers (20:20) was third, Caroline Newcomb (20:58) sixth, Kelsey Green (21:00) eighth and Emily Bird (21:21) 12th.

On the boys side at W&M, Maggie Walker was third, but well back of winner Grassfield.

W&M was the MWGS girls' second invitational victory this season. The Green Dragons and Schick (personal best 18:42) won at Newport News earlier this month. MWGS finished one, two, three in the "A" race as it totaled 20 points. The best a team can do is 15. Katie Ardiff, one of the Green Dragons top returnees, ran at Newport News but hasn't run since because of an injury.

Coach Jim Holdren then took his second seven girls and ran them in the "B" race. They won. The next seven ran in the "C" race and finished second.

Meanwhile, No.1 Midlothian, which has won four consecutive state Group AAA titles and Central Region crowns, was a surprising second at the Brentsville Relays in Nokesville. For relays, the traditional 5K format is set aside. Each team's five runners run 2,500 meters, then the times are added together.

The Trojans finished 10 seconds behind Osbourn Park. Two other Central Region contenders, Deep Run and Lee-Davis, were fifth and seventh, respectively.

The Midlothian boys were fourth in Nokesville behind Mountain View, Gonzaga College High School and Mills Godwin.

Saints runners win

While St. Catherine's cross country coach Dave Bloor heals from injuries suffered in a bicycle wreck, the Saints' runners are providing some good results to help the process.

The Saints won the Woodberry Forest Invitational last weekend. Bloor established the meet and mapped out the original course 34 years ago during his coaching days at Woodberry.

St. Catherine's compiled 62 points with four runners finishing in the top 12 on the 5K course. National Cathedral wound up second with 113 points in the 17-team field. Mamie Robertson led the Saints across the line with a time of 21:06.26, good for fifth place. Eighth-grader Gracie Cuevas (21:10.31) was sixth, Ali Doswell (21:28.79) ninth and Taylor Clevinger, a transfer from Hanover, was 12th in 21:51.95.

Anna Cole (21:15.95) of St. Gertrude was eighth.

Maymont Festival officials expect another huge field

All the area's top teams, public and private, will appear at this weekend's major event, the U.S. Army X-Country Festival at Maymont Park. The two-day festival is conducted by the Sports Backers.

Meet director Dan Ward said in a release that "this is the strongest multistate cross country field in the U.S. to date this year."

More than 250 teams representing 90 schools from 12 states and the District of Columbia will gather for a series of high school races Saturday. Tomorrow's schedule consists of 1-mile kids races for boys and girls and an open 5K.

The big races Saturday are the girls invitational at 10:15 a.m. and the boys invitational at 11:05.

District golf

District golf tournaments in the Central Region are Monday and Tuesday. The tournaments determine each district's second representative and six individual qualifiers for the region tournament.

District regular-season champions earn automatic bids to the region event. Hanover has won the Capital. Thomas Dale and Matoaca meet today for the Central title. Deep Run and Mills Godwin are tied for first in the Colonial. The Eagles have to defeat Douglas Freeman at Richmond Country Club today to set up a nine-hole playoff with Deep Run tomorrow. James River and Monacan have a playoff scheduled for tomorrow to decide the Dominion title. - Arthur Utley