davidbaer
09-10-2008, 08:55 AM
I thought that because the first Peninsula District dual meets begin today there should be a half decent preview of the district. And because this site is so committed to football and should be named something like HRfootball.com or DailyFootball.com, and may not know anything what so ever about cross country that I would write one for them. I am one of the Menchville coaches, so I am going to try to not be biased. I will post the boys first and then post the girls on Thursday (they will be harder to predict so I am going to wait for the 1st results)
Boys Individual
Two time individual champion, 2007 regional champion, and all-state runner Doug Fenstermacher, Gloucester (pronounced as it sounds..) is gone. But, there are 11 returning all-district runners (top 15) from 2007. On top is runner-up from last year is senior Orlando Burton, Heritage. Orlando returns with a personal best time of 16:28 from 2007. He has been consistently running around 16:30 since his freshmen year. He has placed 2nd twice (2005 and 2007 4th in 2006) and will be hungry to finally claim a district championship in his senior year. Orlando may need to crack into 15’s which has been the winning time the last few years, especially if he wants to compete for a regional title as well.
The greatest competition to the senior will be junior David Gerlach, Menchville. As a sophomore Gerlach placed third and ran a personal best (16:40) and all-region place (12th) in 2007 at the Eastern Region Meet to be the 3rd and final PD state qualifier. Gerlach has the fastest 3200 time (10:14) and did not run a full outdoor season due to soccer. Other contenders will be Kecoughtan’s seniors Brendan Ondra and Robert Alberti. Both have run PR of 17:03 and 17:09 (according to milestat.com) and placed 4th and 5th at the 2007 District meet. Gloucester will try to hold onto the individual crown (as well as the team crown) with junior Ryan Purrington and senior Ryan Speray who were 6th and 7th at the 2007 district meet. Purrington had a very successful track season placing 2nd in the 3200m indoors and 3rd in outdoor with a personal best of 10:36. Menchville may have a few other contenders with Adam Hunter, senior, who was 8th in 2007 in his first XC season. He excelled in track in the 800m and the 1600m with PR’s of 4:43 and 2:00. The only freshmen to crack the top 15 in 2007 (10th place) is returning sophomore Graham Wilson, Menchville. With a PR of 17:26, Wilson looks to jump up from his 2007 10th place finish, in his 2nd season.
Other returning all-district runners include: Zach Highsmith, Menchville (17:41), Josh Garber, Kecoughtan (17:50), and Mackenzie Webb (Bethel).
Boys Team
The top 4 teams from last year look to make it back to the regional meet as teams. 2007 Champion Gloucester is in a semi-rebuilding year due to the loss of Fenstermacher. Who wouldn’t be? They also lost top man Blaine O’Reilly the year before. Look for leadership to come from junior Purrington and senior Speray. Other returners from the last year’s champs are sophomores William Price and Jordan Clifford Coach Overby of Gloucester does a great job keeping a large team so look for some young athletes to make an impact. Gloucester has won the 4 of the last 5 district championships (2nd in 2005 to Kecoughtan). So don’t look for them to bow down easily.
The two teams eyeing the district team title are last year’s 2nd and 3rd place finishers Menchville and Kecoughtan. Last year the scoring was one of the closest between three teams in recent memory, according to Woodside Athletic Director, Al Dorner (Gloucester-35, Menchville-46, and Kecoughtan-52). This year the scoring could be much of the same. Menchville returns their entire top 7 from last year and may hold an ace in their sleeve with Denbigh Baptist transfer Brandon Dyke (junior). Dyke has never run cross country but posted a 10:28 3200m PR last year. Besides Gerlach, Wilson, Hunter, and Highsmith, other returners from the 2007 runner-up squad include: seniors Andres McIntyre and Garren Montgomery, and junior Dave Moeslein.
Kecoughtan returns a solid line up as well. Coach Ed Rietscha has also had big numbers over the past few years. Kecoughtan will also return all 7 district runners from last year. Running with seniors Alberti, Ondra, and Garber, will be juniors Rasheed Parker and Josh Richardson, and another senior Sean Dorsey. New faces and freshmen who did their summer training could help out all of these teams.
For the fourth and final regional qualifying spot look for Bethel, Warwick, and Hampton to battle.Bethel has placed in the top 4 many times over the past four years and looks to continue that run. Second year Warwick coach Matt McDonald, has watched his team grow and looks to move up a spot to qualify for regional meet this year. Hampton was a very young team in 2007 with 4 freshmen and 1 sophomore. Look for them to be one of the sleepers in the district.
Overall the District looks to be headed in the right direction. Teams are getting more participation and times are starting to catch up to the other side of the water. The District looks to compete at the regional level and send more than just one team and a few individuals to the state meet this year. Competition will be tough as teams like Western Branch and Ocean Lakes might be out of reach. But look for the Peninsula District to try and grab the final two state qualifying spots this year. Finally look for Jamestown high school running around as they are ranked one of the best in the state (more to come).
I apologize for any mistakes/misspellings! I tried to be unbiased! Girls to follow! ~David Baer
Boys Individual
Two time individual champion, 2007 regional champion, and all-state runner Doug Fenstermacher, Gloucester (pronounced as it sounds..) is gone. But, there are 11 returning all-district runners (top 15) from 2007. On top is runner-up from last year is senior Orlando Burton, Heritage. Orlando returns with a personal best time of 16:28 from 2007. He has been consistently running around 16:30 since his freshmen year. He has placed 2nd twice (2005 and 2007 4th in 2006) and will be hungry to finally claim a district championship in his senior year. Orlando may need to crack into 15’s which has been the winning time the last few years, especially if he wants to compete for a regional title as well.
The greatest competition to the senior will be junior David Gerlach, Menchville. As a sophomore Gerlach placed third and ran a personal best (16:40) and all-region place (12th) in 2007 at the Eastern Region Meet to be the 3rd and final PD state qualifier. Gerlach has the fastest 3200 time (10:14) and did not run a full outdoor season due to soccer. Other contenders will be Kecoughtan’s seniors Brendan Ondra and Robert Alberti. Both have run PR of 17:03 and 17:09 (according to milestat.com) and placed 4th and 5th at the 2007 District meet. Gloucester will try to hold onto the individual crown (as well as the team crown) with junior Ryan Purrington and senior Ryan Speray who were 6th and 7th at the 2007 district meet. Purrington had a very successful track season placing 2nd in the 3200m indoors and 3rd in outdoor with a personal best of 10:36. Menchville may have a few other contenders with Adam Hunter, senior, who was 8th in 2007 in his first XC season. He excelled in track in the 800m and the 1600m with PR’s of 4:43 and 2:00. The only freshmen to crack the top 15 in 2007 (10th place) is returning sophomore Graham Wilson, Menchville. With a PR of 17:26, Wilson looks to jump up from his 2007 10th place finish, in his 2nd season.
Other returning all-district runners include: Zach Highsmith, Menchville (17:41), Josh Garber, Kecoughtan (17:50), and Mackenzie Webb (Bethel).
Boys Team
The top 4 teams from last year look to make it back to the regional meet as teams. 2007 Champion Gloucester is in a semi-rebuilding year due to the loss of Fenstermacher. Who wouldn’t be? They also lost top man Blaine O’Reilly the year before. Look for leadership to come from junior Purrington and senior Speray. Other returners from the last year’s champs are sophomores William Price and Jordan Clifford Coach Overby of Gloucester does a great job keeping a large team so look for some young athletes to make an impact. Gloucester has won the 4 of the last 5 district championships (2nd in 2005 to Kecoughtan). So don’t look for them to bow down easily.
The two teams eyeing the district team title are last year’s 2nd and 3rd place finishers Menchville and Kecoughtan. Last year the scoring was one of the closest between three teams in recent memory, according to Woodside Athletic Director, Al Dorner (Gloucester-35, Menchville-46, and Kecoughtan-52). This year the scoring could be much of the same. Menchville returns their entire top 7 from last year and may hold an ace in their sleeve with Denbigh Baptist transfer Brandon Dyke (junior). Dyke has never run cross country but posted a 10:28 3200m PR last year. Besides Gerlach, Wilson, Hunter, and Highsmith, other returners from the 2007 runner-up squad include: seniors Andres McIntyre and Garren Montgomery, and junior Dave Moeslein.
Kecoughtan returns a solid line up as well. Coach Ed Rietscha has also had big numbers over the past few years. Kecoughtan will also return all 7 district runners from last year. Running with seniors Alberti, Ondra, and Garber, will be juniors Rasheed Parker and Josh Richardson, and another senior Sean Dorsey. New faces and freshmen who did their summer training could help out all of these teams.
For the fourth and final regional qualifying spot look for Bethel, Warwick, and Hampton to battle.Bethel has placed in the top 4 many times over the past four years and looks to continue that run. Second year Warwick coach Matt McDonald, has watched his team grow and looks to move up a spot to qualify for regional meet this year. Hampton was a very young team in 2007 with 4 freshmen and 1 sophomore. Look for them to be one of the sleepers in the district.
Overall the District looks to be headed in the right direction. Teams are getting more participation and times are starting to catch up to the other side of the water. The District looks to compete at the regional level and send more than just one team and a few individuals to the state meet this year. Competition will be tough as teams like Western Branch and Ocean Lakes might be out of reach. But look for the Peninsula District to try and grab the final two state qualifying spots this year. Finally look for Jamestown high school running around as they are ranked one of the best in the state (more to come).
I apologize for any mistakes/misspellings! I tried to be unbiased! Girls to follow! ~David Baer