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[Sonny Dearth]

Cross country
HAMPTON CITY MEET
at 5K Gosnold's Hope Park course
Boys
Team scores
Kecoughtan 31, Bethel 44, Hampton 51, Phoebus 117.
Top individuals
1. Cory Burke (H) 16:51; 2. Corey Ames (K) 16:52; 3. Rafael Espinoza (B) 16:52; 4. Rasheed Parker (K) 17:06; 5. Josh Richardson (K) 17:19; 6. Jordan Overbey (H) 17:29; 7. Mackenzie Webb (B) 17:35; 8. Antony Fleming (B) 17:36; 9. Anders Hasselquist (K) 17:36; 10. Robert Huber (B) 17:48.

Sophomore Cory Burke ran his best high school time and outkicked the other runners.

Girls
Team scores
Hampton 26, Bethel 29, Kecoughtan 77, Phoebus 110.
Top individuals
1. Tina Woodard (H) 19:48; 2. Ariana Betts (B) 20:45; 3. Ashley Sessoms (H) 21:13; 4. Rashaun Combs (B) 21:27; 5. Rachael Davies (H) 21:31; 6. Tori Lewis-Johnson (B) 21:50; 7. Raven Parnell (B) 21:55; 8. Debra Stevens (H) 22:11; 9. Kenyatta Sears (H) 22:15; 10. Courtnay Parnell (B) 22:34.

Junior Tina Woodard won the meet for the third consecutive time.

[Dave Robicheaux]

I want to report on the Hampton City Cross Country Meet held on Friday at Gosnolds Hope Park. The event yesterday afternoon involved nearly 90 runners from the 4 city high schools plus parents, coaches and fans.


The meet produced one of the most exciting boys races of the year, with sophomore Cory Burke nipping Kecoughtan and Bethel runners at the wire after making a tremendous kick in the last 100 yards. Burke, who had not run competitively before last season, continues to improve at an accelerated rate, posting his PR yesterday and breaking 17 minutes for the first time. The boys race also demonstrated the strength of the Kecoughtan and Bethel programs, and showed just how far along the Hampton boys program has come in just a couple of seasons. The young Crabbers now realize that they will have to defeat at least one of their innercity rivals at next week's District meet to be one of the four teams that advance to the Regionals.


On the girls side, Tina Woodard continued her dominance of the event and of cross country on the Peninsula. Just a junior, she once again outpaced her opponents by nearly a minute. Woodard also benefitted from the strong showing of the rest of the Crabber runners to win the meet title by the slimmest of margins. Another strong showing by the Crabbers next week may send the Crabber squad, and not just Woodard, to the Regionals. The Bruins and the Warriors remain the favorites to join the Gloucester Dukes in the Regionals.


I note that the DP has had feature articles on Hannah Varnell of Gloucester and the Fiscella sisters at Peninsula Catholic, all three great runners, but no article yet on the one girl who has consistently run faster all year long. Woodard already has enjoyed an outstanding prep career and deserves a little credit for her efforts.


The meet also showcased the growing interest in cross country on the Peninsula, with the Hampton girls winning for the first time in a long time and the Kecoughtan and Bethel programs showing off very good runners in large numbers. Even Phoebus showed that its team is on the rebound, with a young Phantom runner placing second in the JV girls race.


The Peninsula District meet is scheduled to be held next Thursday starting at 3:00 p.m. at Newport News Park -- I hope sportsfans will come out to watch what should be a couple of great races and to support a dedicated and talented group of athletes.

[Sonny Dearth]

My thanks to the Hampton High coach for calling in the results this afternoon (Saturday). We certainly plan to run the results in the Sunday edition.

[Dave Robicheaux]

I appreciate the reply -- I will edit my post accordingly.

[06Raider]

Along the lines of the post from Mr. Robicheaux, I am upset that the Daily Press didn't include results of the JV races at Thursday's Walsingham Invitational. Warwick's JV girls placed 1st, 7th, and 15th, and these results were sent in to the paper. This was a great showing by Warwick's young runners (and the second invitational win of the year for one of them), yet the Daily Press was unwilling to devote any space in Saturday's paper to it. You included the top 10 individual results from the varsity races. Most of these runners were not even from Peninsula-area schools; rather, they attend Norfolk Collegiate, Bishop Sullivan Catholic, and the like. Instead of those results, how about putting a mention of the 3 Warwick runners?
Corey Burke is certainly one of the emerging runners on the PD cross country scene right now. I wish him all the best at the district meet. Thursday will be interesting, with the Menchville and Gloucester boys fighting for the team title, and Hannah Varnell and Kristina Woodard going after the individual title on the girls' side.
Hopefully our local cross country and track athletes will soon get the coverage they deserve.

[Dave Robicheaux]

Sonny, I am concerned about how you responded to the criticisms I leveled in my post of Saturday. In response to my complaint about the lack of printing the Hampton City Meet results in Saturday's paper, you respond with the curt, smarmy line, "My thanks to the Hampton High coach for calling in the results this afternoon (Saturday). We certainly plan to run the results in the Sunday edition." How about a simple yet polite, "We did not get the results until today and will print them tomorrow." You will note that despite your tone, I edited my post to remove my complaint about the lack of results, as I understand fully that you cannot print what you have not received.

I also complained on Saturday that the DP had not done a feature article on Tina Woodard, the best girls cross country runner in the Peninsula District and on the Peninsula. Instead of responding to me that one was on its way, a fact that you knew and I did not, you did not address my concern at all and I was left to find one in yesterday's paper (and a well done article at that, written by one of the best writers that the DP has on staff).

I assure you that my posts are not intended to demean you and the DP, but to encourage you and the paper to cover all sports in greater detail than you do. I also write to highlight events that will interest sports fans and Peninsula residents alike, and to give the young athletes some recognition for the hard work they all put into their sports. I would hope that the Daily Press sports department has as a goal the desire to promote prep sports, to acknowledge performance, and to publicize the hundreds of young people in our community spending time running around a track, chasing down fly balls, pushing a blocking sled, tumbling on a balance beam, learning a new cheer, doing laps in a pool, lifting weights, and doing other athletic activities rather than dabbling in drugs, joining a gang, or shooting each other.

And the fact is, in this day and age of declining newspaper circulation, one of the best ways to encourage young people to become readers and, later, subscribers is to put their names in the paper!

[Lynn Burke]

Not to extend any discussions, but none of the master fall schedules that came from the schools listed the city cross country meet nor was the meet listed on the racing calendar at milestat.com

As for JV results, the only JV information we publish are scores of events, such as with field hockey. Sorry, but individual JV results will not be published in the newspaper, but feel free to post them here on HRVarsity.

And I'm going to defend Sonny Dearth here. He simply thanked Gaylon Ryan for reporting the results. And at the time he wrote it, he may not have known the Sunday Q&A would be with Tina. He might not have known until he either got the story to edit or read it on a proof.