Foot Locker South Preview

Nov 22, 2007

Group AA alone has a returning Foot Locker finalist in Griff Graves, a strong favorite to qualify in Peter Dorrell, and a borderline top 10 finisher in Andrew Colley. Oh and by the way, I hear that Thomas Porter is a returning Foot Locker finalist, Jason Witt is a national champion in the 5K, and Johns Ross broke 16 minutes at Woodberry Forest. Yeah....be very, very scared South region. Virginia boys are not going to play nice this weekend in Charlotte. We are coming to dominate. (Photo by Ted Plunkett)

The Virginia boys will be on a mission of domination this weekend. The state will be looking to send a message to the rest of the South region as well as the country by qualifying as many individuals as possible for Foot Locker Nationals in the regional meet this Saturday in Charlotte. Virginia has two returning Foot Locker finalists in Griff Graves and Thomas Porter, yet neither won state titles at Great Meadow two weeks ago thanks to two national caliber runners in Peter Dorrell and Jason Witt winning state titles respectively. The depth in Virginia goes further than the big four as private school state champion Johns Ross leads another handful of runners capable of being a fifth qualifier from the state among 10 possible spots. The last time the state had five qualifiers was in 1995. It has also been six years since the Foot Locker South boys' champion reigned from Virginia with Bobby Lockhart's 2001 win at McAlpine Greenway Park. Graves, Dorrell, and Witt all have shots at becoming Virginia's 7th boys' champion in the 28 year history of Foot Locker South.

Even if the Virginia boys have four Foot Locker National finalists, it would be only the third time that the state has produced as many qualifiers in one year. In 1981, Virginia had four qualifiers while 1995 was the greatest year ever for Virginia with five qualifiers.

The recently crowned state cross country champions in Jason Witt of Midlothian and Peter Dorrell of Blacksburg have the momentum coming into this weekend riding high from winning very competitive state championship races. Both had won track state titles, but neither had won their first cross country state titles until two weeks ago as seniors. Witt and Dorrell were All-South performers last year in the seeded race at Foot Locker South with 15th (15:27) and 17th (15:30) place finishes respectively, but have greatly improved since then to match up well or even surpass several of the top returnees from last year.

Witt and Dorrell are familiar with two of the top returnees in fellow Virginians and returning Foot Locker National finalists in Griff Graves and Peter Dorrell. Dorrell has beaten Graves, who finished third last year at Foot Locker South, in two of their three encounters this season including a state win. Witt has raced against Porter in three races with wins in all, while beating Graves at the Maymont Festival. Dorrell was the big winner at Maymont though in a mega showdown with the state's best including Witt, Graves, and Porter.

Photo by Linda D'Amato

Witt had the fastest time of the day at the state meet with the third fastest time ever in a state meet held at Great Meadow with a 15:10 victory in the Group AAA race. Only the likes of past two-time Foot Locker South champions Alan Webb (15:03) and Bobby Lockhart (15:10) have ran faster at Great Meadow. It is important to note that the state course was changed in 2005 at Great Meadow and appears to run significantly faster than the old course when conditions are ideal. A better comparison might be to 2005 VHSL Group AAA state champion and Foot Locker finalist Brad Siragusa of Chantilly. Siragusa clocked in at 15:21 in his state win that year and ended up finishing 6th in Charlotte to move onto San Diego with a personal best time of 15:00.

At this year's state championships, a total of three runners beat Siragusa's 2005 time, while three others were less than two seconds off his time. Dorrell was a 15:16 winner in AA, while Jamestown junior Andrew Colley broke 15:20 as Group AA runner-up at 15:19. Mountain View sophomore Thomas Porter held off Midlothian's #2 runner in Michael Hammond to stop a 1-2 sweep at the state meet by the Trojans with both being timed at 15:22. Meanwhile, Tabb's Will Mulherin was a big surprise in third in Group AA with a time of 15:23. All of these runners will be in Charlotte this weekend ready to roll and push for times close to 15 minutes. In most years, breaking 15:10 usually secures a runner a spot in the top ten, but this year could resemble 2001 when all of the national qualifiers broke 15 minutes (only top 8 qualified then).

Virginia could certainly have a handful of runners breaking 15 minutes which would be a rare occurence in the state's history on a 5K course. Graves ran 14:55 at McAlpine last spring and runners such as Witt and Dorrell have shown at times to be just as good if not better than Graves. Porter was not far off the time last year as the 10th qualifier at 15:13 and another group will be right there as well.

Photo by John Herzog

Johns Ross of The Potomac School could be the first private school boys' qualifier from Virginia since Kippy Keino of Fork Union qualified in 2002. Ross has proven himself to be one of the state's very best with his consistent performances this fall. Ross caught several off guard and almost caught Jason Witt at the finish line in their season opening race at Great Meadow. Ross also scored major wins at the William & Mary Invite and Georgetown Prep Classic. His most impressive run though came in his last at the Virginia Independent Schools State Championships on one of the state's toughest courses at Woodberry Forest School. Ross joined only three others who have broken 16 minutes on the course with the two ahead of him on the all-time list in Alan Webb (15:18) and Keino (15:51). Ross won after a challenge from Jeremy Haney with an eye-popping performance of 15:57.

Keino actually ran 16:05 at Woodberry Forest in his 2002 VIS state title at Woodberry Forest before clocking in at 15:01 for fifth place at Foot Locker South. A full minute drop is very possible for even the top tier runners from a tough course like Woodberry to a fast one in McAlpine. Ross appears to be capable of running in the 14:50's or at least under 15:10 in Charlotte. Such times should put him in strong position to finish in the top 10 and give Virginia another qualifier.

There are some great runners spread across the region, so it will not be a complete domination of Virginians up front. There are three other returning finalists along with Virginians Graves and Porter in Colby Lowe of Texas, Luke Lovelace of South Carolina, and defending Foot Locker South champion Ryan Hill of North Carolina.

Sean Keveren of Tennessee failed to qualify in 2006 for Foot Locker Nationals, but showed his ability on the track by dipping under 9 minutes for two miles at Nike Outdoor Nationals and also was victorious at Great American. Keveren has a knee issue apparently that may hamper his ability to race at full potential this weekend.

Hill is the returning champion, but Griff Graves proved he was beatable in one of his better races this season in a Wendy's Invite victory at McAlpine of 15:09. However, Hill ran much faster in his state race on the same course from a year ago, so the Hickory High senior appears to be in better shape than last fall when he won in 14:46 at McAlpine.

Lowe ran just to qualify last year, but then ended up as the South region's top finisher at Foot Locker Nationals since his racing schedule is pretty heavy in the post-season on a NTN qualifying team from Texas in Southlake Carroll. He might be executing the same race plan this weekend after adding in a NTN qualifying regional race last weekend, which he won comfortably.

Lovelace is the top runner in one of the region's weaker states in cross country from South Carolina, but has experience this season racing against one of the region's best in Hill and has dominated the competition in his state. Lovelace may have the toughest time trying to make a return trip to San Diego with the improvement made by others and sheer numbers in strength of the Virginians.

Thus with Keveren's health issues, Lowe likely saving himself for Nike Team Nationals and Foot Locker Nationals, and Hill proving to be beatable by Graves, there is a strong likelihood that at least one of the top Virginians could be crowned Foot Locker South champion. The odds are much better for runners such as Graves, Dorrell, or Witt picking up the win than other Virginians.

Graves has been suddenly been labeled as an inconsistent racer this fall, but it is far from reality looking deeper into the races. His state meet was a bad race with a ninth place showing, but Maymont was not necessarily a fair shake to judge his race performance since he accidentally jumped in an earlier race for 1000 meters. His win over Hill at Wendy's, his win over several finalist hopefuls out of the Midwest Region in a September Invite on the home course for the Illinois state meet, and a decisive 24 second win over Dorrell in their regional meet has shown that Graves is one of the South region's best and very capable of pulling off the win this weekend at McAlpine.

If anything his subpar day in the state championships should make him even hungrier and ready to prove something this weekend. His best racing style seems to be setting a grueling hard pace from the start then wear down his opponents, so he should be more comfortable with this weekend in the seeded race at Foot Locker South with a virtually guaranteed fast start.

Photo by John Herzog

With the exception of his loss to Graves at the regional meet and finishing two second's behind Brian Leung of New Jersey at the Manhattan Invite as the two runners posted the day's two fastest of the meet which included many Foot Locker contenders, Blacksburg senior Peter Dorrell has done nothing but win and will certainly have that as a goal set for himself on Saturday. Dorrell has some of the best wheels among the top contenders with a 1:54 PR in the open 800 if it comes down to a kick in the final loop around the lake.

Witt felt he did not race his best last year at McAlpine despite a solid 15th place finish. His two national championship performances later in the year certainly showed he is capable of qualifying and fairing well at the national level. Witt was a top 10 finisher at Nike Team Nationals last December and won a national title in the 5K at Nike Indoor Nationals.

Despite having one of the Southeast region's top tier teams, the Midlothian boys skipped the NTN Southeast Regional in Alabama as they weighed the team's chances of finishing in the top two and the chances of Witt qualifying for Foot Locker Nationals in Charlotte. It was decided that the uncertainty if their team was capable of qualifying for a second straight Nike Team Nationals was too great to possibly completely shut out Witt from competing in any national championships this fall. If Witt were to qualify, he would be the first Foot Locker finalist ever for Coach Stan Morgan who has already established himself as one of the state's best high school cross country coaches with the number of state champion teams he has produced year after year. Midlothian also happens to have another runner who is capable of finishing high in the seeded race with Michael Hammond. Hammond nearly beat out Porter for second in the 3A state race with a time of 15:22 and certainly is capable of top 24 All-South finish.

Photo by John Herzog

If Thomas Porter were to qualify for a second year in a row, he would be setting himself up to become only the third Virginia ever to qualify for Foot Locker Nationals on three occassions with a year to go as a junior. Only past Virginian prep greats Sharif Karie and Bobby Lockhart have qualified three years in a row as both were also strong finishers at the national meet as Foot Locker National runner-ups.

Porter seems to be following a familiar track to close the season in starting out slow and then finishing up strong. Porter was taking his lumps in defeats early in the season in September invitationals, but has only been beaten once since the start of the month of October to Jason Witt as a 3A state runner-up. Porter was a surprise top 10 finisher as he squeaked out a trip to San Diego by holding off the 11th place finish to very end. If he can make a similar jump from the state meet to Foot Locker as he did last year, he may not have to sweat out a return trip to Balboa Park and might take down some of the Virginians who have been ahead of him up until this point.

Like Witt at Midlothian and Porter at Mountain View, Jamestown junior Andrew Colley was also on a highly ranked team this fall which had been contemplating a trip to Hoover, Alabama. Despite finishing a close third place in the AA state race behind Brentsville, who will be making the trip to Hoover this weekend, Jamestown coach Howard Townsend opted to wait another year for NTN hopes and see if his top runner Andrew Colley could follow in his footsteps as a 1993 Foot Locker finalist this weekend. Colley ran the third fastest time of the day at the Virginia state meet at Great Meadow with a time of 15:19 for second place behind Dorrell in the 2A race.

Photo by John Herzog

Colley has turned in high finishes in many invitationals this fall and beaten some outstanding runners. Colley has beaten two returning Foot Locker finalists in Graves and Porter twice this season. He also has had close finishes behind private school state champion Johns Ross. He was third at the Maymont Festival behind Dorrell and Witt to finish ahead of several top 10 hopefuls this weekend including some quality out-of-state runners such as Patrick Campbell of North Carolina and Maclean O'Donnell of Tennesse (will be at NTN SE this weekend though with his Oak Ridge team).

Virginia's depth will continue beyond their Foot Locker National hopefuls as if the state course at Great Meadow still runs slower than McAlpine then there will be plenty of runners from the state under 16 minutes as 38 runners beat the time at the state championships. Throw in the big three from the private schools in Ross, Fork Union's Jeremy Haney, and Covenant's Austin Ellis, this could end up being the deepest showing by the state in the history of Foot Locker South. The majority of those capable of a sub 16 effort will be at McAlpine as Virginia once again will have one of the largest representations among the states in the South region as last second registrations should push the total number over 500 entrants.

Top 15 Predictions by Brandon Miles

1. Griff Graves VA 14:46

2. Ryan Hill NC 14:48

3. Jason Witt VA 14:51

4. Colby Lowe TX 14:56

5. Peter Dorrell VA 14:58

6. Sean Keveren TN 14:59

7. Johns Ross VA 15:02

8. Luke Lovelace SC 15:03

9. Patrick Campbell NC 15:04

10. Thomas Porter VA 15:05

11. Matt Sonnenfeldt TN 15:06